A broken promise to release more information about the Jeffrey Epstein case has sparked outrage among some of President Donald Trump’s loyal supporters. Conservatives, led by key figures in the MAGA movement, have pressed unsubstantiated claims that Epstein was murdered.(AFP)

The Justice Department last week said Epstein, who was facing charges of sex trafficking, did not leave behind a “client list.” Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested in February it was on her desk, though she later said she was referring to the overall case file.

Bondi also said officials were poring over a “truckload” of previously withheld evidence. The Justice Department concluded, however, that public disclosure would not be appropriate and that much of the material was placed under seal by a judge. That has angered right-wing influencers who were once bolstered by Trump’s own claims on this case, but are now feeling their demands are being squelched by his administration.

Figures like commentator Tucker Carlson, right-wing activist Laura Loomer, and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon claim the government’s handling of the case shows a lack of transparency. Anger over the case threatens to divide the MAGA faithful.

Here’s a look at the Epstein sex trafficking case, how the Trump administration has handled it and how his supporters have reacted to recent developments.

What is the Epstein case?

Epstein was a wealthy financier arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. His former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was charged with helping him abuse teenage girls.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in New York City about a month after he was arrested. Investigators concluded he killed himself. Maxwell later was convicted at trial and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The case attracted attention because of Epstein and Maxwell’s links to famous people, including royals, presidents and billionaires. It also led to some of the biggest conspiracy theories animating Trump’s base.

Conservatives, led by key figures in the MAGA movement, have pressed unsubstantiated claims that Epstein was murdered and that “deep state” actors in the government are hiding lists of his clients, videos of crimes being committed and other evidence. Trump himself suggested there was a cover-up.

What are the ‘Epstein Files’?

Trump lately has tried to change the subject, but the Epstein matter commands attention because of the words and actions from his administration.

In February, far-right influencers were invited to the White House and provided with binders marked “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” and “Declassified.” The binders contained documents that had largely already been in the public domain.

Bondi said in May there were “tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn.” That fueled a belief that details about powerful figures had been suppressed.

“It’s a new administration and everything is going to come out to the public,” Bondi said at one point.

Multiple people who participated in the criminal cases of Epstein and Maxwell told The Associated Press that they had not seen and did not know of a trove of recordings along the lines of what Bondi had referenced.

What happened last week?

The Justice Department on July 7 acknowledged that Epstein did not have a list of clients and said no more files related to Epstein’s case would be made public.

A two-page memo that bore the logos of the FBI and Justice Department, but that was not signed by any individual, said the DOJ determined that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.” It said much of the material was placed under seal by a court to protect victims and “only a fraction” of it “would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial.”

It was a huge retreat from what Bondi and others had previously claimed. And it prompted anger — and more suspicion and conspiracy theories — from the MAGA faithful.

Some MAGA world influencers, including Loomer and Glenn Beck, have explicitly called on Bondi to resign. Former Fox News personality Megyn Kelly, who is now a podcaster, called Bondi “either lazy or incompetent.”

What had Trump said about Epstein before his second term?

As far back as 2019, Trump suggested that Epstein’s death was a cover-up and called for a full investigation.

In retweeting a post by conservative pundit and comedian Terrance K. Williams, who suggested that former President Bill Clinton may have been involved, Trump wrote that Epstein “had information on Bill Clinton & now he’s dead.”

When asked about his retweet, Trump said he was merely “demanding” a full investigation, a day after then-Attorney General Bill Barr said there had been “serious irregularities” at the prison where Epstein was being held.

In a 2023 interview, Trump told Carlson he believed that Epstein had committed suicide. But he couched his response, saying it was also “possible” that he had been murdered, a theory he said “many people.” believed.

Last year, Trump was asked on Fox News whether he would declassify documents regarding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and he answered “yeah.” He was then asked about the “Epstein files,” and he said “yeah, yeah, I would,” but then added “I think that less so because you don’t want to affect people’s lives if it’s phony stuff in there, because it’s a lot of phony stuff with that whole world. But I think I would.”

What has Trump said recently?

In a Cabinet meeting last week, Trump called it “unbelievable” and a “desecration” that people were still talking about “this creep,” given other pressing matters, including the catastrophic flooding in Texas.

In a social media post on Saturday, he expressed support for Bondi.

“What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’” Trump wrote. “They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening.”

It was a surprising statement from Attorney General Pam Bondi as the Trump administration promises to release more files from its sex trafficking investigation of Jeffrey Epstein: The FBI, she said, was reviewing “tens of thousands of videos” of the wealthy financier “with children or child porn.”

The comment, made to reporters at the White House days after a similar remark to a stranger with a hidden camera, raised the stakes for President Donald Trump’s administration to prove it has in its possession previously unseen compelling evidence.

That task is all the more pressing after an earlier document dump that Bondi hyped angered elements of Trump’s base by failing to deliver new bombshells and as administration officials who had promised to unlock supposed secrets of the so-called government “deep state” struggle to fulfill that pledge.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to the media, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. (AP)

Yet weeks after Bondi’s remarks, it remains unclear what she was referring to.

The Associated Press spoke with lawyers and law enforcement officials in criminal cases of Epstein and socialite former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell who said they hadn’t seen and didn’t know of a trove of recordings like what Bondi described.

Indictments and detention memos do not reference the existence of videos of Epstein with children, and neither was charged with possession of child sex abuse material even though that offence would have been much easier to prove than the sex trafficking counts they faced.

One potential clue may lie in a little-noticed 2023 court filing — among hundreds of documents reviewed by the AP — in which Epstein’s estate was revealed to have located an unspecified number of videos and photos that it said might contain child sex abuse material. But even that remains shrouded in secrecy with lawyers involved in that civil case saying a protective order prevents them from discussing it.

The filing suggests a discovery of recordings after the criminal cases had concluded, but if that’s what Bondi was referencing, the Justice Department has not said.

The department declined repeated requests from the AP to speak with officials overseeing the Epstein review. Spokespeople did not answer a list of questions about Bondi’s comments, including when and where the recordings were procured, what they depict and whether they were newly discovered as authorities dug through their evidence collection or were known for some time to have been in the government’s possession.

“Outside sources who make assertions about materials included in the DOJ’s review cannot speak to what materials are included in the DOJ’s review,” spokesperson Chad Gilmartin said in a statement.

Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide before he could face trial. (Getty images)

Bondi has faced pressure after first release fell short of expectations

Epstein’s crimes, high-profile connections and jailhouse suicide have made the case a magnet for conspiracy theorists and online sleuths seeking proof of a coverup. Elon Musk entered the frenzy during his acrimonious fallout with Trump when he said without evidence in a since-deleted social media post that the reason the Epstein files have yet to be released is that the Republican president is featured in them.

During a Fox News Channel interview in February, Bondi suggested an alleged Epstein “client list” was sitting on her desk. The next day, the Justice Department distributed binders marked “declassified” to far-right influencers at the White House, but it quickly became clear much of the information had long been in the public domain. No “client list” was disclosed, and there’s no evidence such a document exists.

The flop left conservatives fuming and failed to extinguish conspiracy theories that for years have spiraled around Epstein’s case. Right wing-personality Laura Loomer called on Bondi to resign, branding her a “total liar.”

Afterward, Bondi said an FBI “source” informed her of the existence of thousands of pages of previously undisclosed documents and ordered the bureau to provide the “full and complete Epstein files,” including any videos. Employees since then have logged hours reviewing records to prepare them for release. It’s unclear when that might happen.

Jeffery Epstein, pictured with Ghislaine Maxwell. (Nine)

In April, Bondi was approached in a restaurant by a woman with a hidden camera who asked about the status of the Epstein files release. Bondi replied that there were tens of thousands of videos “and it’s all with little kids,” so she said the FBI had to go through each one.

After conservative activist James O’Keefe, who obtained and later publicised the hidden-camera video, alerted the Justice Department to the encounter, Bondi told reporters at the White House: “There are tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn.”

The comments tapped into long-held suspicions that, despite the release over the years of thousands of records documenting Epstein’s activities, damaging details about him or other prominent figures remain concealed.

The situation was further muddied by recent comments from FBI Director Kash Patel to podcaster Joe Rogan that did not repeat Bondi’s account about tens of thousands of videos.

Though not asked explicitly about Bondi, Patel dismissed the possibility of incriminating videos of powerful Epstein friends, saying, “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?” Asked whether the narrative “might not be accurate that there’s video of these guys doing this,” he replied, “Exactly.”

Epstein took his own life before he could stand trial

Epstein’s suicide in August 2019, weeks after his arrest, prevented a trial in New York and cut short the discovery process in which evidence is shared among lawyers.

But even in a subsequent prosecution of Maxwell, in which such evidence would presumably have been relevant given the nature of the accusations against an alleged co-conspirator, videos of Epstein with children never surfaced nor were part of the case, said one of her lawyers.

“We were never provided with any of those materials. 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,” said Jeffrey Pagliuca, who represented Maxwell in a 2021 trial in which she was convicted of luring teenage girls to be molested by Epstein.

To be sure, photographs of nude or seminude girls have long been known to be part of the case. Investigators recovered possibly thousands of such pictures while searching his Manhattan mansion, and a video-recorded walk-through by law enforcement of his Palm Beach, Florida, home revealed sexually suggestive photographs displayed inside, court records show.

Accounts from more than one accuser of feeling watched or seeing cameras or surveillance equipment in Epstein’s properties have contributed to public expectations of sexual recordings. A 2020 Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility report on the handling of an earlier Epstein investigation hinted at that possibility, saying police who searched his Palm Beach home in 2005 found computer keyboards, monitors and disconnected surveillance cameras, but the equipment — including video recordings and other electronic items — was missing.

There’s no indication prosecutors obtained any missing equipment during the later federal investigation, and the indictment against him included no recording allegations.

An AP review of hundreds of documents in the Maxwell and Epstein criminal cases identified no reference to tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with underage girls.

“I don’t recall personally ever having that kind of discussion,” said one Epstein lawyer, Marc Fernich, who couldn’t rule out such evidence wasn’t located later. “It’s not something I ever heard about.”

In one nonspecific reference to video evidence, prosecutors said in a 2020 filing that they would produce to Maxwell’s lawyers thousands of images and videos from Epstein’s electronic devices in response to a warrant.

But Pagliuca said his recollection was those videos consisted largely of recordings in which Epstein was “musing” into a recording device — “Epstein talking to Epstein,” he said.

A revelation from the Epstein estate

Complicating efforts to assess the Epstein evidence is the volume of accusers, court cases and districts where legal wrangling has occurred, including after Epstein’s suicide and Maxwell’s conviction.

The cases include 2022 lawsuits in Manhattan’s federal court from an accuser identified as Jane Doe 1 and in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had a home, alleging that financial services giant JPMorgan Chase failed to heed red flags about him being a “high-risk” customer.

Lawyers issued a subpoena for any video recordings or photos that could bolster their case.

They told a judge months later the Epstein estate had alerted them that it had found content that “might contain child sex abuse imagery” while responding to the subpoena and requested a protocol for handling “videorecorded material and photographs.” The judge ordered representatives of Epstein’s estate to review the materials before producing them to lawyers and to alert the FBI to possible child sexual abuse imagery.

Court filings don’t detail the evidence or say how many videos or images were found, and it’s unclear whether the recordings Bondi referenced were the same ones.

The estate’s disclosure was later included by a plaintiffs’ lawyer, Jennifer Freeman, in a complaint to the FBI and the Justice Department asserting that investigators had failed over the years to adequately collect potential evidence of child sex abuse material.

Freeman cited Bondi’s comments in a new lawsuit on behalf of an Epstein accuser who alleges he assaulted her in 1996. In an interview, Freeman said she had not seen recordings and had no direct knowledge but wanted to understand what Bondi meant.

Topline Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Fox Business Friday morning she received a “truckload” of unreleased documents related to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein—the same comment she made more than a week ago—but provided no timeline about when these documents could be made public, weeks after the department’s much-hyped release of Epstein-related files was largely considered a dud. Getty Images

Key Facts

Bondi said Friday FBI Director Kash Patel is “going to give me a deadline on when he can go through [the documents] to protect, of course, the victims of sex trafficking,” stating the Justice Department and FBI will “get out as much as we can as fast as we can,” but she did not offer a timeline. Bondi also told Fox News host Sean Hannity last week she received a “truckload” of additional documents from the FBI’s Southern District of New York field office after she accused the office of withholding evidence from the Department of Justice. Bondi said the DOJ would “go through [the documents] as fast as we can” and claimed they are “going to come out,” though she did not say when, adding she wants a “full report” on why the documents allegedly sat at the FBI’s New York field office. A reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday about Bondi’s claim she received a “truckload” of documents, questioning when they would be released, with Leavitt saying she does not have a timeline and referred the reporter to the Department of Justice. Forbes has reached out to the Department of Justice and FBI for comment.

Chief Critics

The prolonged wait for new Epstein documents has prompted criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. The Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats X account posted a thread last week, days after Bondi said she received more Epstein documents, accusing her of “SITTING on the Epstein files” following a “cheap stunt that released no new information.” The Judiciary Democrats also criticized Bondi on Monday after the Justice Department put prosecutor Andrew Rohrbach—who prosecuted Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as New York City Mayor Eric Adams and disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried—on leave. “Not only is Pam Bondi stonewalling the Epstein files’ release… she just punished Ghislaine Maxwell’s prosecutor,” the Judiciary Democrats posted. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who previously slammed the February release of Epstein files as a “complete disappointment,” said Tuesday on X it is “alarming that Congress has gotten almost no communication from the DOJ or updates regarding the matter other than ‘reviewing documents.’”

How Musk And Trump Helped Fuel A Right-Wing Epstein Conspiracy

The Justice Department’s release of Epstein documents had long been talked up by politicians and right-wing influencers, particularly in the lead-up to the 2024 election. While campaigning for the presidency in 2024, President Donald Trump told podcaster Lex Fridman he would be “inclined” to release Epstein-related documents after Fridman pressed him. Trump told Fridman he had “never been to his island, fortunately,” though Trump was named in flight logs as having flown on Epstein’s private jets at least seven times in the 1990s, though has never been linked to Epstein’s crimes. Elon Musk, billionaire and DOGE chief, posted about Epstein’s so-called “client list” in July 2024, stating: “Either FBI does their duty or the case for an entire departmental reset or abolishment is strong.” In an interview with Tucker Carlson in October 2024, Musk said, “if Trump wins, that Epstein client list is going to become public,” accusing various billionaires of supporting former Vice President Kamala Harris’s candidacy because they are “terrified” of being named in documents (though Harris did not comment on whether or not she’d work to release Epstein-related files). During FBI Director Kash Patel’s confirmation hearing in January, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., asked if Patel would “work with me on this issue so we know who worked with Jeffrey Epstein in building these sex trafficking rings,” to which Patel said he “absolutely” would. In January 2024, Bondi said on Fox News Epstein documents should have “come out a long time ago,” stating people who may be implicated in any Epstein-related files have “no legal basis” to keep their names private. Several popular right-wing X accounts, including Libs of TikTok and End Wokeness, have frequently tweeted about Epstein both before and after the election to their collective 8 million followers.

Is There Actually An Epstein Client List?

There is no evidence that a so-called “client list” kept by Epstein exists, despite rumors of one persisting online for years. Those who believe in its existence appear to believe it may hold the names of celebrities, wealthy individuals and members of the political elite that may have been involved with, or known about, Epstein’s crimes. But experts on Epstein have repeatedly cast doubt on the existence of a client list, including Julie K. Brown, the Pulitzer-winning reporter for The Miami Herald, who exposed the legal efforts to keep Epstein out of jail. Brown told Rolling Stone last week there is “no such thing” as far as she knows, based on her review of civil lawsuits and discussions with victims and other sources. “Basically, his telephone directory and flight logs somehow got molded or misconstrued into this idea that there’s some kind of a client list,” Brown said. Brown has previously called the alleged “client list” a “figment of the internet’s imagination” and a “means to just slander people.”

What Happened With The First Epstein Document Release?

The release of Epstein-related documents in late February was considered a failure as most of the information revealed had already been leaked, sparking accusations that the release was a political stunt. The Justice Department gave large binders to several right-wing influencers at the White House, which read, “The Epstein Files: Phase I,” which also sparked some criticism. The bungled release led to finger-pointing, as Bondi sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel demanding the agency send Epstein-related documents she says the FBI withheld from the Justice Department. Without naming Bondi or the Epstein controversy, Patel posted on X the FBI had entered a “new era” in which there would be “no cover-ups, no missing documents, and no stone left unturned.”

Key Background

Epstein was indicted in federal court in 2019 for sex trafficking and was accused of abusing underage girls. He has long been the subject of internet conspiracy theories, including that he did not commit suicide in jail and instead was killed, though there is no evidence to support this idea. Epstein has been linked to a long list of various powerful people, including former President Bill Clinton, who appeared on flight logs but has denied knowing about Epstein’s crimes, and Prince Andrew, who was accused of sexual assault by an alleged Epstein victim and later settled a case with her in court.

Further Reading

Epstein Files Land No New Revelations—Despite Big Promises Throughout Campaign (Forbes)

Attorney General Pam Bondi Accuses FBI Of Withholding Jeffrey Epstein Files—What To Know (Forbes)

First Epstein Names Unsealed: Here Are The Biggest Takeaways (Forbes)

What to know about the Epstein files release, from redactions to ‘Rickrolling’

toggle caption Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

The Justice Department released a batch of files from its investigation into the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday, after considerable fanfare. But the documents contained little new information, to the dismay of prominent right-wing figures.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi teased the document release in a Fox News appearance on Wednesday, after growing pressure from a handful of Republican lawmakers. She blamed the delay on efforts to protect victims’ privacy, but promised “a lot of flight logs, a lot of names, a lot of information” as soon as the next day.

On Thursday, about a dozen right-wing influencers — including conservative commentator Liz Wheeler, far-right activist Jack Posobiec and Chaya Raichick, who runs the social media account LibsofTikTok — emerged from a White House meeting holding oversized binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” and “The Most Transparent Administration in History.”

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The files were not released publicly until later that day. In the meantime, some of the attendees began to downplay the contents of the binders in social media posts.

Internet personality Chad Prather acknowledged “we didn’t get the information we wanted,” while activist Scott Presler called it “not a smoking gun.”

“What’s interesting is we’re all waiting for bombshells, we’re all waiting for juicy stuff, and that’s not what’s in this binder,” Wheeler said in a live video posted to X. “That’s not what’s in this binder at all, and that’s exactly how the attorney general presented it to us.”

On Thursday afternoon, the Justice Department posted the 10 documents online. They include flight logs from Epstein’s private plane as well as a heavily redacted contact book and masseuse list — but no major revelations. Most of the material was used in the trial of Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, according to several news outlets.

“The first phase of declassified files largely contains documents that have been previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity by the U.S. Government,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida state charges of soliciting prostitution in a controversial plea deal that allowed him to avoid more serious federal charges.

In 2019, Epstein was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges over extensive allegations that he exploited dozens of girls — some as young as 14 — over the course of at least a decade, including by paying some to recruit other girls and to have sex with a who’s who of powerful men. He died by suicide in his jail cell later that year while awaiting trial.

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The powerful company Epstein kept — he socialized with figures including former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and President Trump — and speculation about his cause of death continue to fuel intrigue and conspiracies even years later.

The lack of new information in Thursday’s much-hyped document dump stoked disappointment and even anger from politicians and commentators on both sides of the aisle.

Right-wing social media influencer Laura Loomer slammed the rollout in a series of tweets, writing that “everyone is laughing at the [Trump] admin today” and calling on Bondi to resign, calling her “a total liar.”

“THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR. GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR instead of leaking old info to press,” tweeted Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican who heads a newly created task force on declassifying federal secrets.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., a prominent critic of the administration, tweeted a screenshot of one of the pages from the documents, completely blacked out with redactions.

“You were promised the full Epstein files,” he wrote. “You got this.”

Bondi says the FBI withheld information

Bondi responded to the criticism by promising to release more documents, which she said the FBI had withheld from her office.

She said in a statement that after the Justice Department had received approximately 200 pages of documents, she was “informed of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein that were not previously disclosed.”

Bondi tasked FBI Director Kash Patel with investigating why the request was not completed in full, and asked the FBI to deliver the remaining documents by 8 a.m. on Friday. It is not immediately clear whether the FBI has met that deadline; the agency has not returned NPR’s request for comment.

Many of the conservative figures who had received binders similarly placed the blame on the FBI and the Southern District of New York, accusing them of defying Bondi’s orders.

“These swamp creatures at SDNY deceived Bondi, Kash, and YOU,” Wheeler tweeted.

Patel posted on X Thursday that the FBI is entering a new era in which there will be “no cover-ups, no missing documents and no stone left unturned,” promising that “anyone from the prior or current Bureau who undermines this will be swiftly pursued.”

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“If there are gaps, we will find them. If records have been hidden, we will uncover them,” he added. “And we will bring everything we find to the DOJ to be fully assessed and transparently disseminated to the American people as it should be.”

toggle caption Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

And what about the ‘Rickrolling’?

Midday Thursday, as members of the public waited eagerly for the documents to publish online, the House Judiciary GOP account on X posted in all-caps: “#BREAKING: EPSTEIN FILES RELEASED.”

But the link — with the words “EpsteinFilesV2” in the URL — didn’t lead to the document trove, or anything about Epstein at all. It redirected users to the YouTube music video for Rick Astley’s 1987 dance pop hit “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

It’s a textbook example of the online bait-and-switch prank known as “Rickrolling,” which has frustrated generations of non-Astley-seeking audiences since it originated in 2007. (Here’s an example from NPR’s website in 2008.)

Politicians have gotten in on the joke before. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi snuck a “Rickroll” into a 2009 video celebrating the launch of the House’s YouTube channel; the Obama White House tweeted one out in 2011.

But deploying the prank in the context of a conversation about alleged child sex trafficking struck many viewers as being in poor taste.

“The amount of people hurt by Epstein is not a joke,” tweeted Luna, the Republican representative. “Whoever posted this is going to get fired.”

Right-wing commentator Matt Walsh called it “just a stunning lack of judgment by the people responsible for this account.”

“There’s still time to delete this,” tweeted Christina Pushaw, rapid response director for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2024 presidential campaign.

The tweet has since been deleted.

The account posted an unrelated tweet on Friday morning, and has not commented publicly on the controversy. NPR has reached out to the office of Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday evening released hundreds of pages of documents tied to the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein but acknowledged much of it had already made its way into the public domain. She blamed FBI agents in New York for preventing the disclosure of more information.

In a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel, Bondi said she had recently been informed by “a source” that agents in the New York field office were potentially withholding “thousands of pages of documents” related to Epstein, whose case has become a fixation for right-wing pundits and conspiracy theorists in recent years.

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She ordered Patel to investigate and demanded the FBI hand over “the full and complete Epstein files” by Friday morning, according to the letter.

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No additional documents had been publicly released as of Friday evening, however.

In a separate statement on the documents that were made public Thursday, the Justice Department described the disclosure as a “first phase” of Epstein releases but also appeared to recognize that the files could come as a disappointment to eagle-eyed watchers of the case.

The department said they largely contained “documents that have previously leaked but [were] never released in a formal capacity by the U.S. government.”

Among them were flight logs from Epstein’s private plane and transcripts from victim interviews, which had previously been made public in Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2021 trial. The trove also included an address book purportedly kept by Epstein that had been the disclosed in media reports years earlier and a document titled “Masseuses,” which was entirely redacted.

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Hours earlier, several prominent conservative influencers emerged from the White House saying Bondi and Patel had given them first access to the documents on the disgraced financier, who has been linked to major political figures and celebrities and died by suicide in his jail cell in 2019.

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The influencers — who included political commentator Jack Posobiec, Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik, podcaster Liz Wheeler and Rogan O’Handley, known as “DC Draino” — posted photos of binders emblazoned with the Justice Department seal and labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1.” The binders were marked “declassified,” though it was unclear whether anything inside them had actually been classified before.

But in a video posted to X, Wheeler later lamented there were no “bombshells” inside.

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“We’re all waiting for juicy stuff, and that’s not what’s in this binder at all,” she said, adding that “what we were looking for was hidden from us.”

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida) called the lack of new information a “complete disappointment” and wrote in a post on X: “GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR!”

It remains unclear whether any remaining unreleased material on the Epstein investigation — which has already been heavily documented in court filings, leaks and public records disclosures — would shed any new light on the case.

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Bondi first suggested a release of Epstein files could be coming during a Fox News appearance on Wednesday, but she did not say whether the documents she intended to release were being made public for the first time. She cautioned that some information would be held back to protect the more than 250 women and girls victimized by Epstein but said there would be more releases to come.

“This Department of Justice is following through on President Trump’s commitment to transparency and lifting the veil on the disgusting actions of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators,” she said in a statement Thursday. “The first phase of files released today sheds light on Epstein’s extensive network and begins to provide the public with long overdue accountability.”

Epstein, accused of sexually abusing hundreds of underage girls and young women over a decade, pleaded guilty to two felonies in Florida state court in 2008 in an unusual deal that allowed him to serve only 13 months in state jail.

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Intense public scrutiny of the case, led by the Miami Herald, resulted in Epstein’s arrest in July 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. He pleaded not guilty and died one month later, incarcerated and awaiting trial.

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His case has remained a point of fixation for the right-wing media, President Donald Trump and his allies. They have speculated without evidence that authorities engaged in a cover-up to protect famous Epstein contacts — who, according to these theories, may have also participated in his crimes.

For example, former president Bill Clinton acknowledged taking trips on Epstein’s private jet in connection with work for the Clinton Foundation, though he maintained, in a 2019 statement, he knew nothing about the financier’s “terrible crimes.” Still, Clinton has remained a target of interest for Epstein conspiracy theorists online.

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Trump, too, maintained a personal relationship with Epstein, for nearly two decades starting in the late 1980s. The two traveled in similar social orbits, were neighbors in Palm Beach and partied together at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Trump traveled on Epstein’s jet and dined at his mansion in Manhattan.

“Terrific guy,” Trump said of Epstein in 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with.”

After Epstein’s 2019 arrest, a lawyer for the Trump Organization said in a statement that the two men had “no relationship.”

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Over the years, thousands of pages of documents related to the Epstein investigation have been released through lawsuits, court filings and public records requests. Last year, a federal judge in Manhattan unsealed a tranche of documents collected as evidence in a civil suit filed by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre. Much of it — including police reports and transcripts of victim interviews — had already been made public in earlier proceedings.

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Still, conservative figures and some members of Congress — including Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) — have continued to call for additional public disclosures from the Justice Department.

As the Senate Judiciary Committee has vetted Trump’s picks for key FBI and Justice Department roles this year, Blackburn has consistently asked nominees to commit to wider transparency on the Epstein case.

“For me, this is not about the celebrity,” Blackburn said in a Fox News interview Thursday. “And I know that there are many people that want to see who all flew on his planes and guested at his Caribbean island. But let’s break these human trafficking rings apart. Let’s get these people apprehended. Let’s get them prosecuted. Let’s get them jailed. Let’s put an end to this and save lives.”

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Bondi, too, appears to believe there is still more to uncover. In her letter to Patel dated Thursday, she said that despite her request for “the full set of documents” related to the Epstein investigation, she had only received “approximately 200 pages … which consisted primarily of flight logs, Epstein’s list of contacts, and a list of victims’ names and phone numbers.”

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In a social media post hours later, Patel pledged swift repercussions for anyone found to have withheld information.

“If there are gaps in the Epstein investigation, we will find them. If records have been hidden, we will uncover them,” he wrote. “And we will bring everything we find to the DOJ to be fully assessed and transparently disseminated to the American people as it should be.”