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FIRST ON FOX: Jim Steyer — the brother of billionaire California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer — has multiple board members with past ties to Jeffrey Epstein involved in his children’s online safety organization, Common Sense Media (CSM), which could set off alarm bells as wealthy elites continue to face a reckoning for exchanging emails with Epstein or riding on his private jet.
CSM, which will be hosting a conference next week that will include many industry experts and Democratic politicians as speakers, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Illinois Gov JB Pritzker, is a nonprofit organization with the stated goal of putting children’s “well-being first in the digital era,” and providing parental guidance while also providing a forum for industry experts to discuss how to safeguard minors online.
While none of the previously reported ties between the board members and Epstein implicate them in any wrongdoing related to his crimes, the optics of their past communications could raise questions about the judgment of some of their past interactions with him and the vetting process to be on the board.
“Having reviewed the related references here, we have no concerns about these individuals. Common Sense Media remains the leading non-partisan children’s advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the best interest of America’s children and families,” a CSM spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
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The Steyer brothers have not appeared in the Epstein emails and have not been accused of any wrongdoing.
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Tim Zagat
Tim Zagat, the co-founder and co-chair of Zagat Survey, a fine dining rating service, was reported by the New York Post to have repeatedly visited dining establishments with Epstein and is listed in Epstein’s flight logbook — a revelation uncovered by recent disclosures from the Department of Justice.
Zagat also reportedly attended a dinner at Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion in 2014, which included Hollywood director Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi Previn, former Hyatt hotels boss Nick Pritzker, who is Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s cousin once removed, among others. Several emails reviewed by Fox News Digital show that Zagat reached out to Epstein to invite him to meals on multiple occasions.
He is also listed on a flight entry from 2002 on Epstein’s notorious “Lolita Express” private jet that appears to match up with a late-February trip to a TED conference in California.
“JE. SK. GERALDINE LAYBORNE. KIT LAYBORNE. STEVEN PINKER. NINA TIM ZAGAT,” the entry reads, listing off a series of passengers.
The entry is unclear if the “JE” reference indicates Epstein himself was on the flight.
What is clear, however, is that the flight included one other CSM board member.
Geraldine Laybourne
Geraldine Laybourne who served as president of Nickelodeon from 1984 to 1996, was also mentioned as a passenger on one of the 2002 entries. In the past, Laybourne has claimed she did not know the plane belonged to Epstein but that she had simply accepted a flight from New York to Monterey, California.
“We said yes. We did not know whose plane it was or who Jeffrey Epstein was,” Laybourne told the Daily Beast in 2023.
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Howard Gardner
In another case, CSM brought on Howard Gardner, a celebrated scholar best known for his research on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who maintained contact with Epstein long after news of his crimes had surfaced.
Gardner had lengthy correspondence with Epstein, according to reporting from Bloomberg. Gardner’s name appears at least 380 times in the DOJ’s Epstein disclosures. Most are email communications or logistical arrangements.
In one email, Epstein described planned outings with Gardner.
“I am having a ‘smart day’ at Harvard. Larry Summers – finance. Chomsky – language. Eric Lander, George Church – genetics. Howard Gardner – intelligence,” Epstein wrote, referring to various experts and their areas of study.
Gardner told The Harvard Crimson last year that “Once [Epstein] had been arrested, I made it clear to him that I could no longer accept any funding but, as a friend and beneficiary of his philanthropy, I tried to be supportive.”
“Of course, no one I knew (which included dozens of Harvard faculty) had any idea of the nature and extent of Epstein’s crimes, which only became clear in the following years,” he continued.
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Cyrus Vance Jr.
Cyrus Vance Jr., a former district attorney for Manhattan from 2010 to 2021, joined CSM’s board in 2024 despite past backlash after his office’s insistence in 2011 that Epstein should receive more lenient treatment.
Specifically, Vance’s office argued that Epstein should be designated a Level 1 sex offender — a reduction from level 3, the classification reserved for high-level threats.
The judge overseeing the case was reportedly taken aback by the request, according to court transcripts.
“I have to tell you, I am a little overwhelmed because I have never seen the prosecutor’s office do anything like this. I have done many [cases], much less troubling than this one, where the People would never make a downward argument like this,” Judge Ruth Pickholz said.
Epstein, at that point, had already been convicted of sexual misconduct with minors in 2008.
In response to a request for comment, Vance said he had no knowledge of Epstein’s prior case due to an error in the case. After becoming aware of the case, Vance said he pursued the most stringent restrictions possible for Epstein.
“I have never met, or communicated with Mr. Epstein in any form,” Vance said in a comment.
Vance’s office also received backlash for not prosecuting disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in 2015, two years before the “MeToo” movement took him down.
Chelsea Clinton
Finally, Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, has served on the CSM board for over a decade. She, too, had a brush with Epstein that garnered public attention when Ghislaine Maxwell — an accomplice of Epstein — attended her wedding.
Maxwell had attended at the invitation of Ted Waitt, a donor to the Clinton Foundation, according to later statements from Hillary Clinton.
But reporting from Politico suggested the one-off went deeper. Politico reported that sources had said the pair had been “incredibly close.”
Chelsea Clinton has repeatedly pushed back against those characterizations.
“It wasn’t until 2015 that Chelsea [her husband] Marc became aware of the horrific allegations against Ghislaine Maxwell and hope that all the victims find justice. Chelsea and Marc were friendly with her because of her relationship with a dear friend of theirs. When that relationship ended, Chelsea’s friendship with her ended as well,” a person familiar with the relationship told Politico.
Both of Chelsea’s parents, Bill and Hillary Clinton, recently went viral after they were interviewed by the House Oversight Committee about their previous longtime relationship with Epstein and Maxwell.
In addition to the board members, CSM includes the Gates Foundation as one of its foundation partners. The foundation’s co-founder, Bill Gates, who is the chair of the board, has repeatedly been tied to Epstein through their email communications and meetings over several years, which Gates called “foolish” earlier this year.
“In retrospect, I was foolish to spend any time with him,” Gates said of Epstein. “I think I was quite stupid. I thought it would help me with global health philanthropy. In fact, it failed to do that. It was just a huge mistake.”
He is expected to show up for a transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee in May.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Steyer campaign and the five board members for comment.
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