On a recent government investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender and accused sex trafficker, and a former sex offender, President Donald Trump and US Attorney General Pam Bondi evaded questioning from reporters on Tuesday.
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, right-wing conspiracy theorists, many of whom are affiliated with Trump’s MAGA]Make America Great Again] base, have long disputed the theory that Epstein was killed because he had access to sexually compromising material from powerful people and a “client list.”
Here is what we know about how the Epstein case is causing a MAGA split.
Why have Epstein-related MAGA conspiracy theories recently surfaced again?
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 further stated that Epstein had committed suicide and that this conclusion was in line with previous findings, including the findings of the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s autopsy on August 19, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York’s position in relation to the federal correctional officer’s investigation into Epstein’s guarding efforts, and the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General’s conclusions in June 2023.
However, right-wing Americans and online sleuths have long posed conspiracy theories that the government covered up the truth of Epstein’s death. These have since resumed their work following the most recent memo.
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. However, just before midnight in the video, the time code increases by one minute and two seconds, further incendiating the conspiracy theorists.
What did Trump say to reporters about Jeffrey Epstein?
A reporter inquired about Bondi’s minute-long missing minute from the Epstein prison video during a White House Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
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 explain why a minute from the jailhouse tape from the day of his death was missing?
Trump jumped in, asking, “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This man has been a subject of intense discussion for years, out of bounds.
“Are people still talking about this guy, this creep? Before asking Bondi if she wanted to “waste time” answering the question, Trump continued, “That is unbelievable.”
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. Trump continued, “It just seems like a desecration.”
While campaigning for the presidential election last year, however, Trump had said he would release files related to Epstein.
Bondi claimed to not know that Epstein was an “agent.” “We can get back to you on that”, she said.
She continued, “from 1999,” that the prison camera system was outdated. “Every night, the video is reset and every night should have the same minute missing. So we’re looking for that video to be released that also reveals that one minute passes away each night. And that’s it on Epstein”, she said.
How did Epstein fare?
Born and raised in New York, Epstein was a millionaire financier known for associating with socialites, politicians and celebrities. On August 10, 2019, he passed away in a Manhattan jail cell.
In 2005, Epstein was accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl after her parents reported it to the police. More girls who came forward with similar allegations were then contacted by the police in response. Ultimately, in 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to a charge relating to a single victim. He was able to leave jail for work during the day and return to work at night after spending 13 months behind bars on a work-release program.
In 2019, he was charged with sex trafficking by federal prosecutors in New York.
The former girlfriend of Robert Maxwell, the daughter of the disgraced media mogul, Ghislaine Maxwell, who died in 1991 after being accused of stealing from UK employees’ pensions, was also brought before the US attorney in Manhattan. Ghislaine Maxwell was accused of being Epstein’s co-conspirator in his sexual abuse scheme. Maxwell was found guilty in 2021 and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
In January last year, some documents”>950 pages of court documents pertaining to allegations against Epstein were made public. According to the victims of Epstein’s crimes, they claimed they witnessed prominent figures in Epstein’s company, including politicians from Bill Clinton to musicians and academics.
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, and why, do conspiracy theorists think about Epstein’s passing?
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.
Due to the National Archives’ request to ensure that Trump did not have any classified documents taken during his first term as president, FBI agents searched his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in 2022.
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. Never doubt 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.
Before Trump appointed him to lead the FBI, close friends with him and FBI director Kash Patel also had doubts about Epstein’s suicide. FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino has also expressed similar doubts in the past. Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are, Patel said in a video message to the then-leaders of the FBI in 2023.
In May this year, Patel and Bongino both changed their positions to the US government’s conclusion: that Epstein died by suicide.
Why has Pam Bondi, the attorney general, been under fire lately?
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.
Bondi was asked, “The DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients, will that really happen,” during an interview with Fox News in February.
She responded, “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review”.
Political commentators and far-right figures were also invited to the White House in February, and documents titled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” were presented with them. Bondi then released these documents, which did not contain anything revelatory about the Epstein case. She added that she had also given the FBI a “truckload” of evidence regarding the Epstein case.
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. Bondi denied on Tuesday that she had been discussing a “client list.” Instead, the “list” she was referring to was the Epstein case file. She responded, “That’s what I meant by that.”
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 was what they were,” they said. Never going to be released, never going to see the light of day”, she said.
What are the current theories of conspiracies saying?
Following the government memo on Monday, far-right personalities expressed further disappointment.
The Epstein video’s “missing minute”
Conservatives, including social media personality Robby Starbuck, raised questions about the video posted by the DOJ on Monday in online posts.
The video of Epstein’s cell that Pam Bondi’s DOJ released as proof that he wasn’t killed has some incredibly bizarre features. First, a full minute appears to be missing from the video and secondly, it does NOT appear to be the same cell as the photo released on Jan 5, 2020. … image twitter.com/xW3GhU6a8N
Allegations of a government cover-up
On X, far-right influencer Jack Posobiec wrote, “We were all told more was coming. That answers were out there and would be provided. How completely screwed up this Epstein mess has been. And it didn’t have to be”.
More was being planned for us all. That answers were out there and would be provided. How completely screwed up 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 fabricated information about the shooting. Now, he is engaging with more conspiracy theories.
According to him, “Next the DOJ will say “Actually, Jeffrey Epstein never even existed,” he wrote on X on Tuesday, calling 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”.
Pam Blondi, the attorney general of Florida, is concealing child sex crimes committed while under HER WATCH.
During Blondi’s tenure as Florida’s Attorney General from 2011 to 2019, Jeffrey Epstein’s flight logs surfaced, many of his victims filed lawsuits, and…
Epstein’s ‘ links ‘ to Trump and Steve Bannon
Former Trump ally Elon Musk, a billionaire, claimed in a now-deleted post last month that Trump was named in Epstein files that are still unreported. 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.
If Trump won’t release the Epstein files, how can anyone expect people to believe him? Musk posted on Tuesday. In a response to another post, Steve Bannon, a former White House aide and former Trump aide, was also mentioned in another post as saying that “Bannon is in the Epstein files.”
Musk did not provide evidence for this, and Bannon’s name is not in the files that were released in January 2024. In the past, Muss and Bannon have been in conflict over the H-1B visa program, which brings in foreign workers.
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 kind of relationship did Trump have with Epstein?
Trump’s name does appear in the Epstein files released in January 2024, but he is not accused of anything. The context is as follows.
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. Additionally on board the plane was Virginia Giuffre, another woman who sued Epstein for sexually abusing her at his residences in Florida, New York, the US Virgin Islands, and New Mexico, according to Sjoberg. Giuffre later accused Epstein and Prince Andrew of the UK of sexual abuse but died by suicide earlier this year.
Source: Aljazeera
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