Former Epstein lawyer says Bondi ‘jumped the gun a bit’ on files
David Schoen, a former Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein lawyer, said Attorney General Pam Bondi and other officials “jumped the gun a bit” in overhyping the Epstein files.
Schoen in an interview with BBC Newsnight on Thursday said there is no Epstein “client list” that would highlight connections between the disgraced financier and wealthy individuals.
“If someone were to think that there’s actually a list — which Jeffrey Epstein wrote down the name of, you fill in the name of the famous, wealthy person with some young girl — that just doesn’t exist,” he said.
He also suggested that Bondi and other officials created a hyped environment in terms of what might be included in the files that couldn’t be matched by what was released.
Schoen was careful to not blame President Trump for over-hyping the files. He said he thought Trump had called on the DOJ and FBI to release anything big they found, and that the others jumped the gun in how they described what was coming.
“I think what happened is, President Trump said he’s open to the idea, and it should be disclosed if there’s any such file that hasn’t been disclosed so far. But he didn’t know what was in it,” Schoen said.
“I think that maybe some of the others, the attorney general, director of the FBI, and so on, jumped the gun a bit. They were in favor, for good reasons, of disclosing and full transparency, but they didn’t know what they had yet,” he said.
“When they saw what they had, there was no ‘smoking gun’ and therefore they said there was nothing to release of any substance. And now you see this catch-up,” Schoen said.
The controversy over the Epstein files has continued for weeks, causing problems for Trump and Republicans in Congress.
Democrats have sought to further divide the GOP over the issue by offering amendments in committee to release more federal information on Epstein.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch on Friday was set to meet with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is imprisoned on sex trafficking charges. Trump on Friday said he hadn’t thought about pardoning Maxwell.
Republicans in Congress have been divided over how to handle the issue. Some have called for the release of all files on Epstein held by DOJ, while others have wanted to put guardrails on disclosures.
Schoen is far from the first person to argue the files were over-hyped.
Karl Rove, republican strategist, said on July 24, “There’s hell to pay when those who hyped the conspiracy have closed the books on the case.”
Deputy FBI director Dan Bongino as a conservative pundit outside the administration was among those pressing the idea that there were files out there that showed the government could be protecting wealthy associates of Epstein.
Epstein’s acquaintances include a number of luminaries, including Trump and former President Clinton. This has all sparked conspiracy theories for years.
Schoen previously made statements that no client list existed and that President Trump was not involved in the Epstein case.
He stated on June 16 on NewsNation that Bondi and Trump were not hiding a client list.
On June 5, Shoen posted on X, “I was hired to lead Jeffrey Epstein’s defense as his criminal lawyer 9 days before he died. He sought my advice for months before that. I can say authoritatively, unequivocally, and definitively that he had no information to hurt President Trump. I specifically asked him!”