🌊 Breaking Down Epstein’s “Pizza” Emails

10 years after Pizzagate, do the Epstein emails vindicate the theory?

On December 4, 2016, a man walked up to a pizza restaurant in Washington, DC, called Comet Ping Pong. The 28-year-old North Carolina resident, Edgar Maddison Welch, burst through the doors armed to the teeth with an AR-15 style rifle, a Colt .38, a shotgun, and a knife. He then began ranting and raving about a child trafficking ring based in the pizzeria’s basement.

Welch pointed his rifle in the direction of one of the employees and fired three shots. He stormed his way through the building, demanding access to the basement. There was only one problem – the pizzeria had no basement.

Welch was arrested after firing three shots. He told authorities he planned to “self-investigate” a widely spread internet rumor called “Pizzagate.”

In broad strokes, the Pizzagate theory began to circulate online in late 2016, following WikiLeaks’ release of emails from John Podesta – Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman – that, among other things, contained dinner plans and discussed “cheese pizza.” Internet sleuths drew their own conclusions, with 4chan users connecting the “cp” abbreviation of cheese pizza to the abbreviation of “child porn,” while more of Podesta’s emails revealed discussions between him and Comet Ping Pong’s owner. From there, the theory spiraled and culminated in the December shooting at Comet Ping Pong.

Welch was arrested and pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon, earning a four-year prison sentence. After release, Welch was fatally shot by police during a traffic stop after he pulled a handgun.

Still, “Pizzagate” lives on.

The Justice Department’s latest release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein revealed a landslide of new information about previously unknown connections between Epstein and many of the world’s elites. As far as actionable evidence is concerned, however, the pickings are slim. The files reveal that many elites hid their relationships with Epstein, but have thus far provided little evidence connecting these individuals with child trafficking, as many expected.

But what about the pizza?

After the files’ release, internet sleuths quickly learned that the documents contained the word “pizza” at least 820 times – more than any other food we could search. Viral screenshots showed it appearing in unusual contexts and alongside relatively rare terms like “jerky” and “grape soda.”

So what do the files say about “pizza”? I combed through them to understand exactly where pizza comes up in the millions of pages, and my findings are the subject of today’s deep-dive.