In 2021, JD Vance accused the government of concealing a Jeffrey Epstein “client list.” The Trump-Vance administration now asserts that no such list exists. “If you’re a journalist and you’re not asking questions about this case,” Vance said at the time, “you should be ashamed of yourself.”
Today, the administration Vance serves in has generated more questions than ever through its handling of the matter. After fueling expectations about the “Epstein files,” the Justice Department has now affirmed that Epstein died by suicide and that there was no “client list,” leaving many of the administration’s own supporters to believe it is now part of a cover-up.
President Trump’s strategy has been to dismiss the issue. “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein!?” he said last week, later adding on social media, “Let’s … not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.” FBI Director Kash Patel echoed this, posting on X that “The conspiracy theories just aren’t true, never have been.”
This stance marks a sharp reversal for key administration figures who previously portrayed the Epstein case as a major scandal awaiting exposure. In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi hinted she possessed the client list, though she later claimed she was referring to other documents.
Past statements from these officials highlight the contradiction. “What possible interest would the U.S. government have in keeping Epstein’s clients secret? Oh…” Vance posted in 2021. In 2023, Patel challenged officials to “Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are.” That same year, now-Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino urged the public, “Please do not let that story go. Keep your eye on this.” Shortly before joining the administration, Bongino asked, “Who’s on those tapes? Who’s in those black books? Why have they been hiding it?”
The officials now responsible for the investigation are the same ones who previously insisted a cover-up was underway. This raises the question of whether they are now admitting their past claims were baseless. Bongino recently offered a potential explanation, telling Fox News, “I’m not paid for my opinions anymore. I work for the taxpayer now. I’m paid on evidence.”
Questions also persist about Trump’s own connections to the case. The president was a known associate of Epstein’s before a falling out. He once called Epstein a “terrific guy” and has repeatedly wished Ghislaine Maxwell well as she faced sex-trafficking charges.
Elon Musk, a former Trump adviser, recently claimed on X that Trump was in the Epstein files, suggesting this was “the real reason they have not been made public.” Though Musk later deleted the post, the allegation was significant enough that David Schoen, a lawyer who has represented both Trump and Epstein, stated he had asked Epstein before his death if he had damaging information on Trump, to which Epstein allegedly said no.
Trump himself has appeared reluctant to release the documents. When asked last year if he would declassify files related to Epstein, he paused before agreeing, explaining his concern about affecting “people’s lives if it’s phony stuff in there.” When pressed on his hesitation, Trump repeatedly stated he had never visited Epstein’s island.
The administration has also failed to deliver on its promises of full disclosure. An initial document release in February was criticized as containing mostly old information. In response, officials promised more. “We will get everything,” Bondi told Fox News in March. “American people have a right to know.” However, no significant materials have been released since.
A recent Justice Department memo reversed this commitment, stating that much of the information is under a court-ordered seal and that the department would “not expose any additional third-parties to allegations of illegal wrongdoing.” The memo concluded, “we found no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials,” without explaining the abrupt change in policy.
Further fueling speculation, Attorney General Bondi gave a non-committal answer last week when asked about Epstein’s potential ties to intelligence agencies. “To him being an agent, I have no knowledge about that,” she said, adding, “We can get back to you on that.”
The theory is not new. Alexander Acosta, the former U.S. attorney who approved a controversial non-prosecution deal for Epstein, avoided the question in 2019. Bongino claimed in 2023 that Epstein was an intelligence asset for a Middle Eastern country, and former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett recently issued a formal denial that Epstein worked for Israel.
The administration’s handling of the case, marked by contradictory statements and unfulfilled promises, has left a vacuum of information that continues to fuel the very speculation its key figures once championed.
Source link
