INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 142, No. 14
16 Pages – Free
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2025 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Sports
Cornellian charged
Boston bashes
Former Cornell student Bilguun Enkhbayar was convicted of Rape in the First Degree and Burglary in the Second Degree on Nov. 24. | Page 4
No. 17 Cornell Men’s Hockey was defeated by Boston University 2-1 at its Saturday game. | Page 16
‘Yikes...My Boy Jeffrey Is Everywhere’ Weingarten ’71, Indyke J.D. ’91 were among the top-mentioned names in released Epstein emails By ATTICUS JOHNSON Sun Senior Writer
Nov. 25 — Reid Weingarten ’71 and Darren Indyke J.D. ’91 were among the top-mentioned individuals in the latest batch of convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s personal emails released by the House Oversight Committee on Nov. 12. Weingarten and Indyke, lawyers representing Epstein in various criminal and civil cases, were both in communication with Epstein regarding President Donald Trump and how to defend Epstein against press inquiries and lawsuits. Weingarten, an anti-corruption prosecutor turned white collar defense attorney, maintained close ties with Epstein. He was mentioned 109 times in the trove of released emails, where his correspondences reveal a decade-long personal relationship with Epstein beyond legal representation. In a 2011 email, Weingarten told Epstein, “weird day…some poor soul just jumped in front of my acela to commit suicide … quite a mess,” to which Epstein later replied, “time to relax. go get a massage.” “i wish,” Weingarten wrote back. After Trump was elected president, the two traded thoughts about politics until Epstein’s death. After Epstein forwarded an article about the Pizzagate conspiracy theory — alleging that the Clintons and other politicians ran a sex trafficking ring in the basement of
a D.C. pizza shop — to Weingarten, the attorney said “Yikes...my boy jeffrey is everywhere....” “you might want to tell your dem friends that treating trump like a mafia don ignores the fact that he has great dangerous
He also speculated that “Trump leaked the two pages … cross the government’s star witness tomorrow… its odd i still do this shit.” The exchange occurred less than an hour after some of Trump’s tax returns were leaked to MSNBC. Epstein and Weingarten then speculated in 2018 about the nature of then-White House communications director Hope Hicks’ relationship with Trump, sharing a “Blind Gossip” article titled ‘The Wrong Faux Boyfriend.’ Weingarten, who works as Senior Counsel at Steptoe — a top law firm based in Washington, D.C. — discussed Steptoe’s representation of Epstein. “Jeffrey has paid about 450 and owes about 300 and seems disinclined to make Steptoe whole.....hhhhhmmmm....first reaction is déjà vu.... As you know I am the 800 pound gorilla here, Steptoe is not going to chase you down for the money but there are 500 lawyers here,” Weingarten emailed, in regards to Epstein’s apparently incomplete payment to the firm. Steptoe, which billed over $100,000 for defending Epstein, maintains a presence at Cornell Law School’s fair and currently employs seven Cornell law school graduates.
power,” Epstein wrote to Weingarten in 2018. Weingarten responded: “not a stupid point… [Trump is] starting to behave very erratically.” The emails came at a time when Trump’s Secretary of Defense, James Matthis, resigned in protest of Trump’s decision to suddenly withdraw troops from Syria and the federal government was heading towards a shutdown. MICHAEL During special ENT AND DEPARTM SENIOR WRITER S F’ IF ER counsel N / SUN NTY SH CH COU TTICUS JOHNSO A ALM BEA Robert SY OF P ES, GRAPHIC BY TE R U O OTS C K TIM HEADSH / THE NEW YOR Mueller’s 2017 STRAVATO To continue reading this article, please visit www.corinvestigation into Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential elec- nellsun.com. tion, Weingarten wrote to Epstein, “trump is going to fire Atticus Johnson can be reached at ajohnson@cornellsun.com. mueller and republicans on hill wont do a thing.”
Indigenous Student Engagement CGSU Passes Referendum Persists Despite Enrollment Drops in Support of Palestine By SVETLANA GUPTA Sun Contributor
Dec. 2 — Following the U. S. Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision to overturn affirmative action, enrollment for Black, Hispanic and Indigenous students at Cornell remains below fall 2023 levels, despite a slight increase in 2025. This decline has raised longterm concerns among indigenous organizations on campus, who rely on diverse incoming classes to sustain their membership. While cultural organizations have existed at Cornell for over a century, starting with Club Brasilerio in 1873, the expansion of cultural clubs and resource centers only accelerated in the late 1960s. This was accompa-
nied by the introduction of affirmative action policies across the country, according to the Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. More than five decades later, that landscape shifted when the 2023 Supreme Court ruling ended the use of affirmative action in college admissions. This marked a turning point nationwide, requiring colleges to remove race conscious criteria from their application review processes. Data released from Cornell Institutional Research and Planning shows a second straight year of lower first-time freshman American Indian enrollment compared to the years before the
JULIA NAGEL / SUN FILE PHOTO
affirmative action ban. In 2023, 10 first-time freshman American Indian students enrolled at Cornell. Following the affirmative action ruling, that number dropped to two in 2024. In 2025, four American Indian students were enrolled in the incoming Class of 2029. Native American and Indigenous Students at Cornell Co-Chair Krissia Tuzroyluk ’26 has seen the effects of lower indigenous admissions in her organization. “It was so hard to find our Indigenous first-year students [this year], just because of how rapidly the numbers declined, and there has been an extreme loss in the sense of community in NAISAC because of that,” Tuzroyluk said. According to Director of Undergraduate Admissions Pamela Tan, Cornell makes an effort to reach out to indigenous groups across America. In a statement to The Sun Tan wrote that “[Cornell] Undergraduate Admissions attends Indigenous college fairs, such as the Native American College Fair in St. Paul and the Rocky Mountain Association for College Admissions Counselors Fair in New Mexico.” See INDIGENOUS page 4
Liberation, BDS Guidelines By CORAL PLATT Sun Contributor
all funding and military research with ties to Israel, and center[ing] Palestine’s struggle for liberation within our struggle for better material working conditions.” “Cornell is implicated in the Israeli genocide of Palestinians through research, recruitment, and financial ties with the weapons industry, and endowment investments” and “University workers have paid a price when standing up for Palestine,” the statement reads. In a speech given at the “Take Back our University” rally on Aug. 28, CGSU-UE President and Ph.D. candidate Ewa Nizalowska described the union’s experiences with University retaliation. “We have seen Cornell deliberately target graduate workers who have stood up for Palestinian rights,” Nizalowska said at the rally. “We have to protect each other from unjust firing, suspicions and attacks.”
Dec. 2 — Cornell Graduate Students United announced on Nov. 26 that its members passed a referendum to adopt a statement titled “International Solidarity with the Palestinian Liberation Struggle” as the organization’s official stance. The statement, in addition to declaring solidarity with Palestine, lays out actions that the union will take to achieve this goal. During a Nov. 13 general membership meeting for United Electrical Workers Local 300 Cornell Graduate Students United, attendees voted to put the Palestine solidarity statement drafted by the union’s political action committee to a membership-wide referendum. Members could vote from Nov. 21 to Nov. 25. The solidarity statement explains that “the labor movements faces a once-in-a-generaTo continue reading this article, tion opportunity to build interna- please visit www.cornellsun.com. tional worker solidarity” through “end[ing] all forms of complici- Coral Platt can be reached at ty with Israel’s crimes, halt[ing] csp94@cornell.edu.