by Staff Reporter | Nov 19, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A former professor from Arizona State University (ASU) and renowned atheist physicist was peppered throughout the latest drop of Epstein files.
Former ASU professor Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist and cosmologist, exchanged over 60 emails with Jeffrey Epstein. Among these emails were conversations between Krauss and Epstein strategizing Krauss’s response to sexual misconduct allegations.
In December 2017, Krauss asked Epstein how to deal with questions from BuzzFeed News about the allegations.
Epstein advised Krauss to provide a defense to the allegations in a “short concise cover letter” to be published in its entirety, possibly with an attachment to Krauss’s website that would offer more details of his defense.
After BuzzFeed News published its investigative report on Krauss in February 2018, Krauss offered Epstein a play-by-play of the initial fallout. Krauss expressed hope that a greater news story would emerge to provide cover for him, such as an indictment of President Donald Trump.
“I wonder if I will ever really recover,” said Krauss. “I wish they would indict Trump or something right now.”
Epstein told Krauss to discredit his accusers by depicting them as irrational and opportunistic, and Krauss the rational renowned scientist.
“Concentrate on your point-by-point refutation,” said Epstein. “[An] article on women agreeing on seeing flyer saucers does not make the claim real. Break the charges into ludicrous, ogling, jokes, etc. Nancy [sic] language in her tweets. Stirred up emotion.”
Krauss, who now lives in Canada, retired from ASU in 2019 after the university found merit in the sexual misconduct claims against him. Krauss was accused of grabbing a woman’s chest two years prior at an event.
In an October 2018 post announcing his retirement, Krauss claimed innocence of the charges.
“To be clear, I have never harassed or assaulted anyone and have most certainly not exhibited gender discrimination in my professional dealings at the university or elsewhere,” said Krauss.
His defense did not persuade certain other leaders within the scientific community. Krauss was removed from the board of “Scientific American” over the allegations.
In years prior, Krauss sought to distance association between himself and Epstein.
In a 2014 photo from an annual conference by his initiative at ASU, the Origins Project, Krauss can be seen smiling between Epstein and Harvard professor Steven Pinker. After Epstein’s arrest for child sex trafficking and suicide, Krauss claimed to social media skeptics that Epstein was just another donor that he’d happened to take a photo with, among others.
“Epstein was a Presidentially-approved donor to ASU Foundation, [and] his educational foundation was acknowledged at a named table,” said Krauss in an X comment in 2020. “I had photos taken standing by each table. Pinker & other scientists were randomly assigned to tables.”
However, Krauss knew Epstein more personally than he let on according to the trove of newly released Epstein files, in addition to his well-documented involvement with Epstein and prior statements to the media.
In 2011, Krauss defended Epstein following his imprisonment for 2008 charges of prostitution and prostitution with a minor. Epstein pleaded guilty to the charges; his plea deal of 13 months in prison with work-release later became controversial, as it protected him from federal charges with greater punishments.
“If anything, the unfortunate period he suffered has caused him to really think about what he wants to do with his money and his time, and support knowledge,” said Krauss in a statement to The Daily Beast. “Jeffrey has surrounded himself with beautiful women and young women but they’re not as young as the ones that were claimed. As a scientist I always judge things on empirical evidence and he always has women ages 19 to 23 around him, but I’ve never seen anything else, so as a scientist, my presumption is that whatever the problems were I would believe him over other people.”
Krauss stated, also, that his relationship with Epstein enhanced his life.
“I don’t feel tarnished in any way by my relationship with Jeffrey; I feel raised by it,” said Krauss.
The Origins Project was an initiative headed by Krauss at ASU that sought to answer where life and the universe originated. Krauss joined ASU and launched the initiative several months after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008.
Krauss holds atheistic views and has proclaimed himself an “antitheist”: one who opposes all theistic religions.
ASU transitioned the Origins Project into the Interplanetary Initiative following Krauss’s departure. Unlike Krauss’s program, the succeeding program focuses on building mankind’s future in space.
Two years prior to joining ASU, Krauss organized a gravity-themed conference funded by one of Epstein’s foundations. That conference attended by the world’s leading physicists took place in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Notably, the conference had dinner on “Epstein’s Island.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Ethan Faverino | Nov 3, 2025 | Education, News
By Ethan Faverino |
A group of students at Arizona State University hosted a public awareness event on Thursday, October 23, at the Memorial Union to highlight Antifa’s activities on campus and encourage students to confidentially report any known associates for submission to the Federal Terror Watchlist.
The event, hosted by College Republicans United (CRU), featured verified public records and official documents detailing students previously convicted of Antifa-related crimes, including multiple individuals who were active members or leaders of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) at ASU at the time of their arrests.
“Like the Trump administration, we believe that if you see something, say something,” Kevin Decuyper told The State Press. According to the outlet, Decuyper co-founded CRU at ASU in 2018 as a student and is now the chairman of the College Republicans United national organization.
Former law enforcement officer and current Congressional candidate for Arizona’s 1st District, Paul Reevs also told The State Press, “What these students are doing, standing up and simply asking people to help them identify violent people, is courageous. We need that kind of leadership, and I want to support them when they do that.” He attended the event and spoke to students to raise awareness about Antifa-related criminal activity on and around campus.
In a release promoting the event, CRU cited Gabriel Nadales, a former Antifa member and National Director of Our America who spoke at the group’s ASU chapter in 2019 about the connection between ANTIFA and the YDSA.
According to The State Press, YDSA co-chair Isaac Burdge denied any organizational ties to Antifa, stating the group opposes fascism but does not engage in violence.
Despite Burdge’s claims that YDSA is not violent, there have been many documented cases of violence, including Benjamin Cooper, YDSA’s agitprop director at ASU, who has had multiple arrests for assaulting police.
Correction: A previous version of this story said that Gabriel Nadales was a featured speaker at the October 23rd event. Nadales did not speak at the event, but spoke to the group in 2019. The story has been udpated to reflect this.
Correction: A previous version of this story failed to cite reporting from The State Press. The story has been updated.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Oct 30, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Newly obtained evidence reveals the pornographic and violent past of a Democratic leader in Tucson.
The posts, advocating for the harming and murdering of his political opponents and promotion of his pornography, came from Rocque Anthony Perez: an appointed Tucson City Council member (Ward 5) and, until joining the council in recent months, an executive director for Congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva’s Metropolitan Education Commission (MEC) nonprofit.
MEC advises and makes recommendations on K-12 education for Tucson as well as all of Pima County.
The California Globe published copies of since-deleted social media posts they received as a reflection of Perez’s recent past as a creator and disseminator of pornography, and an advocate of political violence.
In addition to the trove obtained by the Globe, AZ Free News recovered archived posts by Perez detailing his consistent advocacy for the harming and murdering of his political opponents.
The incriminating posts recovered occurred under two accounts: “@rocqueperez” and “@localanthony.” From the former, Perez posted his controversial political posts, and from the latter, Perez posted his pornographic posts.
From 2019 to 2020, Perez had served as Student Body Senator at the University of Arizona. He also led Tucson’s Pride Festival in 2019.
Throughout 2020, Perez advocated for the assault and murder of his political opponents.
In a June 2020 post, Perez told a friend to murder his conservative family members after the friend complained that living with them was unbearable.
“So kill them, do your duty baby girl,” said Perez.
In July 2020, Perez retweeted a picture of Ivanka Trump posing with a can of Goya beans with the following caption:
“Someone throw this b***h off the capitol building roof please,” said Perez.
Perez asked for someone to assault conservative activist and pundit Kaitlin Bennett in a January 2020 post.
“How has she not gotten beat yet? Like… hath no one the bravery to literally hurt her cause…?” said Perez.
“Roses are red, violets are blue, vote for Joe Biden, or I’ll cut you,” posted Perez in one post, with a picture of him pointing scissors at the camera.
“This vapid white girl is defending Trump[’s] response to COVID in my Zoom public relations class, do I end her or do I end her,” said Perez.
Perez expressed his hope, multiple times, that President Donald Trump would contract COVID-19 and die.
“PLEASE give Trump the Coronavirus please lordt, he is an at risk PLEASE,” posted Perez in March 2020.
In October, when then-President Donald Trump announced that he and then-First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19, Perez advocated for the president’s death.
“Take his life baby! Get him!” said Perez.
“Honestly I would take one for the team and knock him out if I could,” said Perez in a repost of a July post from Trump.
In an August 2020 post, Perez made a post about how he and the purportedly haunted Annabelle doll (who, at the time, was the subject of a viral rumor of having escaped the museum housing it) should kill the president.
“Annabelle escaped and I’m like, hey bb girl we got some people you should meet, don’t be shy, go say hell [knife emoji],” said Perez.
In July 2020, Perez expressed hope that COVID-19 would infect and eliminate multiple elderly Republican voters and members of the Arizona Republican Party leadership, including then-chair Kelli Ward, then-Sen. Martha McSally, and Rep. Paul Gosar.
“A lot of old white people in one place, it’d be a shame if [COVID] got em,” said Perez.
In March 2021, Perez asked in a post on X whether he should fight then-Governor Doug Ducey.
“Just saw Doug Ducey, do I square up or do I square up,” posted Perez.
Under his @localanthony handle, Perez posted pornographic videos and pictures to promote his Only Fans account.
Despite his numerous posts advocating for harm and death to his political opponents and his publicized OnlyFans content, Perez maintained his post as the public relations lead, then marketing and communications strategist for the University of Arizona, his alma mater. He would maintain that latter job through 2022 before joining Arizona State University as their communications manager.
ASU hired him, though Perez posted “F**k Arizona State University Bro” on his page in early January 2020.
Perez’s term on the Tucson City Council ends in December.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Jonathan Eberle | Oct 28, 2025 | Education, News
By Jonathan Eberle |
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne is welcoming discussions between the University of Arizona (UA), Arizona State University (ASU), and the Trump administration on a new Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, a federal initiative promoting merit-based standards and accountability in universities.
Horne, who also serves on the Arizona Board of Regents, said the compact reflects his long-held belief that education policy should prioritize individual achievement over racial or identity-based criteria.
“Since I took on the Tucson Unified district in 2008 to end the racially divisive ‘Ethnic Studies’ program, I have been fighting against racial entitlements,” Horne said in a statement. “People should be judged on their character and merit, not the color of their skin. The Trump administration’s federal compact for universities shares that same goal, and I am pleased that universities, including the University of Arizona and Arizona State University, are in discussions with the President on enshrining those principles in their schools.”
Horne also disputed recent reports suggesting that the University of Arizona had declined to participate in the compact, pointing instead to a recent letter from UA President Suresh Garimella to U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon. In the letter, Garimella expressed alignment with the administration’s goals of strengthening higher education through merit, excellence, and accountability.
“We share your vision of continuing to strengthen our higher education system for the betterment of the country — a vision rooted in a merit-based pursuit of excellence that directly or indirectly benefits all Americans,” Garimella wrote. He added that the university finds “much common ground with the ideas your administration is advancing” and welcomes collaboration with other institutions, higher education associations, and Congress “to advance and implement our principles in alignment with the national interest.”
Garimella’s Statement of Principles, included with the letter, outlines commitments to nondiscrimination, academic freedom, fiscal responsibility, and research integrity. It reaffirms that admissions and hiring decisions at UA will continue to be merit-based, and that diversity statements will not be used in employment processes. The document also emphasizes free speech protections, pledging to uphold the Chicago Principles on Freedom of Expression and to publish results from campus surveys on viewpoint diversity.
Under Garimella’s leadership, UA reports a 22% reduction in administrative spending, a tuition freeze for in-state students, and an expanded focus on aligning research priorities with national and economic security needs — reforms he described as consistent with the compact’s goals.
Horne said those steps demonstrate “a serious commitment to the kind of merit-driven, excellence-focused education system that Arizona taxpayers deserve.”
Both UA and ASU are expected to continue discussions with federal officials about implementing the compact in ways that preserve institutional autonomy while aligning with national standards for merit and accountability.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Jonathan Eberle | Sep 28, 2025 | Education, News
By Jonathan Eberle |
Arizona State University history professor Alexander Aviña is at the center of controversy after social media posts highlighted comments he made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk and Christianity.
The account Project Constitution posted on X that Aviña had referred to Kirk as “unimportant and hateful” and called Christians “blasphemous.” The post, which quickly spread online, accused the professor of mocking faith and using his position to disparage students’ beliefs.
A second post by Stu Smith also shared the clip from the podcast interview where Aviña continued to reflect on public mourning for Kirk. He compared the response to the aftermath of September 11, saying, “This feels even weirder than right after September 11th, much more intense.”
Aviña also described students whispering in his office out of concern for saying the wrong thing and criticized what he called the “fascistic revanchist right” for using the moment to “pummel the rest of us.”
In the same interview, Aviña ridiculed Kirk’s global influence, questioning whether “Kirk cultural or political spaces” might emerge in Latin America, and mocked online tributes depicting Kirk in heaven with Jesus.
“Gringo Christians are some of the most blasphemous, sacrilegious people,” he said, adding, “It is extremely bizarre… constant whiplash.”
The comments prompted backlash from voices online, who accused Aviña of disrespecting Christianity and dismissing the legacy of one of the right’s most prominent activists. Both Project Constitution and Stu Smith called on ASU to hold Aviña accountable, with Project Constitution urging followers to “cancel him.”
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
