On Tuesday, United States President Donald Trump and US Attorney General Pam Bondi evaded questions from reporters on a recent government review about the accused sex trafficker and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded that Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell. However, questions are coming from right-wing conspiracy theorists, many of whom are part of Trump’s MAGA [Make America Great Again] base, who have long posited widely circulated conspiracy claims that Epstein was murdered because he possessed sexually compromising material on powerful figures and a “client list”.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

Here is what we know about how the Epstein case is causing a MAGA split.

Why have MAGA conspiracy theories about Epstein resurfaced now?

A memo, released on Monday by the Justice Department and the FBI stated that a government review had found no evidence that Epstein had a specific “secret client list”.

The memo also reaffirmed that Epstein had died by suicide, stating, “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 US 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.”

Advertisement

However, right-wing Americans and online sleuths have long posed conspiracy theories that the government covered up the truth of Epstein’s death. The latest memo has sparked these back into action.

Besides the memo, the DOJ released a video on Monday of Epstein’s jail cell on the night he died, showing that no one entered Epstein’s jail cell during that night. In the video, however, the time code jumps by one minute and two seconds just before midnight, further inflaming the conspiracy theorists.

What did Trump say to reporters about Jeffrey Epstein?

During a White House Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, a reporter asked Bondi about the missing minute on the Epstein prison video.

The reporter said, “The memo released yesterday on Jeffrey Epstein, it left some lingering mysteries, and one of the biggest ones is whether he worked for an American or foreign intelligence agency. Could you say why there was a minute missing from the jailhouse tape on the night of his death?”

Trump jumped in, asking, “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years”, with clear frustration.

“Are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable,” Trump added before asking Bondi if she wanted to “waste time” answering the question.

Trump shut the question off, saying, “I mean, I can’t believe you’re asking a question on Epstein at a time like this, where we’re having some of the greatest success and also tragedy, with what happened in Texas,” referring to flash floods that roiled the southern US state over the weekend, killing 109 people. “It just seems like a desecration,” Trump added.

While campaigning for the presidential election last year, however, Trump had said he would release files related to Epstein.

Bondi told the reporter that she had no knowledge about Epstein being an “agent”. “We can get back to you on that,” she said.

She added that the prison camera system was old – “from 1999”. “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. And that’s it on Epstein,” she said.

What happened to Epstein?

Born and raised in New York, Epstein was a millionaire financier known for associating with socialites, politicians and celebrities. He died in a Manhattan jail cell on August 10, 2019.

In 2005, Epstein was accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl after her parents reported it to the police. This led to the police speaking to more girls who came forward to make similar allegations. Ultimately, in 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to a charge relating to a single victim. He spent 13 months in prison on a work-release programme, which allowed him to leave jail to go to work during the day and return at night.

Advertisement

In 2019, he was charged with sex trafficking by federal prosecutors in New York.

The US attorney in Manhattan also prosecuted Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell – daughter of the disgraced media mogul, Robert Maxwell, who died in 1991 after being accused of stealing from employees’ pensions in the UK. Ghislaine Maxwell was accused of being Epstein’s co-conspirator in his sexual abuse scheme. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence that she received in 2022.

In January last year, some 950 pages of court documents pertaining to allegations against Epstein were made public. These documents contained accounts by Epstein’s victims saying that they saw prominent figures, including musicians, academics and politicians in Epstein’s company from Michael Jackson to Bill Clinton.

The inclusion of a name in the files does not indicate there are any allegations against the individual, and the individuals listed in these files were not Epstein’s clients.

What do conspiracy theorists believe about Epstein’s death and why?

Theories that Epstein’s death was covered up by the government – according to some, because he was a spy for unknown agencies – have been floating around in right-wing circles throughout the six years since his death.

In 2022, FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and residence because the National Archives wanted to ensure Trump did not have any classified documents taken during his first term as president.

Less than a day later, far-right internet personality Jack Posobiec made suggestions of a conspiracy when he posted on Telegram: “We now know the judge who signed off on the Mar-a-Lago raid was Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyer. Don’t question it!”

This claim was misleading, however, because while Federal Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart had indeed represented employees of Epstein, local press reported that any magistrate judge would have signed off on the raid and Reinhart was just the one who was available.

Close Trump aide and FBI director Kash Patel had also cast doubts on the conclusion that Epstein died by suicide before Trump appointed him to lead FBI. FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino has also expressed similar doubts in the past. In 2023, Patel, addressing the then-leaders of the FBI, said on a YouTube show, “Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are.”

In May this year, Patel and Bongino both changed their positions to the US government’s conclusion: that Epstein died by suicide.

Why has Attorney General Pam Bondi come under pressure now?

Bondi has spoken about the Epstein files in the past and is seen as having stirred up interest and expectations of revelations among conspiracy theorists.

During an interview with Fox News in February, Bondi was asked, “The DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients, will that really happen?”

She responded, “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”

Also in February, political commentators and far-right influencers were invited to the White House and presented with documents titled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1”. Bondi then released these documents, which did not contain anything revelatory about the Epstein case. However, she also said that she had delivered a “truckload” of evidence about the Epstein case to the FBI.

Advertisement

Monday’s memo, which stated that the “list” Bondi has been promising to release did not exist, was the final nail in the coffin of disappointment for critics within MAGA. On Tuesday, Bondi denied that she had been talking about a “client list”. Instead, the “list” she was referring to was the Epstein case file. “That’s what I meant by that,” she said.

On Tuesday, Bondi also said that the thousands of videos regarding the Epstein case, reviewed by US intelligence, could not, in fact, be released to the public since they contained child sexual abuse. “Child porn is what they were. Never going to be released, never going to see the light of day,” she said.

What are the conspiracy theorists saying now?

Following the government memo on Monday, far-right personalities expressed further disappointment.

The ‘missing minute’ in the Epstein video

Conservatives, including social media personality Robby Starbuck, raised questions about the video posted by the DOJ on Monday in online posts.

Allegations of a government cover-up

Far-right influencer Jack Posobiec posted on X: “We were all told more was coming. That answers were out there and would be provided. Incredible how utterly mismanaged this Epstein mess has been. And it didn’t have to be.”

Alex Jones is another conspiracy theorist who has spent three years in federal bankruptcy court after families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting won $1.3bn in two defamation suits in Connecticut and Texas against him. He had spread conspiracy theories that the shooting was a hoax. Now, he is engaging with more conspiracy theories.

He wrote on X on Tuesday: “Next the DOJ will say ‘Actually, Jeffrey Epstein never even existed’,” deeming the memo’s findings “over the top sickening”.

Trump ally and another conspiracy theorist, Laura Loomer, also wrote on X: “Pam Blondi [sic] is covering up child sex crimes that took place under HER WATCH when she was Attorney General of Florida,” adding that Bondi “needs to be fired”.

Epstein’s ‘links’ to Trump and Steve Bannon

Last month, billionaire Elon Musk, a former Trump ally claimed in a now-deleted post that Trump was named in Epstein files, which remain sealed. He later expressed regret for the social media jabs he made towards Trump, but this week, he made a further series of posts alleging that the government is withholding material about Epstein.

“How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won’t release the Epstein files?” Musk posted on Tuesday. In a reply to another post, Musk also alleged that “Bannon is in the Epstein files”, referring to former White House adviser and Trump aide Steve Bannon.

Advertisement

Musk did not provide evidence for this, and Bannon’s name is not in the files that were released in January 2024. Musk and Bannon have clashed in the past over the H-1B visa programme that brings foreign workers to the US.

Last month, the relationship between Musk and Trump nosedived over Trump’s tax-and-spending bill, referred to as the “One Big Beautiful Bill”.

What was Trump’s relationship with Epstein?

Trump’s name does appear in the Epstein files released in January 2024, but he is not accused of anything. Here is the context.

Johanna Sjoberg, one of the many women who have accused Epstein of sexual abuse, mentioned a 2001 incident when she boarded a plane with Epstein and a few others in Palm Beach, Florida. Sjoberg said that Virginia Giuffre, another woman who sued Epstein for abusing her at his homes in Florida, New York, the US Virgin Islands and New Mexico, was also present on the plane. Giuffre later accused Epstein and Prince Andrew of the UK of sexual abuse but died by suicide earlier this year.

The plane was unable to land in New York due to a storm and was forced to land in Atlantic City and visited one of Trump’s casinos. Sjoberg said that Giuffre was underage at the time of this incident, and that Sjoberg was asked if she was allowed into the casino. “I did not know anything about how old you had to be to gamble legally. I just knew she could not get in because of an ID issue, so she and I did not gamble,” Sjoberg answered.