Who is David Brooks? All about author under fire for being exposed in latest Epstein photos

The New York Times columnist David Brooks, popular political commentator for decades, has come under fire after surfacing in recently unearthed photos from the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s estate.

The photos, shared by House Democrats on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, depict Brooks at a dinner in 2011 alongside well-known individuals such as Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

The timing and circumstances of the release have drawn attention because Brooks has previously criticized public and political interest in Epstein-related matters.

Brooks was born in Toronto, Canada on August 11, 1961 and raised between New York City and Pennsylvania.

He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1983 with a degree in history, and entered journalism as a police reporter for the City News Bureau in Chicago.

Wow. Conservative NYTimes columnist David Brooks — who last month wrote scathing piece attacking Democrats over their effort to release the Epstein files — is in the files (photographed here at Epstein’s estate).

He did not disclose his relationship with Epstein in the article. pic.twitter.com/ztyrR6uS0B

— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) December 18, 2025

David Brooks had worked at a variety of leading publications over the years. Among them, The Washington Times and The Wall Street Journal played a big role where he became the editor of the opinion page.

He was later a senior editor at The Weekly Standard and a contributing editor at Newsweek before becoming an op-ed columnist for The New York Times in 2003.

A year later, he was named a contributor to PBS NewsHour and became a fixture of American political analysis.

A moderate conservative best known as much for his social and political commentary as for his cultural insight, Brooks has frequently mixed the two.

He has taken neoconservative positions on US foreign policy, but more liberal views on social issues such as same-sex marriage and participation in civic organizations.

In addition to his journalism, David Brooks is the author of some books on culture, morality, society and politics such as the Bobos in Paradise (2000), The Social Animal (2011) and The Second Mountain (2019).

David Brooks' link to the Epstein files

The controversy was brought up due to David Brooks’ attendance at a 2011 dinner hosted by literary agent John Brockman of the Edge intellectual salon, an event that Epstein is said to have attended.

At the time of the event, Epstein had finished a 13-month jail sentence in Florida after he pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

Brooks has said he did not know Epstein was there and had no interaction with him before or after the dinner.

To all marveling at photos of NYT columnist David Brooks dining with Jeffrey Epstein, 2 years after Epstein finished his sentence for procuring a child for prostitution, here's what it was: the 2011 "Edge Billionaire's Dinner". Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were there too. 1/ pic.twitter.com/p9J6B94MMp

— capitolhunters (@capitolhunters) December 18, 2025

The New York Times stressed that Brooks would often go to such events in order to speak with business and intellectual figures as part of his work as a journalist.

The backlash is compounded by David Brooks’ media comments about Epstein. In a November 2025 column headlined “The Epstein Story? Count Me Out,” he slammed Democrats for spreading the story about Epstein and compared public fascination with the case to QAnon style conspiracy theories.

Critics have noted the irony of this given Brooks’ presence at the event and his former mocking of it.

The photos do not in themselves demonstrate any wrongdoing, but they have prompted questions of disclosure and journalistic transparency.