Trump Kept Epstein Issue at Arm's Length. His Allies Did Not
While the idea of a secret 'Epstein client list' became a fixation for far-right influencers and members of Trump's base, the candidate himself rarely brought up Epstein unprompted in campaign speeches or rallies. Instead, it was Trump's official and unofficial surrogates—many of whom now occupy top posts in his Administration—who repeatedly stoked expectations that explosive revelations were imminent, often suggesting prosecutions were coming and that thousands of pages of damning material would soon be released.
Now many in Trump's base are accusing him of falling far short of what they expected him to do with the Epstein case, partly because of years of rhetoric from his allies that neither Trump nor his campaign did much to refute. After the Justice Department and FBI announced this month that there is no incriminating 'client list' and no further disclosures would be made, Trump lashed out at his own supporters who were calling on him to release the files. 'My PAST supporters have bought into this 'bull—t,' hook, line, and sinker,' he wrote on Truth Social. 'I don't want their support anymore!'
But some of his supporters pointed out that it was Trump himself who had deployed Epstein's alleged client list as political ammunition a decade ago, as he was laying groundwork for his first presidential run. At the conservative conference known as CPAC in February 2015, when Trump was asked for his thoughts on former President Bill Clinton, he responded: 'Nice guy. Got a lot of problems coming up in my opinion with the famous island with Jeffrey Epstein. A lot of problems.'
Asked later that year by Bloomberg about Clinton and the alleged sexual abuse that took place on Epstein's private Caribbean island, Trump said, 'That island was really a cesspool. There's no question about it. Just ask Prince Andrew. He'll tell you about it.'
Here is a snapshot of what Trump and his top allies said about the Epstein files during the 2024 campaign season and into the early months of his second term.
Trump's statements
June 2, 2024 — Trump on Fox & Friends
In a lengthy interview, Trump was asked about declassifying files from high-profile investigations. He didn't hesitate in agreeing to declassify files from investigations into the Sept. 11 attacks and the Jan. 6 insurrection. When asked about Epstein, he was more circumspect.
Host Rachel Campos-Duffy: 'Would you declassify the Epstein files?'
Trump: 'Yeah, yeah, I would. I guess I would. I think that less so, because you don't know — You don't want to affect people's lives if there's phony stuff in there, because there's a lot of phony stuff in that whole world. But I think I would, or at least—'
Duffy: 'Do you think that would restore trust — help restore trust.'
Trump: 'Yeah. I don't know about Epstein so much as I do the others. Certainly about the way he died. It'd be interesting to find out what happened there, because that was a weird situation and the cameras didn't happen to be working, etc., etc. But yeah, I'd go a long way toward that one.'
Sept. 3, 2024 — Lex Fridman's podcast
Trump was more assertive when asked by Friedman about releasing Epstein's client list.
Trump: 'Yeah, I'd certainly take a look at it. … Yeah, I'd be inclined to do the Epstein, I'd have no problem with it.'Vice President J.D. Vance
Trump announced Vance, a Republican Senator from Ohio, as his running mate in July 2024.
Oct. 22, 2024 — Theo Von's podcast
Two weeks before the election, Vance said on Von's program that the government should release files about the criminal investigation into Epstein. On July 16, Von reposted the clip on X with the caption: 'Yeah what changed?'
Vance: 'Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list. That is an important thing.'
FBI Director Kash Patel
The staunch Trump defender who appeared on the campaign trail with Trump has peddled conspiracy theories about the Epstein case for years. In 2023, he wrote a book titled 'Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth and the Battle for Our Democracy.'
Dec. 23, 2023 — Patel on Truth Social
'Been calling for ALL of it to be released so the public can have accountability- we must find out who pedo'd around with Epstein: Barr totally failed'
September 22, 2024 — Patel on Truth Social
'Anyone else want to see the Diddy list, that the FBI and DOJ have but wont release… just like Epstein blackbook?
The Deep State won't end until we put @realDonaldTrump back at 1600 Penn'
Jan. 30, 2025 — Patel at his Senate confirmation hearing
Sen. Marsha Blackburn: 'So, will you work with me on this issue so we know who worked with Jeffrey Epstein in building these sex trafficking rings?'
Patel: 'Absolutely, Senator.'
May 28, 2025 — Patel on Fox News
Host Bret Baier: 'You're not going to withhold information from the public?'
Patel: 'I'm not going to withhold information from the American public, ever. … It takes time to go through years of investigations, years of political maneuvering, and years of cover-up.'
June 6, 2025 — Patel on the Joe Rogan Experience
Rogan: 'Is there evidence that there's video? Is there evidence that it was moved around?'
Patel: 'You're going to get all that information. … That's literally what we're putting together. And we're going to give you every single thing we have and can.'
Attorney General Pam Bondi
Trump's pick to lead the Justice Department is the main government official tasked with reviewing and coordinating the release of any Epstein-related information. She had initially said that Epstein's client list was "sitting on my desk right now to review.' A DOJ memo later contradicted that statement, saying there was no evidence of such a list.
Feb. 21, 2025 — Bondi on Fox News
Host John Roberts: 'DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients? Will that really happen?'
Bondi: 'It is sitting on my desk right now, to review.'
Feb. 26, 2025 — Bondi on Fox News
Host Jesse Watters: 'You said you have the Epstein files on your desk.'
Bondi: 'I do.'
March 1, 2025 — Bondi on Fox News
Host Mark Levin: 'So once all that's gathered you're just going to put it out in the public…?'
Bondi: 'Well, certainly, nothing can be withheld on that.'
March 3, 2025 — Bondi on Fox News
Bondi: 'A truckload of evidence arrived. It's now in the possession of the FBI. Kash is going to get me and himself really a detailed report as to why all these documents and evidence had been withheld.'
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino
Before joining the FBI, Bongino was a prominent right-wing podcaster who often raised questions about the handling of Epstein's case.
May 1, 2023 - Bongino on "The Dan Bongino Show"
'There are a lot of people who are knee-deep in the Washington swamp who are not telling you the truth about serious allegations out there that Epstein may have had video and audio of people out there doing things they shouldn't have been doing.'
Legal Counsel Alina Habba
Trump's chief legal aide hyped up the release of the Epstein files earlier this year. In March, Trump named her interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.
Feb. 27, 2025 — Trump's legal counsel Alina Habba on Piers Morgan Uncensored
Morgan: 'Do you think that by releasing information from these files we are likely to see criminal actions being taken?'
Habba: 'Absolutely. I think it would be negligent for us not to. You have to hold individuals who are indeed rapists, accountable. We have to have them tried, in my opinion.'
March 11, 2025 — Habba on the Benny Johnson Show
Habba: 'They are going through it. … When you are wanting to prosecute and actually do something with the information that you have, you have to make sure that you save the integrity of the investigation so that we can bring these people to justice…'
March 25, 2025 — Habba on the Benny Johnson Show
Habba: 'Those people that were crossing state lines and trafficking those girls or having sex with minors will be prosecuted.'
Former advisor Elon Musk
Musk formally endorsed Trump in the summer of 2024, and was soon hosting rallies in Pennsylvania on his behalf and appearing alongside him. He later became a top White House adviser before they had a falling out.
Oct. 7, 2024—Musk on Tucker Carlson program on X
'Part of why Kamala is getting so much support is that, if Trump wins, that Epstein client list is going to become public. And some of those billionaires behind Kamala are terrified of that outcome."
Feb. 28, 2025 — Musk on the Joe Rogan Experience
Rogan: 'It's so frustrating to be sitting in this situation where the list isn't coming out.'
Musk: 'Well, it better come out, hopefully tomorrow. … I think the public will be rightly frustrated if no one is prosecuted for the Epstein client list, no one at all. At least, the top five or something? … There should at least be an attempt at prosecution of the worst offenders.'
Donald Trump Jr.
While the President's son does not have an official position in Trump's Administration, on the campaign trail he emerged as one of the most vocal figures calling on the Epstein files to be released.
July 8, 2023 — Trump Jr. on X:
Trump Jr.: 'Show us all the Epstein client list now!!! Why would anyone protect those scum bags? Ask yourselves this question daily and the answer becomes very apparent!!'
Jan. 2, 2024 — Trump Jr. on X
'Everyone knows Bill Clinton was on Jeffrey Epstein's plane and island a lot. Literally no one is at all surprised that he's all over the release. What we want to know is ALL THE OTHER NAMES that the government has been hiding & running cover for. That will actually be revealing!'
Jan. 3, 2024 — Trump Jr. on X
Trump Jr.: 'I keep hearing about some of the Jeffrey Epstein clients names being released today but I'd be willing to bet that something happens between now and then that prevents those names from ever coming out. You just know that's coming, though I hope to be proven wrong.
June 15, 2024 — Trump Jr. at a Turning Point USA event
Trump Jr.: 'I am on every list except the Epstein list. We haven't heard anything about that one in a while… How is it that my father could be convicted of 34 crimes, but no one on Epstein's list has even been brought to light? It's almost like they're trying to protect those pedophiles.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
10 minutes ago
- New York Post
Anti-Trump DA Alvin Bragg sure acts like he has something to hide — we're suing to find out
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg holds potentially hundreds of communications appearing to link his office to senior Biden administration officials and other political actors in connection with his unprecedented criminal prosecution of then-former President Donald Trump. We've asked for those records, and he's not turning them loose. So we're taking him to court. Last September, America First Policy Institute launched a formal investigation into the people and motivations behind Bragg's decision to prosecute Trump. Advertisement Our effort had a simple goal: figuring out whether Bragg's case was a routine legal probe — or lawfare, a politically engineered hit job orchestrated to influence the 2024 election. The charges brought against Trump were extraordinary. Never before has a question of federal campaign-finance law — which the FEC declined to pursue, no less — been morphed into a state-level misdemeanor, already time-barred under New York law, then Frankensteined into a felony by alleging it was committed to conceal some other crime never defined by the prosecution, nor unanimously agreed upon by jury. Advertisement Confusing? That's the point. Bragg's office thrives on obfuscation. Public records should be accessible. Criminal prosecutions should be transparent. This case was neither — and still isn't. We were drawn to investigate because we saw just too many coincidences to ignore. Michael Colangelo, a top DOJ official with a focus on white-collar crime, left his Biden administration post to join Bragg's office just months before Trump was indicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Advertisement Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over Bragg's prosecution, had a history of political donations to Biden and to political groups opposed to Trump, the defendant before him. He was officially 'cautioned' on that by the state ethics board. Merchan's daughter Loren worked on Kamala Harris' 2020 campaign and during Trump's trial served as president of Authentic Campaigns, a progressive political consulting firm hired by the Biden-Harris ticket. It all paints a curious picture: A DA who campaigned on a promise to take down Trump, aided by a Biden DOJ veteran, bringing legally contorted charges before a judge with clear partisan connections. Advertisement If this wasn't coordinated, it's one lucky political pile-up. The American people deserve answers. In pursuit of those answers, and in defense of the public's right to know, AFPI submitted a request to Bragg's office under New York's Freedom of Information Law in September 2024. We sought any records that could shed light on whether political influence or coordination played a role in Bragg's decision-making. Our request was specific, lawfully submitted and directly tied to one of the most consequential legal proceedings in modern American history. Ten months later, no records have been produced. None. Though they apparently exist. Instead of providing transparency, the DA's office has engaged in delay, double-talk and silence. We've asked for a list of responsive documents. They won't give one. Advertisement We've asked which of our specific requests the withheld documents pertain to. They won't say. We know, based on our investigation and his office's limited correspondence with us, that the DA possesses hundreds of records of communications with or about political agents who should have had no influence in a 'routine' prosecution, like Lauren Merchan's Authentic Campaigns. Bragg refuses to explain why the public isn't entitled to see them. There is no legal justification for this blackout. No privilege excuses total stonewalling. Advertisement There is only evasion. It's been nearly a year. The records exist, and the DA cannot explain why they remain secret. That alone should raise alarms. AFPI has now turned to the courts to compel compliance. The law does not permit selective transparency by the Manhattan DA. It does not allow politically sensitive cases to be shielded from scrutiny. Advertisement As the New York Legislature declared when it passed the state's open-records law in 1977, 'The people's right to know the process of governmental decision-making and to review the documents leading to determinations is basic to our society.' We agree. Advertisement That's why on July 17, AFPI filed its petition in New York County Superior Court requesting that Bragg's records, whatever they may reveal, be released to the public. The law demands openness, and we intend to see it enforced. Jessica Steinmann is executive general counsel and Jack Casali is an attorney at the Center for Litigation at the America First Policy Institute
New York Post
10 minutes ago
- New York Post
Inside Jeffrey Epstein's cozy relationship with Steve Bannon — and what's really on his 15 hrs of tapes interviewing him
By 2017 Jeffrey Epstein was a social pariah. Even his right-hand woman, Ghislaine Maxwell, attempted to reinvent herself as a charity boss and was careful to no longer be pictured with the convicted sex offender. But as an avalanche of reports uncovered more lurid details of Epstein's world of questionable financial dealings and proclivities for sex with underage girls, he had one regular visitor at his huge townhouse at East 71st street — Steve Bannon. Conspiracy theorist and media provocateur Bannon felt he could help the disgraced money man improve his image, sources say, despite how laughable that may have seemed. 7 Jeffrey Epstein backed the 'Me Too' movement in a clip from interview footage taken by Steve Bannon in 2019 and obtained by The Post. It certainly didn't hurt that Epstein could add him to his payroll — Bannon had recently fallen foul of President Trump by criticizing his family in a book and abruptly left his position as chief strategist at the White House. This resulted in his deep-pocketed benefactors cutting him off. Bannon ultimately collected some 15 hours of footage of Epstein, to prepare him to go on '60 Minutes' or another prime-time television show to save his reputation in 2018. 'He told me he has like 15 or 16 hours of videotape of Jeff,' said Epstein's brother Mark in an interview with NBC earlier this month, adding he had met with Bannon after Epstein's death and asked to see the tapes. 'He was trying to help Jeff rehabilitate his reputation.' 7 Steve Bannon recorded more than 15 hours of interviews with Jeffrey Epstein in 2019 for a documentary that was never released. Bloomberg via Getty Images Previous reports have confirmed the tapes were of Epstein preparing to bolster his reputation, but in the clamor to release government files on Epstein — who was found hanging in his Manhattan prison cell in August 2019 as he awaited trial over sex trafficking charges — many are wondering why Bannon has not been compelled to release the tapes. In a bid to hype up what he has, earlier this year Bannon was hawking the tapes as a documentary, saying he had hoped to get Netflix involved and call the show 'The Monster'. '[Epstein's] a product of the elite,' he said on the Jimmy Dore show in February. 'Everything that's been put out about him is not exactly the truth. I hours of interviews that I think will be pretty shocking, about how this guy came from nowhere to go to the absolute highest levels of global elite and who he knew and who he financed. 'He was one of the leading underwriters of scientific experiments in the world, a lot of that is dealing with a thing called Transhumanism.' 7 Jeffrey Epstein in a clip from Bannon's documentary footage. 7 The interviews that Steve Bannon recorded with Jeffrey Epstein took place at the billionaire pedophile's mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Christopher Sadowski 7 MAGA loyalists are demanding that government files related to Jeffrey Epstein be released by the Trump administration. Epstein partied with numerous bold-face names, including the President Trump in the 1990s and early aughts. Getty Images Bannon did not return The Post's request for comment Friday. Only one clip of the footage has ever been released, which was obtained by The Post. In the video Epstein somewhat unbelievably claimed to be a 'firm believer and supporter' of Time's Up, the anti-sexual harassment organization that emerged during the #MeToo movement. 'I made my living from old thinking. But the future is for the way women think,' says Epstein in the clip. Bannon – apparently playing the role of a hard-nosed interviewer – counters from off-screen that Epstein's claim was just 'a sop' to excuse 'all of the depravity you've done against young women.' 'No, I've been — I've always believed that women will be, in fact, be able to take over,' Epstein responds in the clip, adding 'I'm a firm believer and supporter of 'Time's Up.'' Bannon, a film producer, former investment banker at Goldman Sachs and executive one-time chairman at media company Breitbart, had more in common with Epstein, a former math teacher who also had a brief stint on Wall Street, than most. 7 Another rarely-seen close-up of Epstein from the footage Bannon collected. Victory Films/The Monsters 7 Bannon speaking in New York in 2024 shortly after he was released from prison following his sentence for contempt of Congress. Robert Miller Although the first reports of their association only date back to 2017, it is possible they knew each other much longer. 'The War Room' host Bannon's activities with Epstein have been questioned by other political strategists. 'Why would Bannon meet with Jeffrey Epstein both at his New York home and in Paris after Epstein was convicted on sex crimes in Florida?' said Roger Stone in an X post earlier this month. 'Why would he coach Epstein for his 60 minutes appearance?' Darren Indyke, Epstein's longtime personal attorney and an executor of his estate, did not return a request for comment Friday.
Axios
10 minutes ago
- Axios
Scoop: Dems think they can get ahold of Epstein's birthday book
House Democrats are trying to get their hands on the now-infamous book celebrating Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday after it was suggested the disgraced financier's estate is in possession of it, Axios has learned. Why it matters: As the minority party in Congress, Democrats have been largely toothless in their attempts to investigate President Trump. They believe this is a rare opportunity to obtain concrete information. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who is leading the effort, told Axios it would be "very difficult" to obtain the book if it was in the hands of the Department of Justice. "In this case, you literally have a private attorney," said the California Democrat. "A private attorney is much more likely to comply. It's a much easier challenge than going after the administration." Driving the news: Khanna and House Oversight Committee ranking member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) wrote to attorneys for the Epstein estate's executors asking for a "complete, unredacted copy" of the book, according to a copy of their letter obtained by Axios. Citing Wall Street Journal reporting that Trump submitted a poem and drawing for the book, the lawmakers wrote that it may be "essential" for a probe of the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein matter. Trump has denied the Wall Street Journal's reporting and sued the outlet for libel. What they're saying: " We write with deep concern regarding potential public corruption, abuse of power, and failures in the federal law enforcement response to the Epstein case," Khanna and Garcia wrote. They argued that members of the Oversight Committee should be permitted to review the book before deposing Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who reportedly put it together. "Information gathered from this document may also inform the development of legislative reforms addressing sex trafficking networks, financial regulation, or other critical matters," they added. State of play: Brad Edwards, a lawyer for over 200 of Epstein's victims, said in an MSNBC appearance Thursday, "I know the executors of the estate are in possession of that book." "If somebody simply called" Epstein's executors "and said, 'Give us the book,' they would probably give you the book," Edwards said. "They have attorneys, their attorneys are good people. If they didn't just voluntarily turn over the book out of fear of reprisal, Congress could just issue a subpoena to their attorneys ... they would turn the book over immediately." The three attorneys for Epstein's executors did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Axios. What's next: Khanna and Garcia asked that Epstein's estate turn over the book by August 10. Khanna told Axios: "I will make sure, if we get it, that whatever we do in terms of releasing it is what the victims want, what the victims' attorney wants, and not just trying to score partisan points." "If the victims don't want certain things, I am going to guarantee that the victims are the topmost consideration," he said. "But I do believe that they will want some of it released and once we get it, we can."
