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Today, Explained

How Epstein fooled America

Today, Explained

Vox

News, Daily News, Politics

4.310.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jeffrey Epstein remained a thriving member of the elite for decades, even when everyone seemed to know what he was doing. This episode was produced by Jesse Ash, edited by Miranda Kennedy, fact-checked by Andrea Lopez-Cruzado, mixed by Shannon Mahoney, and hosted by Astead Herndon. Pictures provided by the Department of Justice as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP via Getty Images. You can also watch this episode on video at youtube.com/vox. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. New Vox members get $20 off their membership right now. Transcript at ⁠vox.com/today-explained-podcast.⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:55.0

Hi and welcome to Today Explain Saturday.

0:57.0

I'm Instead Herndon, and every week I'll be talking to someone in the news, in the culture, or just exploring an idea I can't get out of my head.

1:05.0

Now, this week is a little different because I have something embarrassing to admit.

1:09.0

I have not really followed the Epstein files as closely as I should have.

1:13.0

Now, of course, I've tracked the news.

1:15.1

I've seen people losing their jobs, the former Prince Andrew getting arrested.

1:19.3

I know Epstein was a monster.

1:21.5

But like most Americans, I haven't sorted through all those documents, separated truth

1:25.9

and fiction, and I have a lot of unanswered

1:28.5

questions. So this week, we decided to dig into it. But first, we started with an exercise.

1:34.4

I wanted to write out everything I already knew about Epstein, the things I know to be true.

1:39.6

So I can also create a list of questions I still had to give it to an expert.

1:46.3

So here's the list of facts.

1:54.3

One, Epstein was a monster, a convicted sexual predator first in 2008 and arrested again in 2019.

1:59.9

The second thing I know is that Jeffrey Epstein was ridiculously rich, and he got rich by handling other people's money.

2:01.1

He was a financier, a money manager, for folks like Leslie Wexner, the Victoria's Secret

...

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