President Trump expressed exasperation on Tuesday at questions about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein after the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Epstein did not have a “client list” and confirmed he died by suicide.
During a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, a reporter asked Attorney General Pam Bondi a question about aspects of the DOJ’s announcement regarding its conclusion, which has generated anger and spawned further conspiracies among some on the far right. Trump then jumped in ahead of Bondi to express his frustration over being asked about it.
“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years. You’re asking — we have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things. And are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable,” Trump said.
“I mean, I can’t believe you’re asking a question on Epstein at a time like this where we’re having some of the greatest success and also tragedy, with what happened in Texas,” Trump added. “It just seems like a desecration.”
The Justice Department and FBI on Monday published a memo concluding that there was no evidence of a so-called client list detailing individuals connected to Epstein, a convicted sex offender. The existence of such a list had become fodder for conspiracy theories, particularly among those on the right who claimed prominent Democrats were on the list.
The memo also concluded Epstein died by suicide, debunking another common conspiracy theory that he had died under suspicious circumstances.
Prominent Trump administration officials like Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino have come under scrutiny from prominent voices in the MAGA movement who have questioned whether the government is covering up salacious information around Epstein. Patel and Bongino are among those who had pushed such theories before joining the government.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to separate sexual misconduct charges and was federally charged in 2019 over allegedly leading a sex trafficking operation involving underage girls from 2002 to 2005.
