Epstein lawyer reveals ‘truth’ about client list as House Republicans block files release: Live updates

Jeffrey Epstein’s former attorney Alan Dershowitz wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal that the late child abuser ‘never created a client’s list.’

Dershowitz said the FBI interviewed Epstein victims who named ‘clients’ whose names have been redacted from the files.

‘They should be disclosed but the courts have ordered them sealed,’ he wrote. ‘I know who they are. They don’t include any current officeholders.’

Dershowitz also said ‘It is clear from the evidence that Epstein committed suicide.’

He added: ‘What isn’t clear is whether he was assisted by jail personnel. That seems likely to me, based on the evidence of allegedly broken cameras, transfer of his cellmate and the absence of guards during relevant time periods.’

Dershowitz appeared on NewsNation’s Chris CUOMO on Monday and echoed his claims.

‘What there is is a redacted FBI affidavit from accusers,’ the attorney told Chris Cuomo. ‘There are several of them from accusers that accuse Jeffrey, that accuse various people of having improper sex, and that has been redacted. The names of the people accused have been blacked out.’

Dershowitz said some of the people in the affidavit ‘were previously in office. Some of them are dead, but there is no client list.’

Comedian Jon Stewart says he’s enjoying the chaos that has engulfed the Trump administration over its botched release of Jeffrey Epstein papers.

Stewart pointed to a moment where Trump snapped at a reporter in a cabinet meeting, where he told them: ‘Are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable.’

Stewart responded on The Weekly Show on Thursday: ‘The first time they brought up Epstein in a cabinet meeting and Trump immediately jumps in, ‘Really? You’re going to talk about that guy, that guy? The guy that my audience has been clamoring about for 10 years?»

He said the reporter simply asked ‘a very reasonable question’, and speculated that Trump never had any intention to make good on his campaign promises to reveal secrets about the notorious pedophile financier.

Ghislaine Maxwell’s former cellmate shared a chilling premonition after Jeffrey Epstein’s former accomplice revealed she would ‘tell all’ about the pedophile’s sex trafficking scheme.

Jessica Watkins, a transgender veteran who was serving time for the January 6 riots before receiving a pardon by Donald Trump, suggested 63-year-old Maxwell could meet the same fate as Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell.

Her chilling post implied Maxwell’s life may be in danger after she expressed willingness to testify before Congress about the so-called Epstein list.

President Donald Trump told Fox News last summer that he was concerned that releasing the Epstein files would ‘affect people’s lives.’

‘Yeah. I don’t know about Epstein so much as I do the others,’ Trump replied, referencing the 9/11 and JFK files, when asked if he would release the Epstein documents.

‘I think that less so because, you don’t know, you don’t want to affect people’s lives if it’s phony stuff in there, because it’s a lot of phony stuff with that whole world. But I think I would.’

Trump added that he was more interested in learning the details of Epstein death.

‘It’d be interesting to find out what happened there, because that was a weird situation and the cameras didn’t happen to be working, etc., etc. But yeah, I’d go a long way toward that one,’ Trump said.

Fox News did not air Trump’s full response to the question at the time, as reported by MSNBC.

Tucker Carlson believes the government is ‘covering up’ the Epstein files to protect US and Israeli intelligence services.

The former Fox News host is leading a MAGA backlash against the Trump admins’ failure to deliver on its promise to release Epstein’s anticipated ‘client list.’

‘I don’t think he’s that guy, actually,’ Carlson said of Trump. ‘I don’t think he likes creepy sex stuff.’

Rather, Carlson floated a more sinister plot to protect the US and Israeli intelligence agencies was driving Trump’s response.

Firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is blasting Donald Trump’s sudden pivot to sending powerful arms to Ukraine, hours after the president heralded a new plan to get European nations to front much of the tab.

‘I said it on every rally stage: ‘No more money to Ukraine. We want peace.’ We just want peace for those people,’ she said in extensive comments to the New York Times – in just the latest instance of the MAGA lawmaker calling out the administration’s foreign policy moves.

The says that sentiment drew applause on the campaign trail. ‘And guess what? People haven’t changed.’

President Donald Trump was reportedly furious at his Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino after he threatened to quit his position over the Epstein files.

While Trump fumed at Bongino, Vice President JD Vance apparently spent the weekend trying to mediate the situation.

Vance was part of the conversations urging Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel to stick around despite their disappointment with the handling of Bondi’s review of the Epstein investigation.

Trump told reporters on Sunday that he had spoken to Bongino. When asked if Bongino was still Deputy FBI Director, Trump replied: ‘I think so.’

‘Dan Bongino is a very good guy. I’ve known him a long time. I’ve done his show many, many times,’ Trump said.

‘And he sounded terrific, actually, no, I think he’s in good shape.’

Jeffrey Epstein’s brother said he ‘laughed at how stupid’ the Trump administration’s handling of the ‘Epstein files’ has been and revealed he doesn’t believe their assertion that the financier’s death was a suicide.

The notorious pedophile’s brother Mark told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that he was not convinced by the White House’s memo this week that said there is no evidence Epstein was murdered or kept a long-suspected ‘client list.’

‘Every time they say something or do something to try to quash the fact that he was most likely murdered, they just put their foot further down their mouths,’ Mark Epstein said.

Read the full story here:

Pam Bondi attempted to silence conspiracy theories by explaining the mysterious one-minute gap in surveillance footage from outside Jeffrey Epstein’s jail cell on the night he died.

The attorney general went into damage control during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday when she was pressed to explain a bizarre timestamp jump in the 11-hour video.

‘The video was not conclusive, but the evidence prior to it was showing he committed suicide,’ Bondi said, adding that the missing minute was not unique to the Epstein video.

‘There was a minute that was off the counter, and what we learned from the Bureau of Prisons is every night they redo that video… every night should have the same minute missing.’

She claimed the DOJ would look to release footage from other nights to prove the missing minute was a routine quirk of the prison’s surveillance system.

‘We’re looking for that video to release that as well, to show that a minute is missing every night,’ she said. ‘And that’s it on Epstein.’

Former South Carolina governor and presidential candidate Nikki Haley joined a chorus of conservative voices demanding the Epstein files be released.

‘You can never go wrong with being transparent,’ wrote Haley, who was Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations during his first term.

‘Redact victims’ names but release the rest,’ Haley added Tuesday on X.

But the White House quickly slapped down suggestions that Trump is seriously considering letting Maxwell off the hook.

‘There have been no discussions or consideration of a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, and there never will be,’ a senior White House official told the Daily Mail.

California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna pushed an amendment to upcoming crypto legislation that would have forced Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all Epstein-related documents.

Bondi would have to share the files on a ‘publicly accessible website’ within 30 days of passage.

However, the effort was foiled, failing five to seven, during a Monday night vote by the House Rules Committee, a group of lawmakers that generally sign off on legislation before it gets a final vote on the House floor.

Read the full story here:

Rep Ro Khanna introduced an amendment that would have allowed the release of evidence related to the investigation of child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Justice Department and FBI are struggling to contain the fallout from its decision to withhold records from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, which rankled influential far-right media personalities and supporters of President Donald Trump.

The scandal-stained pedo palace where Jeffrey Epstein abused scores of underage girls was wiped off the map – and replaced with a $30 million mega-mansion.

The new property — a 10,000-square-foot waterfront retreat complete with pool, library, courtyard and pavilion — is on the exact same land but is listed in county records as 360 El Brillo Way.

Donald Trump said he tried to talk Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino down from quitting over the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files.

The president told reporters on Sunday that he spoke to Bongino amid rising reports that he would resign his post.

As a popular pro-MAGA right-wing podcaster before joining the FBI, Bongino touted conspiracies that convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in jail to prevent the list of his high-profile clientele from reaching the light of day.

Bongino was irate when the DOJ, which he works under as No. 2 at the FBI, concluded in its review of the files that the initial findings that Epstein killed himself in prison were true.

A DOJ insider told the Daily Mail on Friday that if Attorney General Pam Bondi keeps her job, Bongino will leave his.

Stephen King weighed in on the Epstein client list debate on Tuesday, appearing to mock those who are demanding more information on the case.

The Democrat author’s comments come after the Trump Justice Department said there was no ‘client list,’ sparking rage from mani in the MAGA movement.

Donald Trump’s second-in-command at the FBI is escalating his feud with DOJ’s Pam Bondi after Jeffrey Epstein ‘failures’ sparked a MAGA civil war.

Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino were targeted with fury after a leaked DOJ/FBI memo found convicted pedophile Epstein did not kill himself and there was never a ‘client list’ of his co-conspirators.

Despite the backlash, all three political appointees appear to be keeping their Trump administration jobs – for now.

But that isn’t stopping nasty infighting among the agency heads.

Read the full exclusive story here:

Lara Trump added fuel to the fire of the MAGA conspiracy flames when she demanded ‘more transparency’ on Jeffrey Epstein and called on President Donald Trump, her father-in-law, to release the documents ‘soon.’

Trump, the wife of the president’s son Eric, said she believes the administration will hand out more files on the pedophile financer, who committed suicide in a New York jail while awaiting trial for his crimes.

But Lara Trump also offered the shocking claim that she expects the administration to provide more information soon.

Read Lara Trump’s full comments here:

While Patel said that there was, he merely suggested that the footage is ‘not of what you want.’

Neither Patel nor Rogan would name names but suggested that ‘what you want’ is ‘some guy or gal committing felonies.’

‘If I had it, I’d be the first guy to bring this case hard and fast,’ Patel claimed.

He added that his team at the FBI has viewed everything they have been given lawful access to from the infamous island.

It has long been believed that Epstein hosted a wide array of rich and famous clients at the island.

Democrats in the majority-Republican House Rules committee have been pushing for an amendment to cryptocurrency legislation that would force the release of evidence from the 2019 child sex-trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein.

But Republicans voted down the measure that would have allowed Congress to vote on whether the evidence should be released, as reported by The Guardian.

On July 7, the Justice Department acknowledged that Epstein did not have a list of clients and said no more files related to Epstein’s case would be made public.

A two-page memo that bore the logos of the FBI and Justice Department, but that was not signed by any individual, said the DOJ determined that no ‘further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.’

It said 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.’

It was a huge retreat from what Bondi and others had previously claimed. And it prompted anger — and more suspicion and conspiracy theories — from the MAGA faithful.

Some MAGA world influencers, including Loomer and Glenn Beck, have explicitly called on Bondi to resign. Former Fox News personality Megyn Kelly, who is now a podcaster, called Bondi ‘either lazy or incompetent.’

CCTV footage taken outside disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s cell has been released six years after the notorious paedophile was found dead.

Around 11 hours of footage taken from inside the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York City on August 9 and 10 2019 has been publicly revealed for the first time, amide a probe into his death.

The footage, released on the DoJ’s website as part of the investigation that was started following a campaign pledge by US president Donald Trump, appears to show the orange-clad pedophile being led to his cells by a guard and being trailed by a second one at 7.49pm on the night of August 9.

The president was furious that the New York Post reporter wanted to ‘desecrate’ the deadly Texas flood tragedy by asking Bondi about the Epstein files during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, surely aware of how the abrupt conclusion of the investigation has riled up his MAGA base.

‘Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?’ Trump lamented to reporters present for his six-month Cabinet meeting. ‘This guy’s been talked about for years.’

He said that the media needs to move on from ‘this creep’ Epstein and focus more on the tragedy in Texas and ongoing wars in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine.

Vice President JD Vance has stayed silent on the ongoing controversy surrounding the administration’s handling of the Jefferey Epstein case, despite a long history of advocating for more government transparency.

Prior to taking office as vice president, Vance publicly expressed his belief that a client list existed — and that the public deserved to see it.

‘What possible interest would the US government have in keeping Epstein’s clients secret? Oh…,’ he wrote on December 30, 2021 on X.

At the time, Vance reposted prominent MAGA supporter Jack Posobiec’s comments highlighting a report and wrote, ‘The DOJ and Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers have made a deal that her ‘little black book’ of contacts will never be made public.’

That prompted Vance to rant at the journalists failing to grill politicians hard enough about the Epstein files.

Kevin Spacey took to X Tuesday to demand the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

The actor admitted in 2024 during an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored that he flew to Africa on Epstein’s Lolita Express in 2002 for an eight-day humanitarian mission.

However, the actor denied spending any time with Epstein while on the trip, alleging he was primarily working with the ‘Clinton Foundation people.’

He also claimed that Epstein made him feel uncomfortable and that he felt the billionaire ‘put the president at risk’ because there were ‘young girls on those flights.’

Spacey, known for the hit Netflix series House of Cards along with the award-winning 90s romcom American Beauty, was found not guilty during a London trial after being accused of sexual offences.

Bannon, the architect of Donald Trump’s 2016 victory, declared in fiery live broadcast on Friday that unless Trump takes swift action the political cost could be catastrophic.

‘If we lose 10 percent of the MAGA movement right now, we’re gonna lose 40 seats in ’26. We’re gonna lose the president,’ Bannon thundered to a packed audience.

‘They don’t even have to steal it, which they’re gonna try to do in ’28.’

The longtime political guru of the MAGA movement also addressed conspiracy theories that Epstein was behind an elite cabal of child rapists.

The president attempted to tamp down the fury in a post on his own Truth Social platform amid reports FBI chiefs Dan Bongino and Kash Patel had threatened to resign unless Attorney General Pam Bondi steps down.

‘We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and “selfish people” are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein,’ Trump wrote.

He added that America should ‘not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody nobody cares about.’

But in an extremely rare sight, the response from his Truth Social followers was furious. The vast majority of the most upvoted comments came from those who objected to his Epstein argument.

The Trump administration’s insistence that there are no more Jeffrey Epstein files to release has been undermined by documents previously disseminated by the Department of Justice.

But the vast tranche, obtained by Daily Mail through a FOIA request, are heavily redacted, protecting the identities of those who traveled to the disgraced financier’s homes in the Caribbean, New Mexico and other locations.

Epstein was a wealthy financier arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. His former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was charged with helping him abuse teenage girls.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in New York City about a month after he was arrested. Investigators concluded he killed himself. Maxwell later was convicted at trial and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The case attracted attention because of Epstein and Maxwell’s links to famous people, including royals, presidents and billionaires. It also led to some of the biggest conspiracy theories animating Trump’s base.

Conservatives, led by key figures in the MAGA movement, have pressed unsubstantiated claims that Epstein was murdered and that ‘deep state’ actors in the government are hiding lists of his clients, videos of crimes being committed and other evidence. Trump himself suggested there was a cover-up.

Surveillance footage released last week to back up the DOJ’s claim that disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in a New York City prison cell in August 2019 was likely edited, an in-depth report has found.

The nearly 11-hour clip secured from a camera stationed outside Epstein’s cell was ‘likely modified’ using the professional video editing software Adobe Premiere Pro, according to the analysis from Wired.

While the podcaster stopped short of directly accusing Trump of wrongdoing, she openly questioned his defense of Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel — both of whom had previously pledged that explosive names and evidence tied to Epstein would be released.

Kelly said: ‘There is something there, and it’s being covered up, and the president blessed it,’ she suggested during Monday’s episode of The Megyn Kelly Show.

‘I didn’t say, «There’s a child sex ring that he’s actively covering up»… but I think there’s some middle ground.’

In a pivot from her previous public defenses of the president, her declaration stunned her guest, conservative commentator and host Ben Shapiro, whose eyebrows visibly rose in surprise.

President Donald Trump has faced backlash for wishing Ghislaine Maxwell ‘well’ in 2020 as she faced trial for sex-trafficking.

‘I just wish her well, frankly. I’ve met her numerious times over the years, specially since I lived in Palm Beach, but I wish her well,’ Trump said at the time.

The president was confronted by Axios about the comments and doubled down on the sentiment.

‘Her friend, or boyfriend,was either killed or committed suicide in jail… She’s now in jail, I wish her well… I wish you well, I wish a lot of people well, Trump said.

‘I do wish her well, I’m not looking for anything bad for her, I’m not looking for bad for anybody.’

Maxwell, 63, is the only person behind bars — serving 20 years on child sex trafficking charges — despite the fact that pedophile Jeffrey Epstein allegedly controlled a web of underage girls.

Now a source said: ‘Despite the rumors, Ghislaine was never offered any kind of plea deal. She would be more than happy to sit before Congress and tell her story.

‘No-one from the government has ever asked her to share what she knows. She remains the only person to be jailed in connection to Epstein and she would welcome the chance to tell the American public the truth.’

Currently serving a 20-year prison sentence, Maxwell’s lawyers argued she shouldn’t have been put on trial in the first place because of the plea deal Epstein reached with Florida prosecutors in 2008.

But Donald Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi’s DOJ responded in a filing on Monday saying that the Supreme Court should not take up her case.

At the time it was reported he had threatened to resign over the botched handling of the investigation, which has sparked mutiny within the MAGA ranks and turned some of Trump’s most loyal soldiers against him.

But Bongino, a podcaster who was picked out of political obscurity to help lead the new-and-improved FBI, reportedly returned to work this week under a cloud of uncertainty about his future at the agency.

By Monday morning, officials were starting to squirm and feared that Bongino would be a no-show yet again, but he arrived in the office a few hours later than expected.

A broken promise to release more information about the Jeffrey Epstein case has sparked outrage among some of President Donald Trump’s loyal supporters.

The Justice Department last week said Epstein, who was facing charges of sex trafficking, did not leave behind a ‘client list.’

The DOJ also released surveillance footage to back up its claim that Epstein killed himself in his prison cell in August 2019.

Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested in February it was on her desk, though she later said she was referring to the overall case file.

Bondi also said officials were poring over a ‘truckload’ of previously withheld evidence. The Justice Department concluded, however, that public disclosure would not be appropriate and that much of the material was placed under seal by a judge. That has angered right-wing influencers who were once bolstered by Trump’s own claims on this case, but are now feeling their demands are being squelched by his administration.

Figures like commentator Tucker Carlson, right-wing activist Laura Loomer, and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon claim the government’s handling of the case shows a lack of transparency. Anger over the case threatens to divide the MAGA faithful.