On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondy avoided questions from reporters during a recent government review regarding the accused sex offender and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded that Epstein died in a Manhattan prison in 2019 by suicide. However, the questions come from right-wing conspiracy theorists, many of which are part of Trump’s magazine. [Make America Great Again] The base, which has long been claiming a widely circulating conspiracy, claims that Epstein was murdered because he owned a powerful person and sexually compromised material on the “client list.”
Here’s what we know about how the Epstein case is causing the split of the Magazine:
Why is Magazine’s conspiracy theory about Epstein now resurfaced?
A memo released Monday by the Justice Department and the FBI said the government reviews found no evidence that Epstein had a specific “secret client list.”
The memo also reaffirmed that Epstein died from suicide, reaffirming that “this conclusion is consistent with previous findings, including the August 19, 2019 autopsy of the New York City Chief Medical Examination Office and the office position in November 2019 in the US Attorneys’ District for the Southern District of New York. General.”
But right-wing Americans and online detectives have long been raising conspiracy theories in which the government concealed the truth about Epstein’s death. The latest memo has brought these back to action.
In addition to the notes, DOJ released a video of Epstein’s prison cell on Monday the night he passed away. However, in the video, the time code jumps 1 minute and 2 seconds at a time just before midnight, further inflating the conspiracy theorist.
What did Trump say to a reporter about Jeffrey Epstein?
At the White House Cabinet meeting Tuesday, reporters asked Bondi about the missing portion in a video from Epstein Prison.
The reporter said, “The memo released yesterday in Jeffrey Epstein left a lingering mystery. One of the biggest is whether he worked for the American Intelligence Agency or for a foreign Intelligence Agency. Please tell me why he went missing for a minute on a prison tape on the night of his death.”
Trump jumped in and asked, “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy has been talked about for years.”
“Are people still talking about this guy?
Trump shuts out the question and says, “I mean, I can’t believe we’re asking Epstein at times like these. We’ve had the greatest success and tragedy of what happened in Texas,” and kills 109 people, referring to the flash flood that hit the southern US state over the weekend. “It just seems like a sec,” Trump added.
However, during the campaign last year’s presidential election, Trump said he would release files related to Epstein.
Bondy told reporters he had no knowledge of Epstein being a “agent.” “We can go back to you about it,” she said.
She added that the prison’s camera system was “1999.” “Every night, the video is reset and the same moment should be missing each night. So we’re also looking for a video to release it, indicating that one minute is missing each night.
What happened to Epstein?
Born and raised in New York, Epstein was a billionaire financial operator known for his association with socialites, politicians and celebrities. He passed away on August 10, 2019 in a Manhattan prison.
In 2005, Epstein was accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl after her parents reported it to police. This has led police to talk to more girls who have stepped forward to file similar allegations. Ultimately, in 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to a charge relating to one victim. He spent 13 months in a workplace release program in prison, which left the prison to go to work during the day and then returned to the evening.
In 2019 he was charged with sex trafficking by federal prosecutors in New York.
The Manhattan US lawyer has also indicted Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, Gislaine Maxwell – the daughter of disgraceful media mogul, Robert Maxwell. Ghislaine Maxwell was accused of being Epstein’s co-conspirator in his sexual abuse scheme. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 and is currently sentenced to the 20 years he received in 2022.
In January last year, approximately 950 pages of court documents regarding the allegations against Epstein were released. These documents include accounts by Epstein’s victims, and say they saw prominent figures, including musicians, scholars and politicians at Epstein’s company, from Michael Jackson to Bill Clinton.
Including names in files did not indicate any claims against individuals, and the individuals listed in these files were not Epstein clients.
What do conspiracy theorists believe about Epstein’s death?
Theory that Epstein’s death was hidden by the government – he was a spy for an unknown institution, and he has floated in right-wing circles throughout the six years since his death.
In 2022, FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and residence. Because the National Archives wanted to ensure that Trump did not have any written documents written during his first term as president.
Less than a day later, far-right internet personality Jacques Posobiek proposed a conspiracy when he posted to Telegram.
However, this claim was misleading. Because federal judge Judge Bruce Reinhart actually represented Epstein employees, local news outlets reported that a magistrate judge had signed the attack and that Reinhart was available.
Trump’s aide and FBI director Kash Patel also questioned the conclusion that Epstein had died of suicide before Trump appointed him to lead the FBI. Dan Bongino, the deputy director of the FBI, has also expressed similar doubts in the past. Speaking to the then-leaders of the FBI in 2023, Patel said on a YouTube show, “Wear big boys’ pants and tell me who the pedophile is.”
In May this year, Patel and Bongino changed their position to the US government’s conclusion that Epstein had died of suicide.
Why is Attorney General Pam Bondy under pressure now?
Bondi has spoken about the Epstein file in the past, and is considered to have stimulated the interest and expectations of revelation among conspiracy theorists.
In an interview with Fox News in February, Bondi was asked, “It’s possible that DOJ is publishing a list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients, but does that really happen?”
She replied, “I’m sitting on my desk and reviewing it right now.”
In February, political commentators and far-right influencers were invited to the White House to present a document entitled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1.” Bondi then released these documents, which did not include anything revelation about the Epstein case. However, she also said she delivered evidence of “truck load” in the Epstein case to the FBI.
Monday’s note, which stated that “List” Bondi had promised to release, was the final nail in a disappointment for critics in the Magazine. On Tuesday, Bondi denied talking about the “client list.” Instead, the “list” she was referring to was the Epstein case file. “That’s what I meant,” she said.
On Tuesday, Bondi also said the thousands of videos about the Epstein incident, reviewed by US Intelligence, could not be made public because they actually contained child sexual abuse. “Child porn is what they were there, they’re never released, they never see the light of day,” she said.
What are the conspiracy theorists saying now?
Following a government memo on Monday, the far-right personality expressed even more disappointment.
“Missing Minutes” from Epstein Video
Conservatives, including Social Media Personality Lobby Starbuck, raised questions about the video posted by DOJ in an online post on Monday.
There are some very strange things about the Epstein cell video, where Pam Bondy’s DOJ released it as proven that no one had killed him. First, it appears that a complete minute is missing from the video, but second, it doesn’t look like the same cell as the photo released on January 5th, 2020. …pic.twitter.com/xw3ghu6a8n
– Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) July 7, 2025
Government claims of cover-up
Jack Posviek, the far-right influencer posted on X: “We’ve all been told we’ll come more. The answer is there and is provided.
We were all told we would come more. The answer is there and is provided. It was incredible how essential this Epstein confusion was. And it didn’t have to be that
– Jackposo (@jackposobiec) July 7, 2025
Alex Jones is another conspiracy theorist who spent three years in federal bankruptcy court after the family of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Fook School shooting won $1.3 billion in two honor-loss suits in Connecticut and Texas. He was spreading conspiracy theories that shooting was a hoax. Now he is engaged in more conspiracy theories.
He wrote to X on Tuesday: “The DOJ then says, ‘In fact, Jeffrey Epstein never existed,” and thinks the memo finds “tops are tired.”
Trump’s allies and another conspiracy theorist, Laura Rumer, also wrote in X: [sic] “It’s covering up a child sex crime that took place under her watch when she was Florida’s Attorney General.”
Pam Blondy hides a child sex crime that took place under the clock while he was Florida’s Attorney General.
During Blondi’s tenure as Florida’s Attorney General from 2011 to 2019, Jeffrey Epstein’s flight log surfaced, with many of his victims suing.
– Laura Loomer (@lauraloomer) July 8, 2025
Epstein’s “link” to Trump and Steve Bannon
Last month, former Trump ally billionaire Elon Musk claimed that Trump was named in the Epstein Files. He later expressed regret for the social media jab he made against Trump, but this week he created a series of posts claiming the government withheld documents on Epstein.
“How can people expect to have faith in Trump if they don’t release Epstein files?” Musk was posted on Tuesday. In a reply to another post, Musk also claimed that “Bannon is in Epstein’s file,” referring to former White House adviser and Trump aide Steve Bannon.
The mask provided no evidence of this. Bannon’s name is not included in the files released in January 2024. Musk and Bannon have previously clashed with the H-1B visa program that leads foreign workers to the US.
Last month, Musk and Trump’s relationship focused on Trump’s tax and spending bills called “One big beautiful bill.”
What was Trump’s relationship with Epstein?
Trump’s name appears in the Epstein Files released in January 2024, but he has not been criticized for anything. This is the context.
Johanna Schober, one of the many women who accused Epstein of sexual abuse, mentioned the 2001 incident in which Epstein and several others were boarded on a plane in Palm Beach, Florida. Sjoberg said Virginia Giuffre, another woman who sued Epstein for abusing her at her home in Florida, New York, the US Virgin Islands and New Mexico, also attended the plane. Giuffre later accused British Epstein and Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, but died of suicide earlier this year.
The plane was unable to land in New York due to the storm and was forced to land in Atlantic City, visiting one of Trump’s casinos. Sjoberg said Giuffre was a minor at the time of the incident and that Sjoberg was asked if he was allowed to enter the casino. “I knew nothing about the age where I had to legally gamble. She and I didn’t gamble because I knew she couldn’t get in due to ID issues,” replied Sjoberg.
