Epstein 'client list' doesn't exist, Justice Department says, walking back theory Bondi had promoted

WASHINGTON — Jeffrey Epstein did not maintain a "client list," the Justice Department acknowledged Monday as it said no more files related to the wealthy financier's sex trafficking investigation would be made public despite promises from Attorney General Pam Bondi that had raised the expectations of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists. The acknowledgment that the well-connected Epstein did not have a list of clients to whom underage girls were trafficked represents a public walk-back of a theory that the Trump administration had helped promote, with Bondi suggesting in a Fox News interview earlier this year that such a document was "sitting on my desk" for review. Even as it released video from inside a New York jail meant to definitively prove that Epstein killed himself, the department also said in a memo that it was refusing to disclose other evidence investigators had collected. Bondi for weeks had suggested more material was going to be revealed — "It's a new administration and everything is going to come out to the public," she said at one point — after a first document dump she had hyped angered President Donald Trump's base by failing to deliver revelations. That episode, in which far-right influencers were invited to the White House in February and provided with binders marked "The Epstein Files: Phase 1" and "Declassified" that contained documents that had largely already been in the public domain, has spurred conservative internet personalities to sharply criticize Bondi. After the first release fell flat, Bondi said officials were poring over a "truckload" of previously withheld evidence she said had been handed over by the FBI. In a March TV interview, she claimed the Biden administration "sat on these documents, no one did anything with them," adding: "Sadly these people don't believe in transparency, but I think more unfortunately, I think a lot of them don't believe in honesty." But after a months-long review of evidence in the government's possession, the Justice Department determined that no "further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted," the memo says. The department noted that much of the material was placed under seal by a court to protect victims and "only a fraction" of it "would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial." "One of our highest priorities is combating child exploitation and bringing justice to victims," the memo says. "Perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein serves neither of those ends." The two-page memo bore the logos of the Justice Department and the FBI but was not signed by any individual official. Conservatives who have sought proof of a government cover-up of Epstein's activities and death expressed outrage Monday over the department's position. Far-right influencer Jack Posobiec posted: "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." Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones wrote that "next the DOJ will say 'Actually, Jeffrey Epstein never even existed,'" calling it "over the top sickening." Elon Musk shared a series of photos of a clown applying makeup appearing to mock Bondi for saying the client list doesn't exist after suggesting months ago that it was on her desk. The client list hubbub began when Bondi was asked in a Fox News interview whether the department would release such a document. She replied: "It's sitting on my desk right now to review." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Justice Department spokesperson Chad Gilmartin said Monday that Bondi was referring to the overall Epstein case files. Among the evidence that the Justice Department said Monday it has in its possession, and will not be releasing, are images of Epstein, "images and videos of victims who are either minors or appear to be minors," and more than 10,000 "downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography." The memo does not explain when or where the videos were located, who and what they depict and whether they were newly found as investigators scoured their collection of evidence or were known for some time to have been in the government's possession. The Associated Press published a story last week about unanswered questions surrounding possible video evidence after Bondi cited the existence of "tens of thousands" of videos that she said showed Epstein "with children or child porn." Multiple people who participated in the criminal cases of Epstein and socialite former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell told AP that they had not seen and did not know of a trove of recordings along the lines of what Bondi had referenced. Indictments and detention memos also don't allege the existence of video recordings and neither Epstein nor Maxwell were charged with possession of child sex abuse material even though that would have been easier for prosecutors to prove than the sex trafficking counts they faced. The AP did find reference in a filing in a civil lawsuit to the discovery by the Epstein estate of videos and pictures that could constitute child sex abuse material, but lawyers involved in that case said a protective order prevents them from discovering the specifics of that evidence and the Justice Department did not respond to a detailed list of questions from AP about the videos Bondi was referencing. Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on sex trafficking charges, in a suicide that foreclosed the possibility of a trial. The department's disclosure that Epstein took his own life is hardly a revelation even though conspiracy theorists have continued to challenge that conclusion. In November 2019, for instance, then-Attorney General William Barr told the AP that he had reviewed security footage that revealed that no one entered the area where Epstein was housed on the night he died, and expressed confidence that Epstein's death was a suicide. More recently, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino have insisted in television and podcast interviews that the evidence was clear that Epstein had killed himself.