Bongino vows video release showing ‘no one was there but' Epstein
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino vowed to release a video showing that no one was around disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when he died in 2019 by apparent suicide.
'I just want to be crystal clear on this. I am not asking anyone to believe me. I'm telling you what's there and what isn't right,' Bongino told Fox News on Thursday morning. 'There is nothing in the file at this point on the Epstein case, and there is going to be a disclosure on this coming shortly.'
He added that the agency is reviewing the footage that will be released to the public.
'Fox & Friends' co-host Lawrence Jones then asked, 'There's video of killing himself?'
'No, no, not the actual act, but the entire MCC Bay. It was only one camera. There's video that when you look at the video and we will release, that's what's taken a while on this,' Bongino explained. 'We are working on cleaning it up to make sure you have an enhanced and we're going to give the original so you don't think there were any shenanigans.'
'You're going to see there's no one there but him,' the deputy FBI director added.
His remarks come less than two weeks after he and FBI Director Kash Patel dismissed conspiracy theories surrounding the long-debated Epstein case and told Fox News's Maria Bartiromo that 'he killed himself.'
'I have seen the whole file. He killed himself,' Bongino said during the joint interview with Patel that was recorded in the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington.
Epstein's death came as he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Since then, conspiracy theories around his death have proliferated and questions have been raised about the alleged sex trafficking of minors and involvement of other individuals.
Even after pleading guilty to solicitation charges in 2008, Epstein — who owned a Caribbean island, mansions and a private jet — would still often rub elbows with wealthy and powerful people.
Epstein's ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, an alleged co-conspirator in the sex trafficking scheme, was convicted on several charges in 2021, including transportation of a minor for illegal sexual activity and sex trafficking. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence.
Bongino said Thursday morning that the FBI is open to receiving new tips about the case, but that the current evidence in their possession points to a suicide by Epstein.
'There's just nobody there. So I say to people, if you have a tip, let us know. But there's no DNA, there's no audio, there's no fingerprints, there's no suspects, there's no accomplices, there's no tips. There is nothing,' he told the panel.
'If you have it, I'm happy to see it,' Bongino continued, reiterating why he believes Epstein was solo. 'There's video clear as day. He's the only person in there and the only person coming out. You can see it.'
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