Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arrived at the U.S. Capitol this week for a deposition that has the entire West Palm Beach set checking their legal retainers. The House Oversight Committee is currently unzipping the files of the late Jeffrey Epstein, and the names falling out are predictably delicious. According to committee transcripts, former Barclays CEO Jes Staley has agreed to a July 23 interview regarding his relationship with the notorious financier. Staley, who resigned from Barclays in 2021 after a probe into his characterization of that friendship, is now the star attraction of a summer scandal season that promises to be the most exclusionary event in Washington. Meanwhile, President Trump has doubled down by filing a fresh $10 billion libel lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal. The suit claims the paper acted with actual malice in a story detailing his alleged ties to Epstein. In West Palm Beach, Representative Robert Garcia led a field hearing that felt less like a government proceeding and more like a high-stakes social autopsy. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi was also pulled into the orbit, interviewed by the committee on Friday regarding the Department of Justice's handling of the files. Read together, these depositions and lawsuits describe a social elite under total microscopic audit; the thread linking these names, though stated in no filing, suggests a frantic scramble to define the narrative before the full bathrobe files hit the public. For those in the room, the tension is palpable, a mix of old money fear and new power leverage. The Hedonist hears that the legal fees alone for this season’s Epstein fallout could fund a small navy, making accountability the most expensive luxury good in the district.