President Donald Trump this week addressed an unexpected question from a reporter about whether he intends to release more information on Jeffrey Epstein.
His remarks came just days before Virginia Giuffre, one of the first and most prominent survivors of Epstein’s abuse to speak out, died by suicide.
Epstein, a sex offender accused of orchestrating a massive child sex trafficking ring with his associates, died by suicide in 2019 while in custody on federal sex trafficking charges. He was associated with dozens of celebrities and powerful politicians, bringing international interest to the case.
Much of this interest centered around redacted court documents naming alleged associates and victims known as the “Epstein files.” Attorney General Pam Bondi moved to release some of these documents in February in what she labeled the “first phase” of declassified files — but much of the information was already public.
Trump, when asked by a reporter on April 22 when the public could expect to see the release of more documents, said he would speak to Bondi.
“I don’t know, I’ll speak to the attorney general about that, I really don’t know,” Trump said.
On January 23, Trump signed an executive order directing the declassification of records surrounding the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I do know that we’ve done the RFK, the Kennedy, Martin Luther King is out there very shortly, so we’ll find out,” Trump added. “We’ve really announced we’re doing them in full transparency.”
Bondi moved to declassify several documents from Epstein’s criminal prosecution, many of which were already published.
The files previously published pilot logs related to the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s close associate, who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021. The files also included redactions from prosecutors to protect victims. Bondi also published Epstein’s “little black book,” containing names of his alleged associates. However, that too was already published.
One never-before-seen document was an “Evidence List,” a catalogue of evidence obtained by investigators.
Items included a “LSJ logbook,” believed to refer to his private island Little St. James, and a CD labelled “girl pics nude book 4.”
Several big names had already been linked to Epstein through previously released documents, including Trump, Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger.
Bondi had invited several prominent right-wing influencers to the White House — including “Libs of TikTok” owner Chaya Raichik and Republican activist Scott Presler — to see the documents the day they were released.
