When financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein died in his jail cell around six years ago, he left behind a swirl of mysteries that continue to provoke conversation today. While federal officials recently tried to put a lid on the case, questions remain.
This month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice released a memorandum regarding the case and said that an “exhaustive review of investigative holdings,” related to Epstein had been conducted. In the memo, the departments said that the holdings included many photos of Epstein himself as well as a large volume of child pornography materials.
“Much of the material is subject to court-ordered sealing,” said the memo. “Only a fraction of this material would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial, as the seal served only to protect victims and did not expose any additional third-parties to allegations of illegal wrongdoing.”
It also addressed a topic that has created social media buzz for years – a “client list” that multibillionaire Elon Musk posted about in 2022. Musk, who was up until recently a close ally of President Donald Trump, claimed during their public break-up that Trump is in the “Epstein files” and added “that is the real reason they have not been made public.”
“Through this review, we found no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials and will not permit the release of child pornography,” said the DOJ/FBI memo. “This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list.’”
However, some questioned this statement, citing Attorney General Pam Bondi appearing to say earlier this year that she had the list on her desk ready for review. Bondi – who declassified and publicly released files related to Epstein this February – addressed the issue Tuesday during a cabinet meeting.
“In February I did an interview on Fox and it’s been getting a lot of attention because I was asked a question about the client list. And my response was, ‘It’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed,’ meaning the file, along with the JFK, MLK files as well,” she said. “That’s what I meant by that. Also, to the tens of thousands of videos, they turned out to be child porn downloaded by that disgusting Jeffrey Epstein. Child porn is what they were. Never going to be released. Never going to see the light of day.”
Even conservatives and Trump supporters have questioned the narrative out of the DOJ, including media personality Tucker Carlson.
“The current DOJ under Pam Bondi is covering up crimes. Very serious crimes, by their own description,” he said in a recent interview with Saagar Enjeti, host of “Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar” and former Daily Caller White House correspondent.
Carlson offered two potential theories as to why the administration would do such a thing. One would be that Trump was involved, as Musk hinted at, but he quickly discounted that one.
“I don’t think he likes creepy sex stuff,” said Carlson of the president. That left the second theory – that intel services, including the Central Intelligence Agency were involved with whatever was in the files.
He also told Enjeti that he reached out to the Federal Bureau of Prisons for information about the other prisoners on Epstein’s cell block at the time he died. According to Carlson he was denied in order to protect the prisoners’ privacy.
“F**k you, actually,” Carlson said to that.
According to the DOJ and the FBI, the review of the Epstein files also revealed “no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions,” and did not uncover evidence that would lead to any new investigations against uncharged third parties. Furthermore, the review concluded that Epstein died by suicide at age 66 in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on Aug. 10, 2019.
“This conclusion is consistent with previous findings, including the August 19, 2019 autopsy findings of the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the November 2019 position of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in connection with the investigation of federal correctional officers responsible for guarding Epstein, and the June 2023 conclusions of DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General,” as well as video footage from the common area of the Special Housing Unit (SHU) where Epstein was housed at the time of his death, said the memo.
Although current FBI Director Kash Patel previously discussed the “client list” on a right-wing podcast before Trump’s second term, according to Forbes, he has insisted this year that Epstein took his own life.
“When Kash Patel came out with that statement, I laughed at how stupid it was,” said Mark Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein’s brother, in a recent interview with Chris Cuomo for NewsNation. He also took issue with the video that has been released from the prison.
During the Tuesday cabinet meeting, Bondi was questioned about a minute allegedly missing from the video and whether Epstein was an agent for a foreign or American intelligence agency.
‘The minute missing from the video, we released the video showing definitively the video was not conclusive, but the evidence prior to it was showing he committed suicide... there was a minute that was off the counter,” said Bondi. “And what we learned from Bureau of Prisons was every night they redo that video. It was old, from 1999. So, every night the video is reset and every night should have the same minute missing, so we’re looking for that video to release that as well, showing that a minute is missing every night.”
As to whether Epstein was an agent, Bondi said: “I have no knowledge about that. We can get back to you on that.”
Despite comments from Trump administration officials, YouGov polling published Wednesday indicates that a 45% plurality of people said they are not at all confident that “all people connected with Jeffrey Epstein who are alleged to have committed sex crimes will be thoroughly investigated?”
Trump said Tuesday that he doesn’t think the Epstein case should be a high priority.
“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years,” he said. “We have Texas, we have this, we have all other things. And are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable.”