Leon Botstein led Bard College for 50 years. On Wednesday a letter from Congress ended what was left of it.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., wrote Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel about a May 2014 email in the Epstein files, which they say was sent from the president@bard.edu address. The line they quote: "for me, or are you keeping her for yourself." The letter says the evidence "meets the federal standard for opening a criminal investigation, yet [the] DoJ and FBI apparently had it for at least 18 months without investigating Botstein." By Wednesday evening Bard's executive committee had voted unanimously to accept his resignation from every Bard post he still held, his professorship and his music roles included.
Botstein says the allegations are untrue, "including an email that I did not author or send." He has not been charged with anything. He stepped down as president earlier this year, and the Guardian says he once visited Epstein's island. Epstein's own files hold a 2013 Los Angeles Times column touting Botstein for a Cabinet post.
Now put that beside Howard Lutnick. On Jan. 30, 2025, an FBI analyst screening Trump's Commerce nominee hit two flags: the Bureau's own Epstein case file, 50D-NY-3027571, and a money-laundering intake. The Bureau opened nothing. Nineteen days later the Senate confirmed him 51-45. Narativ published the document in February. Lutnick runs Commerce today.
