President Trump criticized a reporter for asking about Jeffrey Epstein in a Tuesday Cabinet meeting, calling the questions a “desecration,” one day after the Justice Department found the convicted sex offender died by suicide and did not have a “client list.”
The moment came after a reporter asked Attorney General Pam Bondi about the department’s recent review of its Epstein investigation, which has drawn questions — and conspiracy theories — since the disgraced financier’s 2019 death. Before Bondi could answer, Mr. Trump pushed back against the reporter.
“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years,” Mr. Trump said. “Are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable”
The president went on to say: “I can’t believe you’re asking a question on Epstein at a time like this, when we’re having some of the greatest success, and also tragedy with what happened in Texas. It just seems like a desecration.”
Bondi addresses missing minute in Epstein jail video — and other questions
After Mr. Trump’s pushback, Bondi answered the reporter’s questions, addressing some common theories about the Epstein probe.
She said a minute was missing from a 2019 surveillance video of Epstein’s New York detention center — which the department used to determine Epstein was locked in his cell at the time of his death — because the facility’s aging camera system resets every night. Bondi said the department is putting together footage to demonstrate that issue.
The attorney general also said the Justice Department has not released some video evidence from the Epstein investigation because the footage was child pornography. “Never going to be released. Never going to see the light of day,” Bondi said.
Epstein has been accused of trafficking and sexually abusing dozens of underage girls. He pleaded guilty to prostitution in Florida state court in 2008 as part of a deal to avoid federal charges — a deal that many critics viewed as lenient. More than a decade later, he was charged with sex trafficking in New York federal court, but he died in jail while awaiting trial. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.
The circumstances of Epstein’s alleged crimes and death have drawn public scrutiny for years, partly due to his friendships with wealthy and powerful people.
This week, the Justice Department finished a systematic review that concluded Epstein died by suicide. It also said it found no “client list,” adding, “no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.”
The review came after Bondi and other top Trump administration officials had vowed to release material about the Epstein investigation. In a February Fox News interview, Bondi was asked if the Justice Department planned to release “the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients,” and she responded, “it’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”
On Tuesday, Bondi said she meant more generally that files related to Epstein were sitting on her desk for review, along with files on Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy’s investigation that Mr. Trump had ordered to be released.
Last month, as Mr. Trump feuded with his onetime ally Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO claimed — without evidence — the administration had withheld information on Epstein because Mr. Trump is “in the Epstein files.” The president later shared an X post from an attorney who said Epstein told him he had “no information to hurt President Trump.”
