Reading “The Epstein Files: Phase 1,” Unidentified people carrying binders carrying US Department of Justice marks will leave the West Wing of the White House in February. The Trump administration had pledged to release documents about the late big name convicted of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his prison in 2019.
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Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
The Justice Department and the FBI have found no evidence that financial operator and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had a “client list” or that he threatened any notable peers.
The conclusion is included in a Two-page notes Here we will provide an overview of the “extreme review” of the Epstein Files that own the Epstein Files. The memo also found that after a “full investigation,” the FBI found that Epstein had died of suicide, consistent with previous departmental conclusions.
The findings contradict past statements from Attorney General Pam Bondy about the alleged list of Epstein clients. And it is unclear whether the memo will curb the ongoing public skepticism about Epstein’s case, particularly his suicide.
Epstein died in a federal lockup in New York City in August 2019, awaiting trial for federal sexual personnel claims. His death promoted many conspiracy theories, especially on the far right, due to his relationship with wealthy and powerful people and continued speculation surrounding his death.
Axios was the first to report on the memo.
Bondi has long committed to publishing documents from the Epstein survey. She published a small batch of files in February, saying the move was part of “a commitment to lifting transparency and veils on the disgusting behavior of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators.”
That same month, she told Fox News in an interview that Epstein’s client list “to sit at my desk and review it now.”
More than four months later, the department’s notes are directly inconsistent with her.
“This systematic review revealed that the ‘client list’ was not guilty. Also, there was no credible evidence that Epstein had threatened a prominent individual as part of his actions,” the memo says. “We have not revealed any evidence that could state an investigation into uncharged third parties.”
Asked Monday about Bondi’s previous remarks, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt tried to mitigate the inconsistency.
“She was saying all of the papers, all of the papers related to Jeffrey Epstein’s crime,” Leavitt told reporters. “That’s what the Attorney General was referring to, and I’ll let her talk about it.”
Leavitt added that the Attorney General and the FBI director have pledged, at Trump’s direction, to conduct a thorough review of the Epstein material. “That was what they did and they provided the outcome.
Previous findings, suicide in line with medical evidence
The unsigned note states that the FBI and department will find all relevant material in search files related to Epstein: physical search searches for databases, hard drives, network drives, cabinets, desks and closets.
According to the memo, Epstein died of suicide on August 10, 2019 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. We note that this conclusion is consistent with previous findings that include the city’s leading inner examiner, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, and the DOJ inspector.
The conclusion of his death by suicide is also supported by video footage from a common area of the prison forces where Epstein was in custody at the time of his death.
“Anyone who was trying to enter or enter the layer in which Epstein cells are located would have been captured by this footage,” the memo said. “An independent FBI review of this footage confirmed that no one had entered the layer since Epstein was locked up in his cell on August 9, 2019, around 10:40pm and until around 6:30am the following morning.”
FBI Director Kash Patel and deputy director Dan Bongino have previously raised questions about Epstein and the official explanation of his death. However, since working as a top job at the bureau, they have publicly stated that Epstein committed suicide.
Both men faced online backlash from conspiracy theorists.
The memo says that Epstein’s abuses have more than 1,000 victims, and confidential information about those individuals is included in the investigation file. He states that fighting child exploitation and providing justice to victims is a top priority, and that “perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein is of no use to either of those purposes.”
“To that end, we have worked to provide the public with the greatest information about Epstein and ensure an investigation of evidence in government ownership, but it is the decision of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that further disclosure is not appropriate or guaranteed,” the memo says.
