An investigative journalist who helped break the story on Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficking activities has discovered that a log of flights she booked back in 2019 were released by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) as part of their latest Epstein files dump. Miami Herald journalist Julie K. Brown played a key role in exposing Epstein’s crimes in 2018, but was shocked to discover details of the itinerary with American Airlines in a recent release of files.
Brown did not actually take the flight herself, but she booked it on behalf of an alleged victim of Epstein. Flight logs on this victim were apparently deemed necessary for the upcoming trial against Epstein, which never happened after his untimely death in prison in August 2019.
Epstein Journalist Finds Flight Details In Released Files
Brown took to her Substack page to question why information on the flights was included in the recent trove of Epstein files released by the US DOJ. While stating that she expected her name to appear in the files given her role in exposing Epstein, she did not expect to find records of a commercial flight itinerary she booked in the summer of 2019. The logs were apparently acquired through a subpoena to
American Airlines, which also handed over flight information related to other individuals in the Epstein case, including his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Images of the American Airlines log show the journey in question was a roundtrip between Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) and Little Rock (LIT) via a connection in
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in early July 2019. The outbound journey was dated July 6, 2019 — which was the very same day authorities arrested Epstein — while the return flight was on July 8.
Brown said on her X account,
“Does somebody at the DOJ want to tell me why my American Airlines booking information and flights in July 2019 are part of the Epstein files (attached to a grand jury subpoena)? As the flight itinerary includes my maiden name (and I did book this flight) why was the DOJ monitoring me?”
Was The Journalist Being Tracked?
At first glance, the suggestion seems to be that Brown was being actively tracked by the DOJ, but additional context shows this wasn’t the case. Firstly, the flight information was included in the Epstein files as Brown booked it on behalf of an individual key to the case against Epstein. Annie Farmer was an alleged victim of Epstein back in the mid-1990s and featured in Brown’s book ‘Peversion of Justice,‘ where Brown detailed paying for Farmer’s flight from her Austin home to Little Rock, Arkansas, for an interview.
Additionally, American Airlines’ response to the subpoena is dated February 2020, so the information itself was not being monitored in real-time. Nonetheless, many have questioned why the DOJ would take an interest in recent flight information on Farmer, whose alleged abuse by Epstein occurred almost three decades ago.
Given Epstein’s modus operandi of frequently flying his victims in and out of the country, the DOJ’s request for information on the flight movements of key individuals in the case doesn’t seem too farfetched or untoward. Additionally, the flight itself was taken to conduct an interview with Brown regarding Epstein’s abuse, and information obtained from that interview likely formed a part of the case.
New DOJ Photos Lift The Curtain On Jeffrey Epstein’s Private Aircraft Fleet
Epstein had a range of private planes and helicopters under his ownership.
Simple Flying has reached out to American Airlines for comment on this story and will update this article accordingly. Many political figures in the US have spoken out about Brown’s situation, calling for an inquiry into the DOJ and its alleged judicial overreach.
The DOJ released its first batch of Epstein-related documents on December 19 to comply with a legal deadline, but this effort was deemed incomplete and insufficient. Just days later, the agency released an additional 30,000 pages of documents, and reportedly still has over one million documents left to process.
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