Men at the top are still well-protected

Cal Thomas ("Let's out the men in Maxwell-Epstein case," Jan. 5) hopes "details about all the men who visited (Jeffrey) Epstein's island and New York home will be made public" and suggests that (Ghislane) Maxwell "could strike a bargain with the court for a reduced sentence if she releases the names and possible videos of some of [these] men." Leaving aside any fears Maxwell might have of meeting the same fate as Epstein — death in jail under mysterious circumstances — most of what Thomas seeks is probably already in the hands of law enforcement.

On July 6, 2019, after arresting Epstein at the airport, when he returned to the U.S., 28 federal law enforcement agents executed a raid on his Manhattan town house and retrieved a trove of materials, including computers, phones, videos, etc.

This disposition of these materials is in the hands of federal authorities. In an earlier time, the reputations of men in high office, were always protected — not just by the authorities, but by the media as well. All the "news that's fit to print" did not include sexual misbehaviors — criminal or otherwise. President Kennedy comes to mind.

#MeToo seems to have changed things a bit (witness Gov. Andrew Cuomo), but it seems men at the very top are still well-protected.

Jim Walters

Iowa City