By A much-ballyhooed release of documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case devolved into anger and disappointment Thursday, with conservative figures and even Attorney General Pam Bondi alleging FBI agents were hiding the full case files.
Epstein, a New York City financier whose social circle included presidents and other rich and powerful figures, died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 after he was charged with running a sex trafficking ring involving minors.
His case has long been an obsession of those who are convinced that the names of prominent figures involved in his sex trafficking network have been kept secret. Conspiracy theorists have also speculated without real evidence that Epstein didn’t die by suicide but was in fact killed in his jail cell to prevent names from leaking out.
Thousands of law enforcement files have been released over the years with no such smoking gun revelations. (Some have been redacted or sealed to protect victims and because of ongoing civil and criminal litigation.) The content that was ultimately released Thursday appears to have already been public. Most of the material was exhibits used in the trial of an Epstein associate.
But people on the right pushed the new Trump administration for the latest release. And leading up to it, there was discussion in right-wing social media circles suggesting that this time, with President Donald Trump back in office, would be different.
Then, Thursday, a handful of right-wing media figures were photographed leaving the White House holding binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1.” The figures included Jack Posobiec, who helped spread the false “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory about Democrats’ operating a satanic child abuse ring out of a Washington pizzeria that led to a shooting at the restaurant.
Some went on to cheer the release of the files on their social media accounts. But almost immediately some of them started downplaying what was in the documents.
Later Thursday, a letter from Bondi to FBI Director Kash Patel was made public. In it, she said she had learned “from a source” that the FBI field office in New York had “thousands of” Epstein-related documents that were never disclosed to her.
Instead, Bondi wrote, she had received only 200 pages of documents. She went on to demand that the “full and complete Epstein files” be delivered to her office by 8 a.m. Friday.
“There will be no withholdings or limitations to my or your access,” she wrote.
Bondi acknowledged, though, that some information couldn’t be released to protect the identities of the victims. “The Department of Justice will ensure that any public disclosure of these files will be done in a manner to protect the privacy of victims and in accordance with the law,” she wrote.
Two senior Justice Department officials who asked to remain anonymous because they weren’t authorized to speak on the record told NBC News that there would be very little new information in any release, given how much has already been made public.
One of the senior Justice Department officials said they perceived the purpose and the timing of the release of the Epstein documents by Bondi as “a distraction” from other matters.
Conservative figures and conspiracy theorists, including some of those who’d received the binder, quickly took to social media alleging a cover-up that had kept the revelations they believe must exist out of the binder.
Liz Wheeler, one of the right-wing media figures who was at the White House and got the binder, said on X: “Be outraged that the binder is boring. You should be. Because the evil deep state LIED TO YOUR FACE.”
Radio host Glenn Beck wrote: “Who is subverting POTUS? The #Epsteinfiles are a total joke. I know Kash, Pam B and The President. This is not the file.”
The MAGA influencer who goes by Catturd chimed in, “Send these scumbag traitor agents to prison and throw away the key.”
Epstein was found hanged in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City in August 2019, and the New York medical examiner has ruled his death a suicide, a conclusion supported by the Justice Department’s inspector general. He had been arrested the previous month on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges brought by federal prosecutors in New York. He was facing up to 45 years in prison if he were convicted.
The prosecutors in the case said Epstein, who was 66 when he died, sexually abused dozens of underage girls and young women at his properties in New York and Florida in the early 2000s. He was also accused of paying many of his victims to recruit others, allowing him to build a vast network of women to exploit.
The charges came more than a decade after Epstein signed a controversial non-prosecution deal in Florida in 2008. The once-secret agreement ended a federal sex crimes investigation against him and spared him the prospect of a long prison sentence. Alex Acosta, the U.S. attorney who approved the plea deal, was appointed labor secretary during Trump’s first term. He resigned in July 2019 after the deal came under renewed scrutiny.
Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution and served 13 months in the Palm Beach County jail in that case.
His social circle once included a who’s who of famous people, including Prince Andrew, former President Bill Clinton and Trump. All three have denied being involved in any criminal behavior.
A fund set up to compensate women Epstein sexually abused closed down in 2021 after having paid out roughly $121 million to about 150 victims.
The announcement provided the most comprehensive accounting to date of the number of women and young girls Epstein is alleged to have sexually assaulted.
