David Garrett walked through a high-end reading room in Tribeca this Friday, surrounded by 3.5 million pages of the world’s most dangerous secrets. The space, officially named the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room, features 3,437 volumes of printed and partially redacted files. Weighing in at 17,000 pounds, the physical manifestation of the Epstein archive has become the season’s most morbidly fascinating pop-up. Garrett, a spokesperson for the Institute for Primary Facts, oversaw the printing of the files to ensure the public could finally touch the evidence that has haunted high society for years.

While tourists flip through the volumes in New York, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is sweating through closed-door hearings in Washington. Lutnick sat for a transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday to explain his long-standing ties to the disgraced financier. Documents released by the Justice Department suggest that Lutnick continued corresponding with Epstein long after his first conviction. During a previous podcast appearance, Lutnick claimed he and his wife decided to never be in a room with Epstein again after a 2005 visit to his Manhattan home.

Lutnick’s description of that visit included a massage table and candles in the middle of a room, a detail that has become a flashpoint for House investigators. Representative James Comer described Lutnick’s testimony as forthcoming, but Democrats remain skeptical of the Secretary’s timeline. A note allegedly found by Epstein’s cellmate after a 2019 suicide attempt has also been made public in an unrelated court case. As the Epstein files take up physical space in Manhattan galleries, the social cost of having once been a neighbor to the late financier continues to rise.