‘A guy who never dies': Pam Bondi shoots Trump in the foot in Epstein saga

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The US Department of Justice concluded that there is no incriminating Jeffrey Epstein client list, inferring there's a list that's not incriminating read more
(File) Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at a news conference at the Justice Department, on Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. AP
It has turned out to be one 'Big Ugly Mess' for Donald Trump.
Jeffrey Epstein has risen from his ashes in his unmarked tomb at the IJ Morris Star of David mausoleum in Palm Beach, Florida, to possess the administration in particular and America in general.
Ironically, Trump, appealing to his angry MAGA base, said on Saturday that Epstein is '…a guy who never dies'.
'For years, it's Epstein, over and over again. 'Let's…not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about,' he posted on Truth Social.
Trump is right.
There's a 1,900 per cent rise in Google searches for Epstein this week compared to the last. Epstein was the top term searched alongside Trump.
Now, Trump's most powerful legal eagle is desperate to exorcise the administration of the paedophile-rapist's evil spirit.
However, US attorney general Pam Bondi's exorcism has instead pushed the administration and the nation further under Epstein's spell.
It started on July 7. The Department of Justice's (DoJ) memo stating that a joint FBI review of the Epstein files 'revealed no incriminating 'client list'' and that the Bureau's conclusion that the rapist 'committed suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York City on August 10, 2019' smacked of a big cover-up. Several lawmakers, conspiracy theorists and even Trump's ardent supporters and his MAGA base are livid.
DoJ shoots itself in the foot in the cover-up
The DoJ's abrupt announcement is self-damaging and indicates a cover-up.
The most important and controversial sentence in the memo is 'This systematic review revealed no incriminating 'client list'.'
The media, especially outlets highly critical of Trump, missed the concealment in the DoJ's memo.
The word 'incriminating' was never highlighted as the memo triggered consternation and rage.
The words 'no incriminating 'client list'' were turned into 'no client list'.
Even American news website Axios, the first to report on the memo, missed it.
'Exclusive: DOJ, FBI conclude Epstein had no 'client list,' died by suicide', read the Axios headline.
Other media outlets showed similar ignorance.
CNN said, 'Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide and there's no 'client list,' Justice Department says.'
CBS News said, 'Justice Department review finds Jeffrey Epstein had no 'client list' and died by suicide'.
NPR's headline was 'DOJ says no evidence Jeffrey Epstein had a 'client list' or blackmailed associates'.
The DOJ memo raises more questions than it provides answers.
In other words, the DoJ believes there's an Epstein 'client list'—not to forget the double quotes—that's not incriminating. It could also mean that the men who exploited the girls were not listed as clients because Epstein undoubtedly had a list of men to whom he trafficked the girls to get favours.
So, if the 'client list' isn't 'incriminating', why didn't the DoJ release it?
Epstein, with the help of his British socialite girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell—sentenced in 2022 to 20 years for sex-trafficking—sexually exploited/raped minor girls at his Little Saint James island, Palm Beach mansion, New Mexico home, Manhattan mansion or his Boeing 727 (Lolita Express) and passed them on to the crème de la crème of society.
Trump's name figures among the several high-profile and influential people, including politicians, achievers and A-list celebs, named in the Epstein files released by courts.
Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Robert F Kennedy Jr., Ehud Barak, Bill Richardson, Alan Dershowitz, Noam Chomsky, Stephen Hawking, Jean Luc Brunel, Michael Jackson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kevin Spacey, Cate Blanchett, Bruce Willis, Cameron Diaz, Naomi Campbell and others.
Andrew is one of the several men to whom Epstein supplied the underage girls he sexually assaulted. One of the girls, the late Virginia Giuffre—whose apparent suicide was a suspected murder—accused the prince of sexually exploiting her and filed a case that resulted in a $16 million out-of-court settlement in February 2022.
According to the DoJ, an 'exhaustive review of investigative holdings relating to' Epstein was conducted jointly with the FBI.
More than '300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence' were found after the FBI conducted digital searches of its databases, hard drives and network drives and 'physical searches of squad areas, locked cabinets, desks, closets and other areas where responsive material may have been stored'.
'The files relating to Epstein include a large volume of images of Epstein, images and videos of victims who are either minors or appear to be minors, and over ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography,' the memo reads.
The DoJ's admission that the material included videos and photos of child sex abuse and other pornography could also mean that the sexual exploitation of Epstein's victims by other men was recorded and photographed—in all probability, secretly.
According to Florida attorney Spencer Kuvin, who represented three of Epstein's victims, videotapes taken from multiple surveillance cameras inside Epstein's homes were never released.
'There are thousands of hours of videotapes taken from inside the homes of Jeffrey Epstein that have, I have no doubt, video of people on them. People that have never been named before. Never identified before. Let's see the tapes.'
The DoJ also contends that there 'was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions'.
However, it's been widely alleged that Epstein blackmailed several of his clients and friends after 'videorecording' their sexcapades and also threatening to leak their affairs, including that of Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates.
According to Epstein's younger brother Mark, the paedophile had shocking information on Trump and the Clintons that could have disrupted the 2016 presidential election.
'If I said what I know about both candidates, they'd have to cancel the election,' he told Mark in 2016. In his book Ticking Clock: Behind the Scenes at 60 Minutes, former 60 Minutes producer Ira Rosen recounts Maxwell telling him before the 2016 election that Epstein had videotapes of both presidents in compromising positions with women.
Regarding the release of Epstein files, the DoJ said that as much information as possible was released to the public 'while simultaneously protecting victims'.
'Through this review, we found no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials and will not permit the release of child pornography.'
If what Maxwell told Rosen was true, then the videotapes of Trump and Clinton in compromising positions with minors incriminate both presidents.
Trump's involvement with Epstein doesn't end at Maxwell's statement.
On October 31, 2024, five days before the presidential election, American journalist and author Michael Wolff, who has written four books on Trump, dropped a bombshell.
Wolff, whose 2018 book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House was a New York Times number-one bestseller, claimed in his podcast Fire & Fury that Epstein showed him photos of Trump with 'topless young women' in his lap in 2017 while he was researching for the book.
'They were with Trump at Epstein's Palm Beach house sitting around the pool with these young girls and the young girls are topless. And in some of the pictures, they're sitting in his lap. I mean, and, and then there's one I especially remember where there's a stain, a telltale stain and on the front of Trump's pants, and the girls are pointing at him and laughing,' said Wolff, who recorded 100 hours of conversation with the sex offender.
Epstein had about six pictures, Wolff claimed, taken in the 'late '90s' at his Palm Beach mansion and stored in his safe seized during the FBI raids in July 2019.
The pictures, part of 'hundreds of photos of girls and young women', were never made public.
Bondi has ensured that the videos of underage girls never 'see the light of day'. During a White House press conference on July 8, Bondi said that several of the videos 'turned out to be child porn' that will 'never be released and never going to see the light of day'.
Epstein's list of powerful men who abused minors
The DoJ used confusing and unclear language to mislead the public about the involvement of Trump and other powerful men with Epstein and what the files revealed about them. Bondi has desperately tried to bury the case.
However, that doesn't hide the fact that there was a list of men to whom Epstein trafficked the girls.
It's not only about Trump and whether he was an Epstein client. It's about other powerful men who exploited the girls.
Assuming Trump wasn't secretly filmed or there's no dirt on him or no 'client list', even then, the remaining Epstein files containing names of other men haven't been released.
The names in the files could be those of Trump's allies, wealthy donors and acquaintances.
Kuvin said, 'They're probably very wealthy donors to the party. And as a result, they don't want to shake the applecart.'
Kuvin claimed to have names of 'numerous high-profile individuals' shared by his clients who 'were utilising the services of Epstein and Maxwell to obtain girls while they were on the island'.
The names of 'some of those so-called customers remain hidden because of attorney-client privilege and non-disclosure agreements signed as part of their settlements'.
One such high-profile individual is former Harvard law professor Dershowitz, a very famous lawyer who represented Epstein, Mike Tyson and Julian Assange and was part of the defence teams of rapist and former film producer Harvey Weinstein in 2018 and Trump during his first impeachment trial in 2020.
In December 2014, a Florida court filing by lawyers Bradley Edwards and Paul Cassell alleged that Giuffre was trafficked to Dershowitz, at least six times. When Dershowitz sought the lawyers' disbarment, they sued for defamation in 2015.
In 2016, in her deposition in the 2015 defamation case, Giuffre repeated the allegation of having sex with Dershowitz on 'at least, six' occasions. 'Dershowitz was so comfortable with the sex that was going on that on one occasion, he observed me in sexual activity with Epstein,' she alleged.
Giuffre also alleged that Epstein encouraged her to have oral sex with Dershowitz in a limousine and have sex with him on board the Lolita Express. She allegedly saw him having sex with, at least, one more victim.
According to documents of Giuffre's 2015 defamation case against Maxwell released in January 20204, 'One such powerful individual that Epstein forced then-minor Jane Doe #3 to have sexual relations with was former Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz…'
Per the documents, 'Epstein required Jane Doe #3 to have sexual relations with Dershowitz on numerous occasions while she was a minor, not only in Florida but also on private planes, in New York, New Mexico and the US Virgin Islands. …Dershowitz was an eyewitness to the sexual abuse of many other minors by Epstein and several of Epstein's co-conspirators.'
On March 19, Dershowitz claimed that he knew the men to whom Epstein supplied the girls.
During an interview which has become viral with Sean Spicer, Trump's 2017 press secretary and communications director, on The Sean Spicer Show, Dershowitz said, 'I know the names of the individuals. I know why they're being suppressed. I know who's suppressing them.'
He added that he knows 'the names of people whose files are being suppressed in order to protect them', but he's 'bound by confidentiality from a Judge and cases'.
Bondi's past claim contradicts DoJ memo
Bondi's past statements and claims expose the memo's cover-up all the more.
Bondi triggered the controversy in February after pledging to reveal 'a lot of names' and 'a lot of flight logs' to ensure 'transparency and lifting the veil on the disgusting actions of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators'. However, she released only a small batch of files that were a compilation of public court documents.
A February 21 interview with Fox News exposes Bondi's shocking and sudden U-turn regarding 'no client list'.
When host John Roberts asked whether a 'list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients' would be released, Bondi replied, 'It's sitting on my desk right now to review. That's been a directive by President Trump. I'm reviewing that.'
Though Bondi didn't say she would release the list, she acknowledged its existence.
In another interview with Fox News on March 1, when host Mark Levin suggested that some New York City officials supporting the Democrats 'don't like the names on the list' and were 'trying to protect a lot of names and individuals,' Bondi said, 'I think it's very interesting that they withheld that from us.'
The memo directly contradicts Bondi.
When reporters asked her about her February statement at the White House presser, Bondi said that she had referred to the entire Epstein file. 'That's what I meant by that.'
Does that mean the non-incriminating—that's what the memo infers—Epstein 'client list' wasn't part of the Epstein files?
FBI's stance, DoJ clash smack of a cover-up
From the very start, it was evident that the DoJ and FBI weren't on the same page about the Epstein files.
Bondi's differences with FBI director Kash Patel were first evident in February when she failed to release any new information about Epstein—despite her promise—and blamed the FBI for withholding 'thousands of pages of documents' from her.
That doesn't mean that the FBI wasn't part of the cover-up.
Patel was aware of the videos, yet contradicted Bondi's claim of having them two months before the memo was released.
In May, a sting published by conservative activist James O'Keefe showed Bondi discussing with an anonymous, self-described 'nanny' that the FBI was processing 'tens of thousands of videos' of Epstein 'with little kids.'
AG Pam Bondi Was Covertly Recorded on April 28, Revealing Previously Undisclosed Information About Epstein Regarding 'Tens of Thousands of Videos of Little Kids' to a Complete Stranger in a D.C. Restaurant
Yesterday, the AG Made an Almost Identical Statement Publicly After… pic.twitter.com/HFKSRPq6nv — O'Keefe Media Group (@OKeefeMedia) May 8, 2025
Later, the same month, Bondi publicly said, 'There are tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn, and there are hundreds of victims.
Bondi repeated that the FBI was processing the videos. 'It's just the volume and that's what they're going through right now. The FBI is diligently going through that.'
Clearly, the FBI possessed the videos.
However, in June, Patel contradicted Bond on Joe Rogan's podcast.
'If there was a video of some guy or gal committing felonies on an island and I'm in charge, don't you think you'd see it?' he asked on The Joe Rogan Experience.
When Rogan asked, 'Is there video from the island?', Patel replied, 'Not of what you want.'
The FBI's changing stance on the existence of the Epstein list makes it complicit in the cover-up—even if it is under Bondi's pressure.
Like on the Rogan podcast, Patel again denied the Epstein conspiracy theories on Saturday.
'The conspiracy theories just aren't true, never have been. It's an honor to serve the President of the United States @realDonaldTrump — and I'll continue to do so for as long as he calls on me,' he posted on X.
However, before being appointed FBI director, Patel publicly said that paedophiles were on the Epstein list and derided House GOP members for failing to release it.
'Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are,' he told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson in December 2023 , referring to House Republicans.
Patel believed that Congress obstructed the list's release 'because of who's on that list.' 'You don't think that Bill Gates is lobbying Congress night and day to prevent the disclosure of that list?'. In November, he told Johnson that Trump is going to 'maybe' release the 'Epstein list'.
Similarly, Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and podcaster and Patel's current deputy in the FBI, told his audience in 2023 that the Epstein 'story is a big deal. Please, do not let that story go'. 'What the hell are they hiding with Jeffrey Epstein?' he asked.
Bongino even believed that Epstein 'may have had video and audio of people out there doing things [sexually exploiting girls] they shouldn't have been doing.'
Now, the cracks in Trump's coterie have turned into a bitter shouting match.
Following a NewsNation article in which a source said that Patel and Bongino wanted to release more information on Epstein but were held back by the DoJ, Bondi confronted them in the presence of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and her deputy, Taylor Budowich, on July 9.
Bongino, angry with Bondi for overpromising material related to Epstein and her flip-flop on the 'client list', denied leaking any information to NewsNation.
Two days later, Bongino didn't turn up for work. The Daily Wire reported that he's threatening to leave if Bondi remains with Patel following suit.
Epstein's 'Black Book' and Trump
Was Epstein eliminated because of his 'Black Book', which contained 1,749 entries of 1,510 people, including Trump and around 40 members of royalty and European nobility and 12 high-ranking politicians and diplomats?
According to Epstein's former house manager Alfredo Rodriguez, the paedophile's staff compiled the book. Several people mentioned in the book have denied ever meeting Epstein—but they met Maxwell. However, if they met him or were part of his sex racket, would they have admitted it?
Discovered by famous investigative journalist Nick Bryant in 2012, the Black Book was first published by Gawker, a non-mainstream media website/blog, in 2015.
Unsurprisingly, the booklet and the published flight manifest of people on board the Lolita Express didn't get traction with the mainstream media. However, the Black Book was under the media glare after Epstein's arrest in July 2019.
There's a high probability that the influential persons mentioned in the booklet feared being implicated. 'If Epstein talks, there's gonna be a lot of powerful people who could go down,' Bryant told Vanity Fair in July 2019.
Besides Trump, his family members, late wife Ivana and their daughter Ivanka, and his late brother Robert and his then-wife Blaine, are also mentioned in the book.
Trump's name appears along with several phone numbers and email addresses appears on Page 80 of a digital copy of Epstein's book
Interestingly, the names of Trump, Barak and Dershowitz are circled in the booklet.
Kuvin, though he denied that there's a 'client list', mentioned a phonebook (Black Book) of high-profile individuals who 'would make the call because they happened to be in town for the winter and say, 'Hey, I need somebody today.' Then Maxwell would round up the girls and send someone over'.
The writer is a freelance journalist with more than two decades of experience and comments primarily on foreign affairs. He tweets as @FightTheBigots. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the writer. They do not reflect Firstpost's views.