A past interview with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is making waves again after she claimed she was reviewing a “truckload” of documents from the FBI related to Jeffrey Epstein, including what she referred to as a client list. But now the FBI and Justice Department are saying no such incriminating list exists, sparking major pushback and renewed speculation.
In an interview from March with Fox News‘ Sean Hannity, Bondi described receiving stacks of Epstein documents, saying, “We were looking at these documents going, these aren’t all the ‘Epstein Files.’ You know, they’re flight logs. They were names and victims’ names. And we’re going, where’s the rest of the stuff?” Earlier in February, she told Fox’s John Roberts that she had the supposed client list “sitting on my desk right now to review.”
Fast forward to this week, and the DOJ and FBI have officially released a memo stating they found no such list. “This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list,’” the memo said, according to Axios, which first reported it. The memo also made it clear that no credible evidence was found suggesting Epstein blackmailed high-profile individuals or that there was cause to investigate unnamed third parties.
The report marks the first time the Trump administration has publicly pushed back against the long-circulating conspiracy theories suggesting Epstein was murdered to protect powerful elites. But for many in the MAGA crowd, including Elon Musk, the explanation didn’t sit well. They questioned how Bondi could say the list was in her possession while the DOJ now insists it never existed.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was grilled about the contradiction at a press briefing Monday. Fox News’ Peter Doocy brought up Bondi’s quote directly, pressing, “So what happened to the Epstein client list the Attorney General said she had on her desk?” Leavitt pushed back, saying Bondi was likely referring to the full set of Epstein documents, not a literal client list.
Bondi had previously raised concerns that the FBI hadn’t turned over all the files from the start and said her team was trying to figure out why. “I have the FBI going through them and [FBI Director] Kash [Patel] is also, now that we have Kash here, it’s a game changer of course,” she said at the time. “Kash, Director Patel, is going to get us a detailed report as to why the FBI withheld all of those documents.”
According to Bondi, the shipment of documents they received was substantial. “A truckload of evidence arrived,” she said, adding that they were reviewing everything carefully with victims’ privacy in mind. Still, she insisted the public deserved to know what was in them.
She didn’t just criticize the previous administration either. Bondi also blamed the Biden administration for doing nothing with the documents. “The Biden administration sat on these documents. No one did anything with them,” she said. “Sadly, these people don’t believe in transparency. But I think more, unfortunately, I think a lot of them don’t live in honesty.”
Despite all the back-and-forth, the DOJ and FBI are holding firm on their conclusion: there is no Epstein client list, and Epstein’s death was a suicide. Whether that puts the rumors to rest or just adds fuel to the fire remains to be seen.