Trump-Epstein Memorial Reading Room Opens in Dallas as Traveling Exhibit of Court Files

A Memorial Reading Room Takes the Epstein Files Off the Screen

Twelve miles from the Republican gathering at American Airlines Center, inside a North Dallas event space typically reserved for weddings and corporate retreats, nearly 17,000 pounds of bound documents have been arranged into what organizers call the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room. The space holds 3,437 two-inch-thick volumes titled *The Partially Redacted Epstein Files*, stacked on shelves and library carts, along with pastels and charcoals by Maria Farmer — both an artist and an Epstein accuser — and walls covered floor-to-ceiling in handwritten comment cards left by thousands of visitors.

The timing, amid a high-profile Trump appearance nearby, was not accidental — but neither was the exhibition designed primarily as political counter-programming. David Garrett, a Michigan man who co-founded the nonprofit Institute for Primary Facts and who previously dealt in high-end wines, organized the exhibition alongside other advocates. His goal, as he explained to attendees, is straightforward: to force a physical reckoning with documentation that most Americans have only ever glimpsed as digital abstracts. The reading room is the third iteration of the exhibition, following earlier installations in New York City and Washington, D.C., where organizers concluded that conversations with lawmakers had hit a ceiling. Texas, with its enormous voter base and a presidential visit drawing national attention, became the logical next stop. Garrett reported 2,000 reservations before the doors even opened, and more than 15,000 total visitors across the three cities.

Who Appears in the Files — and What They Said

The exhibit's opening timeline traces the documented relationship between Trump and Epstein, accompanied by allegations against both men. Visitors then enter the reading room itself, where they are asked not to touch the volumes out of deference to survivors, whose names appear unredacted in the files. The cumulative effect of standing before nearly 3,500 bound volumes, even without opening them, is described by organizers as the point: scale communicates what keyword searches cannot.

Several of the files on display spotlight figures with local Dallas connections. Terry Kafka, a childhood friend of Epstein's who relocated to Dallas, had previously told a reporter that the two men had grown apart and rarely spoke. Emails released in January 2025 contradict that account directly. In a July 9, 2009, message sent while Epstein was still incarcerated, Kafka asked if his old friend needed a ride home on the 20th. When Epstein clarified that his release was actually on July 22, Kafka's response expressed warm anticipation of that day.

Also appearing in the files is Merrie Spaeth, a Dallas crisis communications consultant who similarly maintained she had severed ties with Epstein following his 2008 guilty plea. The documents show that in January 2015, she reached out through an intermediary to signal that Epstein had friends willing to help him navigate negative press coverage. Within hours, she received word that Epstein planned to call her personally. Both Kafka and Spaeth's reappearance in the documents — after public denials — illustrates what the exhibition's organizers describe as a pattern of social protection extended to Epstein long after his crimes were known.

A separate but notable detail emerged during the visit: Texas comptroller candidate Don Huffines, a Republican running against Democratic state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, owns what was formerly Epstein's Zorro Ranch in New Mexico. The New Mexico Department of Justice has an ongoing investigation into events that occurred at the property during Epstein's ownership. The Huffines family purchased the ranch four years after Epstein's 2019 death and has no connection to the investigation itself, but the property's provenance drew attention at an event where Eckhardt was among the visitors.

Survivors, Politicians, and the Weight of the Room

The mood during the first hour after the 10 a.m. opening was quiet and heavy. Visitors moved slowly through the timeline, many pausing to read full passages. A room with flameless candles — one for each survivor or victim — prompted some visitors to stop and sit without speaking. A separate reflection area stocked with pens, notecards, and tissues filled steadily with handwritten messages. One note, written in cursive by someone identified only as K.S. from Dallas, described walking through the room as the moment when the magnitude of the files — and what the writer characterized as their continued suppression — finally became comprehensible. Thousands of similar notes already covered the Reflection Wall.

Shortly after 11 a.m., the atmosphere shifted. Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic challenger to incumbent Texas Governor Greg Abbott, arrived for a tour and press conference alongside survivors Lara Blume McGee and Sharlene Rochard. Rochard described the moment her child discovered her name and photographs embedded in the publicly released documents, and how she sat alone in her car, in tears, for an hour afterward — retraumatized by exposure she had no control over. The press conference attracted reporters including a correspondent from a German newspaper who had originally come to Dallas to cover the Trump event at American Airlines Center and found himself redirected to Midway Road instead.

The exhibition remains open through Friday evening. Organizers have signaled the tour will continue, following voters and political conversations rather than political schedules. Garrett's stated logic is that if elected officials will not act on what the files contain, the files will be brought to the people who elect them — rendered physical, impossible to scroll past, and placed in the same cities where the country's political arguments are loudest.