The notorious Jeffrey Epstein died on August 10, 2019, and for nearly six years many people have believed that the whole story of his sordid sex-trafficking, exploitation of underage girls, and famous friends and alleged clients has never been told. This week, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation are announcing that there’s no evidence Epstein kept a client list, or blackmailed anyone, nor is there any evidence Epstein’s death was anything but a suicide. If that seems like a dramatic reversal from past comments from the likes of Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, it’s because it is.
Nothing to See Here
How do you get a conspiracy theorist to stop believing in the conspiracy? Put him in charge of revealing the conspiracy, with full police powers and no excuse for failing to deliver the full story or hold the perpetrators accountable.
According to Axios, the U.S. Justice Department and FBI have concluded they have no evidence that convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein blackmailed powerful figures, kept a “client list,” or was murdered.
This is not what U.S. AG Pam Bondi was telling the American people back in February, during an appearance on Fox News Channel:
Anchor John Roberts: The DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients?Attorney General Bondi: It’s sitting on my desk right now to review. That’s been a directive by President Trump. I’m reviewing that, I’m reviewing JFK files, MLK files, That’s all in the process of being reviewed, because that was done at the directive of the president from all of these agencies.Roberts: So have you seen anything, that you said, ‘oh, my gosh?’Bondi: Not yet.
Later that month, Bondi released a mix of newly declassified and previously publicly released files relating to the Epstein case, but not anything that resembled a “client list.” Many figures on the right who adamantly believed the government had been covering up those involved in Epstein’s crimes believed that Bondi was overhyping her findings, and contended that low-level agents were hiding evidence from their superiors.
After that negative response from some corners of the MAGA base, Bondi went on Sean Hannity’s program in early March and claimed that she had recently received a “truckload” of evidence:
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed that the Department of Justice has received more Jeffery Epstein files from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after the document release she touted last week fell flat.Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday night, Bondi confirmed that a “truckload” of Epstein files were delivered by the FBI after she gave the agency until 8 a.m. on Friday morning to deliver them.“I gave [the FBI] a deadline of Friday at 8 a.m. to get us everything,” Bondi explained. “And a source had told me where the documents were being kept, Southern District of New York, shock. So we got them all by Friday at 8 a.m.” . . .
Bondi went on to describe the documents as being “a truckload of evidence,” and emphasized that a detailed report is incoming.
As recently as February 7, Dan Bongino was hosting his podcast, talking up Epstein’s connections to the Clintons, and declaring, “It’s time to start overturning that rock, and seeing what’s underneath.” Keep in mind, Bongino is now the deputy director of the FBI:
I’ve been covering it for a long time. The Jeffrey Epstein case — you do not know all the details of this thing, I promise. There are a lot of really obviously powerful people. This part you know, but the specific names, we may not. Including, I believe, the Clintons, based on information I discussed yesterday, who are knee-deep in involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, and no one can figure out what the level of entanglement is. Jeffrey Epstein met with Obama’s fixer, his lawyer, Kathryn Ruemmler, who was always the one in the middle of these Obama scandals. And we can’t figure out why, what they’re hiding. Here’s Marsha Blackburn, who has been all over this, she’s a senator [in] Tennessee, a Republican obviously. And she’s like, “Hey, man. Is it time now? It’s time to start overturning that rock and seeing what’s underneath.”
Whoopsie! It turns out the list never existed, according to Bongino’s department now.
Axios writes, “The findings represent the first time Trump’s administration has officially contradicted conspiracy theories about Epstein’s activities and his death — theories that had been pushed by the FBI’s top two officials before Trump appointed them to the bureau.”
Apparently everyone has amnesia about FBI Director Kash Patel and Bongino sitting down with Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo in May 18 and declaring:
Bartiromo: You said Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide. People don’t believe it.Patel: Well, I mean, listen. They have a right to their opinion, but as someone who has worked as a public defender, as a prosecutor, who’s been in that prison system, been in the Metropolitan Detention Center, who’s been in segregated housing, you know a suicide when you see one, and that’s what that was.Bongino: He killed himself. Again, you want me to — I’ve seen the whole file. He killed himself.
Unsurprisingly, quite a few people in MAGA were not willing to take Bongino’s word for it, and said so publicly. By May 29, Bongino appeared on Fox & Friends and appeared irked that the conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death had continued:
Bongino: I want to be crystal clear on this. I am not asking anyone to believe me. I’m telling you what is there and what isn’t. There is nothing in the file at this point on the Epstein case, and there will be a disclosure on this coming shortly. We’re working through — there is video, that is something the public does not—Lawrence: There’s video of him killing himself?Bongino: "No, no. Not the actual act. But the entire [Metropolitan Correctional Center] bay, there was only one camera. There is video, when you look at the video and we will release it, that’s what’s taking a while on this. We’re working to clean it up for enhanced — and we will give the original. You will see no one there, but him. There is no one there. If you have a tip, let us know. There is no DNA, no audio, no fingerprints, no accomplices, no tips, nothing. If you have it, I’m happy to see it. Video clear as day, only person in there and only person coming out."
Later in that interview, Bongino sounded quite stressed by the job, and underappreciated:
"I gave up everything for this. . . . My wife is struggling. . . . If you think we’re here for tea and crumpets, I mean, Kash is there all day. Our offices are linked. He turns on the faucet, I hear it. He gets in at like, six o’clock in the morning. He doesn’t leave until seven at night. You know, I’m in there at seven thirty in the morning. You know, he uses the gym, I work out in my apartment. But I stare at these four walls all day in D.C., you know, by myself, divorced from my wife. Not divorced, but I mean, separated. And it’s hard. You know, we love each other."
Roughly a month ago, when President Trump and Elon Musk were having their extremely public spat, Musk posted on X, “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” Musk later deleted the posts.
First, even if we assumed that was true, how would Musk know?
Second, from this statement there are two possibilities. Either Elon Musk is the kind of person who (A) knew that Trump was in the “Epstein files” and was connected to a notorious sex-trafficking ring for a really long time and felt compelled to reveal this information to the public only when he was losing the argument about spending levels in the “Big Beautiful Bill,” or (B) would falsely claim that Trump was in the “Epstein files” because he was losing the argument about spending levels in the “Big Beautiful Bill.” Neither option speaks particularly well of Musk.
For those who insist a “client list” must exist, let us point out that a sex-trafficking ring can indeed have a collection of regular clients and have the good sense to not keep a list of those clients on any document, paper or electronic. In a famous scene from The Wire, a drug dealer incredulously asks a naïve younger man, “Are you taking notes on a criminal conspiracy?”
At absolute minimum, Bondi had no problem creating a false impression of what she had found and what kinds of information would be released. At absolute minimum, when Bongino was a podcaster, he felt comfortable speaking about theories and allegations as if they were proven facts — “The Clintons, based on information I discussed yesterday, are knee-deep in involvement with Jeffrey Epstein,” etc. And then once Bongino got what he said he wanted — a position of authority where he could “start overturning that rock and seeing what’s underneath” — he was forced to conclude he couldn’t bring any charges that a jury would find plausible beyond a reasonable doubt.
Apparently, sometimes you overturn a rock, and you just find the bottom of a rock.
We have a lot of people in our government who lie, and who don’t really think there’s anything all that wrong about lying. They don’t think it’s wrong to lie about sexual abuse. They don’t think it’s wrong to claim to have seen evidence that they didn’t see and that apparently never existed. They don’t see any contradiction in making media appearances for years, making accusations of the most salacious and notorious crimes, and then, once they’re in a position of power and authority to bring criminal charges, shrugging their shoulders and announcing that there’s no evidence.
They think you will be just fine with all of this.
