The government does have an Epstein list — here’s the proof

Out of all the things President Trump has done, I would never have imagined it would be the late Jeffrey Epstein that finally dented his political armor and turned his conspiracy-minded base against him. 

I confess I feel a little cheap writing about this. So I have to remind myself that this is really the opposite of a conspiracy theory. And just so I don’t keep you in suspense, there is a list of clients related to the billionaire sex offender’s underage trafficking charges, and its existence is a matter of public record. 

For those of you lucky enough not to know all the details already, Trump has been talking up Epstein conspiracy theories for years. His base is now hooked on the idea that the case files contain a huge amount of mud-slingable dirt on the rich and famous. During the 2024 campaign, Trump promised to make the files public and, in February, he even held a public event at the White House to release the “first phase” of the information.

Attorney General Pam Bondi — the official Trump tasked with the release — when asked about the Epstein client list and when it would be released, responded, “It’s sitting on my desk right now.”

Now, suddenly, Trump and Bondi are telling everyone to move along, there is nothing to see here. In a memo closing the case, released on Sunday of the July 4 holiday weekend, Bondi said there was no so-called “client list,” that no more information would be released, and that the case was closed. 

Trump’s subsequent reactions have been equally inexplicable. He has gone from promising his followers amazing things to shouting at them for asking questions. He even published a post on Truth Social “firing” his supporters for refusing to drop the inquiry.

“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls—,’ hook, line, and sinker,“ the president posted Wednesday. “Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!” 

Trump is also now claiming that Barack Obama and James Comey “made up” the Epstein files. That’s complete nonsense. Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019, and his New York mansion was raided on the same day. Obama had been out of office for more than two years, and Trump himself was president — the same president, in fact, who had fired Comey on May 9, 2017, for his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election on Trump’s behalf.

If Trump believes Obama and Comey had anything to do with the Epstein files, he’s an idiot. If Trump believes his supporters will buy this excuse, then he thinks they are. 

We know that Bondi’s carefully crafted memo claiming that there is no Epstein “client list” — the quotation marks are in the memo— is also nonsense. There might not have been a “client list” in the FBI’s Epstein files, but the FBI certainly has compiled a list of clients.

When the FBI raided Epstein’s New York mansion, they seized a vast amount of material. In a court memo filed on July 8, 2019, two days after his arrest, the Department of Justice outlined some of the evidence they had seized. This included stacks of compact disks labeled “Young [Name] + [Name].” In short, Epstein kept a carefully curated library of videos showing various people having sex with underage women. Even if Epstein was not actively blackmailing anyone, he sure seems he had plenty of insurance at the ready.

But that’s not the only reason Bondi’s claim is nonsense. There’s also the question of math. Bondi admits that “Epstein harmed over one thousand victims.” But we also know that, once a part of Epstein’s “system,” his victims were trafficked several times. 

Virginia Giuffre, for example, described being sexually trafficked multiple times over two years in New York, Palm Beach, the U.S. Virgin Islands and London. Let’s say that each victim was involved, on average, in five incidents. That’s over 5,000 sexual encounters. It’s safe to assume this wasn’t all Epstein. And with over a thousand victims to interview and piles of DVDs labeled with perpetrators’ names, the FBI and Pam Bondi know exactly who was involved. 

So the question remains: Why has Trump suddenly turned on his followers on this issue and gone from being a champion of transparency to engaging in one of the clumsiest coverups in American political history? Why is Trump willing to die on the Epstein hill?

Make no mistake, Trump has a lot to lose from protecting Epstein’s clients. His base is furious. If nothing else, he’s now going to get booed at his own rallies. It’s even likely to be a potent issue in the 2026 midterms. House Democrats are already pushing Republicans to subpoena witnesses. You can almost hear them now — “Give us control of Congress and we’ll conduct proper hearings and get to the bottom of the Epstein mess!” 

I can only assume that Bondi discovered something in the Epstein evidence that is much more dangerous for Trump than the wrath of his base.

I’d be surprised if it’s evidence that Trump himself was one of Epstein’s clients. Having sex with a 14-year-old at a friend’s house is the kind of thing you would remember — if Trump knew he might be “on the list,” I doubt if he would have made so many promises to release the information. Nonetheless, something in those files has Trump running scared in a way he never has before. 

Does someone on the Epstein list have some sort of hold over Trump? I won’t speculate — I’m just asking questions. 

Chris Truax is an appellate attorney who served as Southern California chair for John McCain’s primary campaign in 2008.