White House Denies Musk’s ‘Epstein List’ Claims

Topline

The White House insisted Monday there’s no secret list kept by Jeffrey Epstein of clients he trafficked underage women to, disputing Elon Musk’s suggestions of a government cover-up as the Trump administration is widely viewed to have fallen short of its promises to release the findings of the investigation into Epstein in their entirety.

US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman announces charges against Jeffery … More Epstein on July 8, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday that when Attorney General Pam Bondi had suggested the purported Epstein List was on her desk, she was referring to the entirety of the government documents on the investigation.

Leavitt was referring to a February Fox News interview in which Bondi was asked whether the Justice Department would release a “list of Jeffrey Esptein’s clients” to which she replied “it’s sitting my desk right now to review.”

Musk raised Bondi’s remarks Monday when he suggested the Trump administration was slow-walking, or even lying, about the information it has regarding the DOJ investigation into Epstein, pointing to Bondi’s comments and a DOJ memo released Monday that concluded Epstein killed himself (despite conspiracy theories promoted by right-wing influencers and even some in the Trump administration that he was killed) and that no client list existed.

The DOJ said in the memo it will not release any additional information into its Epstein investigation, contradicting Bondi’s previous suggestions that there was a trove of outstanding information, and prompting fury among some on the right who have been clamoring for more information to support their conspiracy claims about the probe into the disgraced financier.

The DOJ also released video footage taken outside of Epstein’s Manhattan jail cell that shows no one entered his cell in the hours before he was found dead there in 2019, evidence to support its claims he died by suicide.

Trump also suggested on the campaign trail last year he would release a list of clients who went to Epstein’s island in the Caribbean, telling podcaster Lex Fridman in September “I’d be inclined to do the Epstein, I’d have no problem with it.”

Chief Critic

“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,” right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec tweeted. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones also wrote on X “next the DOJ will say ‘actually, Jeffrey Epstein never even existed.’”

Why Won’t The Doj Release More Epstein Files?

A significant portion of the material was placed under seal to protect victims and “only a fraction” would have been released had Epstein gone to trial, according to the DOJ memo, which also states that it seeks to avoid “perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein.”

Bondi Repeatedly Over-Promised Epstein Findings

Bondi said twice—once in a secretly recorded video and again in public on May 7—that there are “tens of thousands of videos” of Epstein with children or child porn. The memo released Monday, however, references “over ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography” but does not say that Epstein was present in the videos or images. Bondi also promised additional information would come out after the first document release in February.

Key Background

Musk has repeatedly referenced Epstein as he’s attacked Trump over the past month during their epic fall-out. On Monday, Musk posted a series of tweets that highlight the DOJ memo’s contradictions to Bondi’s claims more information would come out and called the memo “the final straw.” In his initial wave of attacks against the president on social media earlier this month, Musk accused Trump of being “in the Epstein files,” but later deleted the post and said he “went too far.”