Washington (AP) Attorney General Pam Bondi made a startling declaration as the Trump administration pledged to make further papers from its Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking probe public: She said that tens of thousands of films showing the affluent banker with kids or engaging in child porn were being examined by the FBI.
Days after making a similar remark to a stranger with a hidden camera, the White House remarks to reporters increased the pressure on President Donald Trump’s administration to demonstrate that it has historically unheard-of, strong evidence. This work is especially urgent now that Bondi’s earlier document dump, which failed to deliver new bombshells, infuriated parts of Trump’s base, and administration officials who had pledged to reveal the alleged government deep state’s secrets are finding it difficult to keep their word.
However, it’s still unclear what Bondi was talking about weeks after her comments.
Attorneys and law enforcement officers involved in the criminal investigations of Epstein and his ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell told the Associated Press that they had not seen or heard of a treasure trove of recordings similar to what Bondi had stated. The presence of recordings showing Epstein with children is not mentioned in indictments or detention memoranda, and despite the fact that possessing child sex abuse footage would have been far simpler to prove than the sex trafficking charges they were facing, neither of them was prosecuted with it.
In a little-known 2023 court filing, Epstein’s estate disclosed that it had found an unknown number of tapes and images that it claimed potentially contain child sex abuse evidence among hundreds of records examined by the AP. However, even that is still secret, as the attorneys in that civil lawsuit claim they are prohibited from discussing it due to a protective order.
The Justice Department has not stated if Bondi was referring to the finding of tapes after the criminal prosecutions were over, as the filing implies.
The AP repeatedly asked to interview with officials in charge of the Epstein review, but the department refused. When and where the recordings were obtained, what they show, and whether they were recently uncovered as authorities dug through their evidence collection or were known to have been in the government’s possession for a while were among the questions that spokespeople declined to address regarding Bondi’s remarks.
Spokesman Chad Gilmartin said in a statement that outside sources that make claims regarding the materials included in the DOJ’s examination are unable to comment on what items are included in the DOJ’s review.
Conspiracy theorists and internet detectives looking for evidence of a cover-up have been drawn to Epstein’s case because of his misdeeds, prominent connections, and jailhouse suicide. Elon Musk sparked a flurry during his bitter feud with Trump when he claimed, without providing any proof, in a since-deleted social media post that the Republican president is mentioned in the Epstein files, which is why they haven’t been made public.
In a February interview with Fox News Channel, Bondi implied that she had a purported Epstein client list on her desk. The Justice Department gave declassified binders to far-right White House influencers the following day, but it soon became apparent that a large portion of the material had already been made public. There is no proof that a customer list of this kind exists, and none was revealed.
The failure infuriated conservatives and did not put an end to the conspiracy theories that had centered on Epstein’s case for years. Laura Loomer, a right-wing figure, labeled Bondi a complete fraud and demanded her resignation.
Bondi later claimed that an FBI source told her that hundreds of pages of previously unknown records were available and directed the bureau to produce the entire Epstein archives, including any films. Since then, staff members have recorded hours spent examining documents in order to get them ready for publication. When that might occur is unknown.
A woman wearing a covert camera approached Bondi in a café in April and inquired about the release status of the Epstein papers. Bondi retorted that the FBI had to watch every video since there were tens of thousands of them and they were all of young children.
Bondi told reporters at the White House that there are tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with minors or child porn after conservative activist James O. Keefe, who later made the hidden-camera footage public, informed the Justice Department about the incident.
The remarks stoked long-standing fears that, even though thousands of documents detailing Epstein’s actions have been made public over the years, damaging information about him or other well-known individuals is still hidden.
Recent remarks made by FBI Director Kash Patel to podcaster Joe Rogan that did not reiterate Bondi’s story of tens of thousands of videos further clouded the picture.
Patel denied the likelihood of damning films of influential Epstein pals, while not being specifically questioned about Bondi. He said, “If there was a video of some guy or gal committing felonies on an island and I’m in charge, don’t you think you’d see it?” He said, “Exactly,” in response to the question of whether the story of these individuals doing this on video was true.
Weeks after his arrest, Epstein committed suicide in August 2019, ending the discovery process, which involves lawyers exchanging evidence, and preventing a trial in New York.
Salacious recordings of Epstein with minors, however, never came to light or were included in the case, according to one of her attorneys, even in a later prosecution of Maxwell, where such evidence would have likely been pertinent given the nature of the charges against an alleged co-conspirator.
None of those resources were ever given to us. According to Jeffrey Pagliuca, who defended Maxwell in a 2021 trial when she was found guilty of enticing adolescent girls to be assaulted by Epstein, “I suspect if they existed, we would have seen them, and I’ve never seen them, so I have no idea what she’s talking about.”
Indeed, photos of girls in the nude or semi-naked state have long been known to be included in the case. While examining his estate in Manhattan, investigators may have found hundreds of similar images. According to court documents, police conducted a videotaped tour of his Palm Beach, Florida, residence and found sexually provocative photos on display.
The public’s assumption of sexual recordings has been influenced by multiple accusers’ claims of feeling watched or seeing cameras or other monitoring devices on Epstein’s residences. Police searching Epstein’s Palm Beach home in 2005 discovered computer keyboards, monitors, and disconnected surveillance cameras, but the equipment, including video recordings and other electronic items, was missing, according to a 2020 Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility report on the handling of an earlier Epstein investigation.
The indictment against him contained no recording charges, and there is no proof that prosecutors recovered any missing equipment during the subsequent federal probe.
No mention of tens of thousands of tapes showing Epstein with minor girls was found in the hundreds of documents the AP examined in the Maxwell and Epstein criminal cases.
According to Marc Fernich, an Epstein attorney who was unable to rule out such evidence, I don’t personally remember ever having that kind of conversation. I’ve never heard anything about it.
Prosecutors stated in a 2020 filing that they would provide hundreds of photos and videos from Epstein’s personal devices to Maxwell’s attorneys upon a warrant, including one vague reference to video evidence.
However, according to Pagliuca, he remembered that the majority of those movies were recordings of Epstein musing into a recording device and Epstein conversing with Epstein.
The number of accusers, court proceedings, and districts where legal wrangling has taken place, especially following Epstein’s suicide and Maxwell’s conviction, complicates attempts to evaluate the Epstein evidence.
The cases include 2022 lawsuits filed in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein resided, and Manhattan’s federal court by an accuser known as Jane Doe 1, who claims that financial services behemoth JPMorgan Chase ignored warning signs that he was a high-risk client.
A subpoena was issued by attorneys for any photographs or video recordings that would support their claims.
Months later, they informed a judge that the Epstein estate had informed them that, in answering to the subpoena, it had discovered data that potentially contain images of child sex abuse and asked for a procedure for managing photographs and video recordings. The judge directed Epstein’s estate agents to check the documents before presenting them to attorneys and to notify the FBI of any images that might show child sexual assault.
It’s unclear if the tapes Bondi referred to were the same ones, and court documents don’t specify the evidence or the number of movies or photos that were discovered.
Jennifer Freeman, a plaintiff’s attorney, eventually incorporated the estate’s disclosure in a complaint to the FBI and the Justice Department, claiming that investigators had neglected to gather sufficient evidence of child sex abuse over the years.
In a recent lawsuit filed on behalf of an Epstein accuser who claims he raped her in 1996, Freeman referenced Bondi’s remarks. Freeman stated in an interview that she wanted to know what Bondi meant even though she had not viewed tapes and had no firsthand knowledge.
“I would like to know what she is talking about and what she is addressing,” she remarked.
This report was written by Aaron Kessler, a Washington-based journalist for the Associated Press.
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