Here’s Everything We Know So Far About the ‘Katie Johnson’ Allegations Against Trump — It’s Serious and MUST Be Dealt With. This gets tricky, but it doesn't sound out of character for Trump OR Epstein. by Andrew Simpson Political Flare July 9, 2024
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My editor says I should put this disclaimer at the end, but I’m going to come right out front with it, just so you know this isn’t clickbait. I have been reporting on Trump since before he was ever president, and nothing that is “alleged” here doesn’t line up with other circumstances he himself has described as having done.
None of this has yet been proven in court.
But the severity of the allegations notwithstanding, Trump is a proud misogynist, and the myriad pictures of him leering at his own teenage daughter as she sat on his lap, later to say that if he weren’t her father, he might be dating her, make everything in this viral story seem like it holds water.
Basically, what we have now is the story of an anonymous accuser who has gone variously by Jane Doe and now Katie Johnson. A post featuring a case filed against Trump in 2016 by an anonymous woman and Jeffrey Epstein, the pedophile who died under mysterious circumstances in prison before he could be forced to testify about who had accompanied him on a plethora of “sex trips” to a private island of his, has been making the rounds since the release of a slew of documents related to the Epstein case were released recently.
The case alleged that she had been held by the men as a “sex slave” in 1994, when she was 13.
It says that she was forced to “perform lesbian sex acts” against her will.
It basically says everything that always came to your mind whenever you thought about Jeffrey Epstein, or Ivanka on Trump’s lap.
Bill Madden @maddenifico Y'all know now about Trump's rape of 13-year-old Katie Johnson. This is how people got the details, not only about Trump's rape of Johnson, but about the relationship between 'pedo bros' Trump and Jeffrey Epstein -- and their secret lives as sexual predators and child rapists.
The April 2016 filing — coincidentally right around the time that Trump was being accused of his affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, during the election — was dismissed by a judge on lack of merit. The case was refiled in June, then again in September of that same year.
At the time of the filing, Trump’s then-lawyer, Alan Garten, told Politico that the charges were “categorically untrue,” though the disappearance of Ms. Doe/Johnson certainly raises some doubts. She hasn’t been heard from since she dropped the last case she filed due to death threats.
“It is completely frivolous. It is baseless. It is irresponsible. I won’t even discuss the merits because it gives it credibility that it doesn’t deserve,” said Garten. That ALSO sounds a lot like what his lawyers were saying about Stormy and Karen — that they wouldn’t even dignify it with a response. Trump’s sentencing in the hush money case involving those two is scheduled for September.
Although Epstein died awaiting trial for his 2019 case of sex trafficking, his grooming partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted and is serving a 20-year sentence.
Among the things released with the Epstein documents recently were a trove of pictures of Trump and Epstein together, both on his plane and on the island, and even at Mar-a-Lago.
See the post here:
True Blue @AginsMichael Is raping a 13 year old at Epstein’s NYC mansion considered an “official act”? Asking for Katie Johnson. 5:14 PM · Jul 8, 2024
Here is her testimony and it’s brutal:
Political World Network @Sharpcut BREAKING NEWS: Here is the full 2016 testimony of a girl who claimed she was raped by Donald Trump (with Jeffrey Epstein) when she was 13 years old. It is explicit. Please watch the entire video. If you believe her, please share. 4:00 PM · May 2, 2023
Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior Trump was accused of raping his ex-wife Ivana as well as a 13-year-old girl. Both cases went to court. People who discussed the cases were threatened. https://theglobeandmail.com/amp/opinion ... ssion=true
In July, 2015, shortly after Mr. Trump declared his candidacy, the Daily Beast attempted to report on court documents stating that Mr. Trump had raped his ex-wife, Ivana. The inquiry into the case prompted a response from Mr. Cohen that mirrors the threat to Ms. Daniels: "I'm warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I'm going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting," Mr. Cohen told the Daily Beast reporter. "You write a story that has Mr. Trump's name in it, with the word 'rape,' and I'm going to mess your life up ... for as long as you're on this frickin' planet ..."
Few media outlets reported on the allegation after that, and the media were similarly timid in reporting other allegations of sexual assault -- most notably, that of a 12-year-old girl who said in a lawsuit that Mr. Trump raped her in 1994 while in the company of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, a friend of Mr. Trump's who was an alleged trafficker of underage girls. In her affidavit, the alleged victim claims that Mr. Trump told her to stay silent since he was capable of having her whole family killed, and noted that another victim, a 12-year-old named Maria, had disappeared.
On Nov. 2, 2016 -- a few days before the election -- that accuser and her lawyer, Lisa Bloom, were scheduled to hold a press conference. According to Ms. Bloom, the press conference was abruptly cancelled due to intense threats to their safety, including a bomb threat. Two days later, the accuser dropped her lawsuit.
Name: KATIE JOHNSON Address: 6634 DESERT QUEEN AVE. TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA. 92277 Phone: (760) 401-0192 Fax: NO FAX OR E-MAIL In Pro Per
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
KATIE JOHNSON, Plaintiff, v. DONALD J. TRUMP and JEFFREY E. EPSTEIN, Defendants
Case Number: ED CV16-00797 (DMG)
COMPLAINT FOR CLAIM RELIEF DUE TO: 1. SEXUAL ABUSE UNDER THREAT OF HARM 2. CONSPIRACY TO DEPRIVE CIVIL RIGHTS
Plaintiff Katie Johnson, for causes of actions against Defendants Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein, alleges as follows:
JURISDICTION
1. Jurisdiction is pursuant to the law of Diversity, 28 U.S.C; 1332, as plaintiff resides in the state of California while defendants reside in the state of New York and the action is for damages above $75,000.
VENUE
2. The venue is established as the Eastern Division of the United States Court Central District of California because the plaintiff resides in San Bernadino County, State of California.
PARTIES
3. The Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, resides in the State of California.
4. The Defendants, Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein, each reside in the State of New York.
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
5. The Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, alleges that the Defendants, Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein, did willfully and with extreme malice violate her Civil Rights under 18 U.S.C ; 2241 by sexually and physically abusing Plaintiff Johnson by forcing her to engage in various perverted and depraved sex acts by threatening physical harm to Plaintiff Johnson and also her family.
6. The Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, alleges that the Defendants, Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein, also did willfully and with extreme malice violate her Civil Rights under 42 U.S.C.; 1985 by conspiring to deny Plaintiff Johnson her Civil Rights by making her their sex slave.
7. The Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, alleges she was subject to extreme sexual and physical abuse by the Defendants, Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein, including forcible rape during a four month time span covering the months of June-September 1994 when Plaintiff Johnson was still only a minor of age 13.
8. The Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, alleges she was enticed by promises of money and a modeling career to attend a series of underage sex parties held at the New York City residence of Defendant Jeffrey E. Epstein and attended by Defendant Donald J. Trump.
9. On the first occasion involving the Defendant, Donald J. Trump, the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, was forced to manually stimulate Defendant Trump with the use of her hand upon Defendant Trump's erect penis until he reached sexual orgasm.
10. On the second occasion involving the Defendant, Donald J. Trump, the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, was forced to orally copulate Defendant Trump by placing her mouth upon Defendant Trump's erect penis until he reached sexual orgasm.
11. On the third occasion involving the Defendant, Donald J. Trump, the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson was forced to engage in an unnatural lesbian sex act with her fellow minor and sex slave, Maria Doe age 12, for the sexual enjoyment of Defendant Trump. After this sex act, both minors were forced to orally copulate Defendant Trump by placing their mouths Simultaneously on his erect penis until he achieved sexual orgasm. After zipping up his pants, Defendant Trump physically pushed both minors away while angrily berating them for the "poor" quality of their sexual performance.
12. On the fourth and final sexual encounter with the Defendant, Donald J. Trump, the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, was tied to a bed by Defendant Trump who then proceeded to forcibly rape Plaintiff Johnson. During the course of this savage sexual attack, Plaintiff Johnson loudly pleaded with Defendant Trump to "please wear a condom". Defendant Trump responded by violently striking Plaintiff Johnson in the face with his open hand and screaming that "he would do whatever he wanted" as he refused to wear protection. After achieving sexual orgasm, the Defendant, Donald J. Trump put his suit back on and when the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, in tears asked Defendant Trump what would happen if he had impregnated her, Defendant Trump grabbed his wallet and threw some money at her and screamed that she should use the money "to get a fucking abortion".
13. On the first occasion involving the Defendant, Jeffrey E. Epstein, the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, was forced to disrobe into her bra and panties and to give a full body massage to Defendant Epstein while he was completely naked. During the massage, Defendant Epstein phYSically forced Plaintiff Johnson to touch his erect penis with her bare hands and to clean up his ejaculated semen after he achieved sexual orgasm.
14. On the second occasion involving the Defendant, Jeffrey Epstein, the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson was again forced to disrobe into her bra and panties while giving Defendant Epstein a full body massage while he was completely naked. The Defendant, Donald J. Trump, was also present as he was getting his own massage from another minor, Jane Doe, age 13. Defendant Epstein forced Plaintiff Johnson to touch his erect penis by physically placing her bare hands upon his sex organ and again forced Plaintiff Johnson to clean up his ejaculated semen after he achieved sexual orgasm.
5. Shortly after this sexual assault by the Defendant, Jeffrey E. Epstein, on the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, Plaintiff Johnson was still present while the two Defendants were arguing over who would be the one to take Plaintiff Johnson's virginity. The Defendant, Donald J. Trump, was clearly heard referring to Defendant, Jeffrey E. Epstein, as a "Jew Bastard" as he yelled at Defendant Epstein, that clearly, he, Defendant Trump, should be the lucky one to "pop the cherry" of Plaintiff Johnson.
16. The third and final sexual assault by the Defendant, Jeffrey E. Epstein, on the Plaintiff, Kati Johnson, took place after Plaintiff Johnson had been brutally and savagely raped by Defendant Trump. While receiving another full body massage from Plaintiff Johnson, while in the nude, Defendant Epstein became so enraged after finding out that Defendant Trump had been the one to take Plaintiff Johnson's virginity, that Defendant Epstein also violently raped Plaintiff Johnson. After forcing Plaintiff Johnson to disrobe into her bra and panties, while receiving a massage from the Plaintiff, Defendant Epstein attempted to enter Plaintiff Johnson's anal cavity with his erect penis while trying to restrain her. Plaintiff Johnson attempted to push Defendant Epstein away, at which time Defendant Epstein attempted to enter Plaintiff Johnson's vagina with his erect penis. This attempt to brutally sodomize and rape Plaintiff Johnson by Defendant Epstein was finally repelled by Plaintiff Johnson but not before Defendant Epstein was able to achieve sexual orgasm. After perversely sodomizing and raping the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, the Defendant, Jeffrey E. Epstein, attempted to strike her about the head with his closed fists while he angrily screamed at Plaintiff Johnson that he, Defendant Epstein, should have been the one who "took her cherry, not Mr. Trump", before she finally managed to break away from Defendant Epstein.
17. The Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, was fully warned on more than one occasion by both Defendants, Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein, that were she ever to reveal any of the details of the sexual and physical abuse that she had suffered as a sex slave for Defendant Trump and Defendant Epstein, that Plaintiff Johnson and her family would be in mortal danger. Plaintiff Johnson was warned that this would mean certain death for herself and Plaintiff Johnson's family unless she remained silent forever on the exact details of the depraved and perverted sexual and physical abuse she had been forced to endure from the Defendants.
1 MATERIAL WITNESSES
18. Tiffany Doe, a former trusted employee of the Defendant, Jeffrey E. Epstein, has agreed to provide sworn testimony in this civil case and any other future civil or criminal proceedings, fully verifying the authenticity of the claims of the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson. Witness Tiffany Doe was employed by the Defendant, Jeffrey E. Epstein, for more than 10 years as a party planner for his underage sex parties. Despite being subject to constant terroristic threats by Defendants Epstein and Trump to never reveal the details of these underage sex parties at which scores of teenagers, and pre-teen girls were used as sex slaves by Defendant Epstein and Defendant Trump, witness Tiffany Doe refuses to be silent any longer. She has agreed to fully reveal the extent of the sexual perversion and physical cruelty that she personally witnessed at these parties by Defendants Epstein and Trump.
19. Material witness Tiffany Doe fully confirms all of Plaintiff Katie Johnson's allegations of physical and sexual abuse by Defendants Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein. Tiffany Doe was physically present at each of the four occasions of sexual abuse by Defendant Trump upon the person of Plaintiff Johnson, as it was her job to witness all of the sexual escapades of Defendant Epstein's guests at these underage sex parties and later reveal all of the sordid details directly to Defendant Epstein. Defendant Epstein also demanded that Tiffany Doe tell him personally everything she had overheard at these parties explaining to her that "knowledge was king" in the financial world. As a result of these underage sex parties, Defendant Epstein was able to accumulate inside business knowledge that he otherwise would never have been privy to in order to amass his huge personal fortune.
20. Material witness Tiffany Doe will testify that she was also present or had direct knowledge of each of the three instances on which Defendant Jeffrey E. Epstein physically and sexually abused the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson. Tiffany Doe will testify to the fact that the Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, was extremely fortunate to have survived all of the physical and sexual horrors inflicted upon her by Defendants Epstein and Trump.
21. The Plaintiff, Katie Johnson, asks the court for relief against the Defendants, Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein, in the amount of $100,000,000.00 (One Hundred Million Dollars) as a result of the Defendants aforementioned acts upon which they willfully and maliciously violated the Civil Rights of the Plaintiff as stated in 18 U.S.C ; 2241 by sexually and physically abusing the then 13 year old Plaintiff Johnson under threat of harm to her and her family, and 42 U.S.C ; 1985 by the Defendants conspiring to deny the Civil Rights of Plaintiff Johnson by making her their sex slave.
Dated: April 26, 2016
KATIE JOHNSON
By _______________
Plaintiff Katie Johnson Appearing In Pro Per
“I loudly pleaded with Trump to stop,” she said in the lawsuit about being raped. “Trump responded to my pleas by violently striking me in the face with his open hand and screaming that he could do whatever he wanted.”
Brown continues:
Johnson said that Epstein invited her to a series of ‘underage sex parties’ at his New York mansion where she met Trump. Enticed by promises of money and modeling opportunities, Johnson said she was forced to have sex with Trump several times, including once with another girl, twelve years old, whom she labeled ‘Marie Doe.’
Trump demanded oral sex, the lawsuit said, and afterward he “pushed both minors away while angrily berating them for the ‘poor’ quality of the sexual performance,” according to the lawsuit, filed April 26 in U.S. District Court in Central California.
Afterward, when Epstein learned that Trump had taken Johnson’s virginity, Epstein allegedly ‘attempted to strike her about the head with his closed fists,’ angry he had not been the one to take her virginity. Johnson claimed that both men threatened to harm her, and her family if she ever revealed what had happened.
The lawsuit states that Trump did not take part in Epstein’s orgies but liked to watch, often while the thirteen-year-old “Kate Johnson” gave him a hand job.
It appears Trump was able to quash the lawsuit by buying her silence. She has since disappeared.
In 2008, Alex Acosta, who at the time was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, negotiated a plea deal for Epstein. The deal granted immunity from all federal criminal charges to Epstein, four named co-conspirators and any unnamed “potential co-conspirators.” The agreement shut down the FBI probe into whether there were more victims and other powerful figures who took part in Epstein’s sex crimes. It halted the investigation and sealed the indictment. Trump, in what many consider an act of gratitude, appointed Acosta as Secretary of Labor in his first term.
Trump contemplated pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell after she was arrested in July 2020, fearing she would reveal details of his decades-long friendship with Epstein, according to Trump biographer Michael Wolff. In July 2022, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
“Jeffrey Epstein’s closest relationship in life was with Donald Trump…these were two guys joined at the hip for a good 15 years. They did everything together,” Wolff told host Joanna Coles on The Daily Beast Podcast. “And this is from sharing, pursuing women, hunting women, sharing at least one girlfriend for at least a year in this kind of rich-guy relationship with each other’s planes, to Epstein advising Trump on how to cheat on his taxes.”
The legal anomalies, including the disappearance of massive amounts of evidence incriminating Epstein, saw Epstein avoid federal sex-trafficking charges in 2007, when his attorneys negotiated the secret plea deal with Acosta. He was able to plead guilty to lesser state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution.
The prominent men accused of engaging in Epstein’s carnival of pedophilia, including Epstein’s attorney Dershowitz, viciously threaten anyone who seeks to expose them. Dershowitz, for example, claims that an investigation which he has refused to make public, by the former FBI director Louis Freeh, proves he had never had sex with Epstein’s victim Virginia Giuffre, who was trafficked at 17 to Prince Andrew. Giuffre, one of the few victims to publicly take on her abusers, said she was “passed around like a platter of fruit” among Epstein and Maxwell’s friends, until at the age of 19 when she escaped. She “committed suicide” in April 2025. Dershowitz has sent repeated threats to Brown and her editors at The Miami Herald.
Brown continues:
[Dershowitz] kept referring to information that was contained in sealed documents. He accused the newspaper of not reporting “facts” that he said were in those sealed documents. The truth is, I tried to explain, newspapers just can’t write about things because Alan Dershowitz says they exist. We need to see them. We need to verify them. Then, because I said “show me the material,” he publicly accused me of committing a criminal act by asking him to produce documents that were under court seal.
This is the way Dershowitz operates.
What disturbs me the most about Dershowitz is the way that the media, with few exceptions, fails to critically challenge him. Journalists fact-checked Donald Trump and others in his administration almost every day, yet, for the most part, the media seems to give Dershowitz a pass on the Epstein story.
In 2015, when Giuffre’s allegations first became public, Dershowitz went on every television program imaginable swearing, among other things, that Epstein’s plane logs would exonerate him. “How do you know that?” he was asked.
He replied that he was never on Epstein’s plane during the time that Virginia was involved with Epstein.
But if the media had checked, they could have learned that he was indeed a passenger on the plane during that time period, according to the logs.
Then he testified, in a sworn deposition, that he never went on any plane trips without his wife. But he was listed on those passage manifests as traveling multiple times without his wife. During at least one trip, he was on the plane with a model named Tatiana.
Epstein donated money to Harvard and was made a visiting fellow in Harvard’s Department of Psychology, although he had no academic qualifications in the field. He was given a key card and pass code, as well as an office in the building that housed Harvard’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics. He referred to himself in his press releases as “Science Philanthropist Jeffrey Epstein,” “Education activist Jeffrey Epstein,” “Evolutionary Jeffrey Epstein,” “Science patron Jeffrey Epstein” and “Maverick hedge funder Jeffrey Epstein.”
Epstein, replicating the pretensions and vacuity of the characters who were parodied in the “Dinner with Trimalchio” chapter of Satyricon, organized elaborate dinner gatherings for his billionaire friends, including Elon Musk, Salar Kamangar and Jeff Bezos. He dreamed up bizarre schemes of social engineering, including a plan to seed the human species with his own DNA by creating a baby compound at his sprawling ranch in New Mexico.
“Epstein was also obsessed with cryonics, the transhumanist philosophy whose followers believe that people can be replicated or brought back to life after they are frozen,” Brown writes. “Epstein apparently told some of the members of his scientific circle that he wanted to inseminate women with his sperm for them to give birth to his babies, and that he wanted his head and his penis frozen.”
The Epstein story is a window into the moral bankruptcy, hedonism and greed of the ruling class. This crosses political lines. It is the common denominator between Democratic politicians, such as Bill Clinton, philanthropists, such as Bill Gates, the billionaire class, and Trump. They are one class of predators and grifters. It is not only girls and women they exploit, but all of us.
Doe v. Trump (2016) (case 1:16-cv-07673-RA, United States District Court Southern District of New York, filed October 3, 2016).
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
JANE DOE, proceeding under a pseudonym, Plaintiff, v. DONALD J. TRUMP and JEFFREY E. EPSTEIN, Defendants.
Case No.: 1:16-cv-07673-RA
JURY TRIAL DEMANDED
COMPLAINT FOR RAPE, SEXUAL MISCONDUCT, CRIMINAL SEXUAL ACTS, SEXUAL ABUSE, FORCIBLE TOUCHING, ASSAULT, BATTERY, INTENTIONAL AND RECKLESS INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, DURESS, FALSE IMPRISONMENT, AND DEFAMATION.
Plaintiff Jane Doe, proceeding under a pseudonym, brings this action against Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein, and alleges that:
PARTIES
1. Plaintiff is an individual residing in and a citizen of the State of California.
2. Upon information and belief, Defendants Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. E0pstein each reside in this District and are citizens of the State of New York.
JURISDICTION AND VENUE
3. Plaintiff is a citizen of the State of California for purposes of diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332.
4. Defendants are citizens of the State of New York for purposes of diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332.
5. This Court has original subject matter jurisdiction with respect to this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332 as there exists complete diversity of citizenship between Plaintiff and Defendants and the amount in controversy exceeds Seventy Five Thousand Dollars ($75,000.00), exclusive of interest and costs.
6. Defendants are each subject to the jurisdiction of this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332 with proper venue pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391 as both defendants are residents of and/or are domiciled in this district and the events giving rise to the claims occurred in this district.
RAPE, SEXUAL MISCONDUCT, CRIMINAL SEXUAL ACTS, SEXUAL ABUSE, FORCIBLE TOUCHING, ASSAULT, BATTERY, INTENTIONAL AND RECKLESS INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, DURESS, AND FALSE IMPRISONMENT
7. Plaintiff was subject to acts of rape, sexual misconduct, criminal sexual acts, sexual abuse, forcible touching, assault, battery, intentional and reckless infliction of emotional distress, duress, false imprisonment, and threats of death and/or serious bodily injury by the Defendants that took place at several parties during the summer months of 1994. The parties were held by Defendant Epstein at a New York City residence that was being used by Defendant Epstein at 9 E. 71st St. in Manhattan. During this period, Plaintiff was a minor of age 13 and was legally incapable under New York law of consenting to sexual intercourse and the other sexual contacts detailed herein. NY Penal L § 130.05(3)(a). The rapes in the first, second, and third degrees; sexual misconduct; criminal sexual acts in the first, second, and third degrees; sexual abuse in the first, second, and third degrees; and forcible touching (and, on information and belief, predatory sexual assault) detailed herein are unlawful under New York law, e.g., NY Penal L § 130.20-130.52, and 130.55-130.65 (and, on information and belief, 130.95) and constitute the torts of, inter alia, assault, battery, false imprisonment, and intentional or reckless infliction of emotional distress, including threats of force and serious bodily harm, under New York law. In addition, 18 U.S. Code § 2255 provides Plaintiff with a civil remedy for personal injuries because Plaintiff, while a minor, was a victim of violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1591, 2421, 2422(b), and 2423(a) and she suffered personal injury as a result of such violations. Declaration of Plaintiff Jane Doe, Exhibit A hereto; Declaration of Tiffany Doe, Exhibit B hereto; Declaration of Joan Doe, Exhibit C hereto; Jane Doe, Tiffany Doe, and Joan Doe are each pseudonyms as each woman wishes anonymity. Tiffany Doe, a witness, was an employee of Defendant Epstein. Exh. B. Joan Doe, a witness, was a childhood classmate of Plaintiff who, in the 1994-95 school year, was told by Plaintiff that Plaintiff was subject to sexual contact by the Defendants at parties in New York City during the summer of 1994. Exh. C.
8. Courts have discretion to allow proceeding anonymously where the need for privacy outweighs the public’s interest in knowing their identity and any prejudice to the defendants. Sealed Plaintiff v. Sealed Defendant, 537 F.3d 185, 189 (2d Cir. 2008). This litigation involves matters that are highly sensitive and of a personal nature, and identification of Plaintiff would pose a risk of retaliatory physical harm to her and to others. Exh. A. All of the ten factors that the Second Circuit articulated as relevant to this analysis favor anonymity, especially factors 1-4, 7, and 10 (e.g., factors one and two: “whether the litigation involves matters that are ‘highly sensitive and [of a] personal nature,’” and “’whether identification poses a risk of retaliatory physical or mental harm to the ... party [seeking to proceed anonymously] or even more critically, to innocent non-parties’”.), or are neutral with respect to anonymity. Protecting Plaintiff’s anonymity is also appropriate as she is a rape victim.
9. Plaintiff was enticed by promises of money and a modeling career to attend a series of parties, with other similarly situated minor females, held at a New York City residence that was being used by Defendant Jeffrey Epstein. At least four of the parties were attended by Defendant Trump. Exhs. A and B. On information and belief, by this time in 1994, Defendant Trump had known Defendant Epstein for seven years (New York, 10/28/02, “’I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,’' Trump booms from a speakerphone. ‘He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it -- Jeffrey enjoys his social life.’”), and knew that Plaintiff was then just 13 years old. Exhs. A and B.
10. Defendant Trump initiated sexual contact with Plaintiff at four different parties. On the fourth and final sexual encounter with Defendant Trump, Defendant Trump tied Plaintiff to a bed, exposed himself to Plaintiff, and then proceeded to forcibly rape Plaintiff. During the course of this savage sexual attack, Plaintiff loudly pleaded with Defendant Trump to stop but with no effect. Defendant Trump responded to Plaintiff’s pleas by violently striking Plaintiff in the face with his open hand and screaming that he would do whatever he wanted. Exhs. A and B.
11. Immediately following this rape, Defendant Trump threatened Plaintiff that, were she ever to reveal any of the details of the sexual and physical abuse of her by Defendant Trump, Plaintiff and her family would be physically harmed if not killed. Exhs. A and B.
12. Defendant Epstein had sexual contact with Plaintiff at two of the parties. The second sexual encounter with Defendant Epstein took place after Plaintiff had been raped by Defendant Trump. Defendant Epstein forced himself upon Plaintiff and proceeded to rape her anally and vaginally despite her loud pleas to stop. Defendant Epstein then attempted to strike Plaintiff about the head with his closed fists while he angrily screamed at Plaintiff that he, Defendant Epstein, rather than Defendant Trump, should have been the one who took Plaintiff’s virginity, before Plaintiff finally managed to break away from Defendant Epstein. Exhs. A and B.
13. The threats of violence against Plaintiff and her family continued, this time from Defendant Epstein, who again reiterated that Plaintiff was not to reveal any of the details of his sexual and physical abuse of her or else, specifically, Plaintiff and her family would be seriously physically harmed, if not killed. Exhs. A and B.
14. While still under threats of physical harm by coming forward and having no reason to believe that the threats have ever been lifted or would ever be lifted, Plaintiff, who has suffered from stress, emotional distress, mental pain and suffering, among other problems, ever since the assaults, was subjected to daily painful reminders of the horrific acts of one of the perpetrators, Defendant Trump, via mass media coverage of him starting on or about June 16, 2015 that, over a short period of time, became continuous and unavoidable. Exh. A.
15. As a direct and proximate result of the sexual assaults and rapes perpetrated by Defendants upon her, Plaintiff has suffered stress, emotional distress, and mental pain and suffering, as well as adverse physical consequences.
16. As a direct and proximate result of the sexual assaults and rapes perpetrated by Defendants upon her, Plaintiff has suffered physical pain and suffering.
17. As a direct and proximate result of the sexual assaults and rapes perpetrated by Defendants upon her, Plaintiff has been subjected to public scorn, hatred, and ridicule and has suffered threats against her life and physical safety.
18. As a direct and proximate result of the sexual assaults and rapes perpetrated by Defendants upon her, Plaintiff has incurred special damages, including medical and legal expenses.
19. The sexual assaults and rapes perpetrated by Defendants upon Plaintiff were intentional acts.
20. The conduct of Defendants demonstrates willful, reckless and intentional conduct that raises a conscious indifference to consequences.
21. At the appropriate time in this litigation, Plaintiff shall amend her complaint to assert a claim for punitive damages against Defendants in order to punish Defendants for their actions and to deter Defendants from repeating their conduct.
TOLLING OF STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
22. Any statute of limitations applicable to rape, sexual misconduct, criminal sexual acts, sexual abuse, forcible touching, assault, battery, intentional and reckless infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment of a minor, if any, is tolled owing to the continuous and active duress imposed upon Plaintiff by Defendants that effectively robbed Plaintiff of her free will to commence legal action until the present time. Cullen v. Margiotta, 811 F.2d 698, 722 (2nd Cir.1987); Ross v. United States, 574 F. Supp. 536, 542 (S.D.N.Y. 1983). More particularly, Plaintiff was unrelentingly threatened by each Defendant that, were she ever to reveal any of the details of the sexual and physical abuse caused to her by Defendants, Plaintiff and her family would be physically harmed if not killed. The duress has not terminated and the fear has not subsided. The duress is an element of or inherent in the underlying causes of action complained of herein. The duress and coercion exerted by Defendants has been such as to have actually deprived Plaintiff of her freedom of will to institute suit earlier in time, and it rose to such a level that a person of reasonable firmness in Plaintiff's situation would have been unable to resist. Exhs. A and B.
23. Both Defendants let Plaintiff know that each was a very wealthy, powerful man and indicated that they had the power, ability and means to carry out their threats. Indeed, Defendant Trump stated that Plaintiff shouldn’t ever say anything if she didn’t want to disappear like Maria, a 12-year-old female that was forced to be involved in the third incident with Defendant Trump and that Plaintiff had not seen since that third incident, and that he was capable of having her whole family killed. Exhs. A and B.
24. The duress had prevented Plaintiff from starting litigation before this year. However, as soon as she surfaced, she received threats. More specifically, shortly after her first complaint was filed in California on April 26, 2016, she started receiving threatening phone calls on her cell phone. Exh. A.
25. Defendants are equitably estopped from arguing that any statute of limitations has not been tolled as Defendants wrongfully forced Plaintiff to refrain from timely commencing this action by threats, duress, and other misconduct. Exhs. A and B. Zimmerman v. Poly Prep Country Day School, ___ F.Supp.2d ___ (2012), 2012 WL 3683393; General Stencils, Inc. v. Chippa, 18 N.Y.2d 125, 127 (1966)(“a wrongdoer should not be able to take refuge behind the shield of his own wrongdoing.”).
26. Moreover, this action has been brought before the facts giving rise to the estoppel have ceased to be operational (i.e., while still under threats of physical harm by coming forward and having no reason to believe that the threats have ever been lifted or would ever be lifted) and since Plaintiff has decided to seek redress at this time, Plaintiff seeks an order of protection in favor of Plaintiff and all associated with her so as to protect them from harm and harassment from Defendants and their agents and associates. Exh. A.
DEFAMATION
27. On information and belief, on or about April 28, 2016, Defendant Trump provided the following statement to American Media, Inc. and/or Radar Online LLC for publication on at least their website RadarOnline.com regarding Plaintiff’s complaint ED CV 16- 797-DMG (KSx) filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California: “The allegations are not only categorically false, but disgusting at the highest level and clearly framed to solicit media attention or, perhaps, are simply politically motivated. There is absolutely no merit to these allegations. Period.” The statement provided for publication by Defendant Trump was published by said website and has been republished elsewhere in whole or in part numerous times (and similar statements of an attorney for Defendant Trump were also published, including on September 22, 2016 by Courthouse News Service). The statements provided for publication by Defendant Trump and his agent and that were published by said websites are false as they pertain to Plaintiff.
28. The published statements are libelous on their face, and clearly expose Plaintiff to hatred, contempt, ridicule and obloquy.
29. As a proximate result of the above-described publications, Plaintiff has suffered loss of her reputation, shame, mortification, and injury to her feelings, all to her damage in an amount to be established by proof at trial.
30. The above-described publications were not privileged because they were published by Defendant Trump and his agent with malice, hatred and ill will toward Plaintiff and the desire to injure her.
31. As a direct and proximate result of Defendant Trump’s defamation of Plaintiff, Plaintiff has been subjected to public scorn, hatred, and ridicule and has suffered other injury.
PRAYER FOR RELIEF
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff prays for judgment against Defendants and for the following relief:
A. That judgment be entered against Defendants for special damages, compensatory damages, and punitive damages in an amount which shall be shown to be reasonable and just by the evidence and in excess of Seventy Five Thousand Dollars ($75,000.00), exclusive of interests and costs;
B. That all costs of this action be assessed against Defendants, including all reasonable attorney’s fees, costs and expenses of this action;
C. That an order of protection in favor of Plaintiff and all associated with her be issued so as to protect them from harm and harassment from Defendants and their agents and associates; and
D. Such other and further relief as the Court may deem just and proper.
JURY DEMAND
Plaintiff demands a trial by jury of all issues properly triable by jury in this action.
Dated: September 30, 2016 Respectfully submitted,
By: /s/ Thomas Francis Meagher Of Counsel: J. Cheney Mason Law Office of J. Cheney Mason, P.A. 250 Park Avenue South, Suite 200 Winter Park, Florida 32789
Thomas Francis Meagher SDNY Bar Code TM6707 One Palmer Square Princeton, New Jersey 08542 Telephone: (609) 558-1500 [email protected]
DECLARATION IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFF'S REQUEST FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER
I, Jane Doe, the Plaintiff in this matter proceeding under a pseudonym, state as follows:
1. I am a competent adult over 18 years of age able to testify as to personal knowledge. The facts in this declaration are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief, and I am competent to testify to them if called upon to do so.
2. I was subject to extreme sexual and physical abuse by the Defendants, including forcible rape, that took place at several parties of Defendant Epstein during the summer of 1994 in New York City at a residence used by Defendant Epstein. During this period, I was 13 years old.
3. More particularly, I traveled by bus to New York City in June 1994 in the hope of starting a modeling career. I went to several modeling agencies but was told that I needed to put together a modeling portfolio before I would be considered. I then went to the Port Authority in New York City to start to make my way back home. There I met a woman who introduced herself to me as Tiffany. She told me about the parties and said that, if I would join her at the parties, I would be introduced to people who could get me into the modeling profession. Tiffany also told me I would be paid for attending.
4. The parties were held at a New York City residence that was being used by Defendant Jeffrey Epstein. Each of the parties had other minor females and a number of guests of Mr. Epstein, including Defendant Donald Trump at four of the parties I attended. I understood that both Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein knew that I was 13 years old.
5. Defendant Trump had sexual contact with me at four different parties in the summer of 1994. On the fourth and final sexual encounter with Defendant Trump, Defendant Trump tied me to a bed, exposed himself to me, and then proceeded to forcibly rape me. During the course of this savage sexual attack, I loudly pleaded with Defendant Trump to stop but he did not. Defendant Trump responded to my pleas by violently striking me in the face with his open hand and screaming that he would do whatever he wanted.
6. Immediately following this rape, Defendant Trump threatened me that, were I ever to reveal any of the details of Defendant Trump's sexual and physical abuse of me, my family and I would be physically harmed if not killed.
7. Defendant Epstein had sexual contact with me at two of the parties that summer. On the second occasion involving Defendant Epstein, Defendant Epstein forced himself upon me and proceeded to rape me anally and vaginally despite my loud pleas to stop. Defendant Epstein then attempted to strike me about the head with his closed fists while he angrily screamed at me that he, Defendant Epstein, should have been the one who took my virginity, not Defendant Trump, before I finally managed to break away from Defendant Epstein.
8. Immediately following this rape, just like Defendant Trump, Defendant Epstein threatened me not to ever reveal any of the details of Defendant Epstein's sexual and physical abuse of me or else my family and I would be physically harmed if not killed.
9. Both Defendants had let me know that each was a very wealthy, powerful man and indicated that they had the power, ability and means to carry out their threats. Indeed, Defendant Trump stated that I shouldn't ever say anything if I didn't want to disappear like Maria, a 12-year-old female that was forced to be involved in the third incident with Defendant Trump and that I had not seen since that third incident, and that he was capable of having my whole family killed.
10. The duress imposed on me by Defendants not to ever reveal any of the details of the sexual and physical abuse caused to me by Defendants has not terminated and the fear it has instilled in me has not subsided. Unfortunately, making matters worse for me, I was subjected to daily painful reminders of the horrific acts of Defendant Trump via mass media coverage of him starting last summer that, over a short period of time, became continuous and unavoidable.
11. The duress had prevented me from starting litigation before this year. However, as soon as I surfaced, I received threats. More specifically, shortly after my first complaint was filed in California on April 26, 2016, I started receiving threatening phone calls on a cell phone I then owned. The calls were never for more than 20 seconds or so before they hung up and they were always from a blocked or unavailable phone number according to my caller ID feature. Since I changed phone numbers, the threatening calls have completely stopped.
12. This litigation involves matters that are highly sensitive and of a personal nature, and I believe that identification of me would pose a risk of retaliatory physical harm to me and to others.
13. I have no reason to believe that the Defendants' threats have ever been lifted or will ever be lifted and so I request that the Court issue an order protecting me and my family from harm and harassment by the Defendants.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
DATED: June 18, 2016
DECLARATION IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFF'S REQUEST FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER
I, Tiffany Doe, a pseudonym, state as follows:
1. I am a competent adult over 18 years of age able to\testify as to personal knowledge. The facts in this declaration are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief, and I am competent to testify to them if called upon to do so.
2. I originally met Jeffrey E. Epstein in New York City in 1990 when I was the age of 22. I attended a series of parties in that same year of 1990 where I was paid to entertain various guests of Mr. Epstein.
3. In the year 1991, I was promoted to the occupation of party planner in which my duties were to get attractive adolescent women to attend these parties.
4. I was hired by and paid directly by Mr. Epstein from the years of 1991-2000 to attract adolescent women to attend these parties, most of which were held at what is known as the Wexner Mansion located at 9 E. 71st St. in New York City.
5. In June, 1994 while performing my duties as a recruiter of adolescent women to attend Mr. Epstein's parties, I met a 13-year-old adolescent woman, the Plaintiff in this matter, at the Port Authority in New York City who said that she had come to New York City in the hope of starting a modeling career.
6. I persuaded the Plaintiff to attend a series of parties of Mr. Epstein that took place during the summer of 1994. I told her that, if she would join me at the parties, she would be introduced to people who could get her into the modeling profession and she would be paid for attending.
7. It was at these series of parties that I personally witnessed the Plaintiff being forced to perform various sexual acts with Donald J. Trump and Mr. Epstein. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein were advised that she was 13 years old.
8. I personally witnessed four sexual encounters that the Plaintiff was forced to have with Mr. Trump during this period, including the fourth of these encounters where Mr. Trump forcibly raped her despite her pleas to stop.
9. I personally witnessed the one occasion where Mr. Trump forced the Plaintiff and a 12-year-old female named Maria perform oral sex on Mr. Trump and witnessed his physical abuse of both minors when they finished the act.
10. I personally witnessed or was made immediately aware of the two occasions where my boss Mr. Epstein attempted to rape and sodomize the Plaintiff. I personally witnessed Mr. Epstein sexually and physically abuse other minor females even younger than her.
11. It was my job to personally witness and supervise encounters between the underage girls that Mr. Epstein hired and his guests.
12. I personally witnessed Mr. Trump physically threaten the life and well-being of the Plaintiff if she ever revealed any details of the physical and sexual abuse suffered by her at the hands of Mr. Trump.
13. I personally witnessed Mr. Epstein physically threaten the life and well-being of the Plaintiff if she ever revealed the details of the physical and sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Mr. Epstein or any of his guests.
14. I personally witnessed Defendant Trump telling the Plaintiff that she shouldn't ever say anything if she didn't want to disappear like the 12-year-old female Maria, and that he was capable of having her whole family killed.
15. After leaving the employment of Mr. Epstein in the year 2000, I was personally threatened by Mr. Epstein that I would be killed and my family killed as well if I ever disclosed any of the physical and sexual abuse of minor females that I had personally witnessed by Mr. Epstein or any of his guests.
16. I am coming forward to swear to the truthfulness of the physical and sexual abuse that I personally witnessed of minor females at the hands of Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein, including the Plaintiff, during the time of my employment from the years of 1990-2000 for Mr. Epstein. I swear to these facts under penalty of perjury even though I fully understand that the life of myself and my family is now in grave danger.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
Author who Trump ATTACKED and BANNED gets FINAL WORD by Ben Meiselas MeidasTouch Mar 16, 2025 The MeidasTouch Podcast
MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas interviews author Michael Wolff about his new book “All or Nothing” and the secrets he knows about Trump and Trump’s darker connections.
Transcript
let's talk about someone who Donald Trump attacks over and over again probably almost more than anyone uh it's a reporter and author by the name of Michael wolf and I'm sure you've seen Donald Trump attack him like this so-called author Michael Wolf's new book is a total fake job just like the other junk he wrote he called me many times trying to set up a meeting but I never called him back because I didn't want to give him credit ability of an interview blah blah blah there's so many other posts like this and Michael Wolf's out with the new book called All or Nothing how Trump recaptured America and frankly because of posts like that he's kind of persona non gr when it comes to corporate media and normally you do a book tour you talk about your book Michael wolf wrote about it in The Hollywood Reporter Michael wolf Trump scared the news networks into Banning my book it's a guest column in the Hollywood report and does it shock you that the corporate media oligarchs who went and kissed the ring at maral Lago would not want someone like Michael wolf on their Network they used to have him on the network all the time to talk about his reporting I think there may be another reason as well that Trump attacks wolf more than anybody what can it be I thought for a second they were going to release those Epstein files remember all of those Maga influencers they they went outside and they were holding their binders up saying that they had those those Epstein files and it turned out it was just like Epstein's phone list by the way which has Trump's name on it which was released many years ago in connection with the various uh cases involving Epstein but if y'all remember Wolf's got a lot of tapes of Epstein talking about Donald Trump like you may recall this one that we and The Daily Beast reported but almost no one else was uh reporting before the election seems like a big deal me but you remember this let's play it I think we have a snippet from one of the conversations that I recorded with Epstein and I think this was in a restaurant in 2017 his people fight each other right uh and then have Outsiders he sort of poisons the well outside he will tell 10 people bannon's a scumbag and priest is not doing a good job and Kelly has a big mouth what you think Jamie Diamond says you're a problem and I shouldn't keep you and I spoke to K icon and call thinks I need a new spokesperson so Kelly even though I hired Kelly an's husband Kell is just too much of a wild let's bring on Michael wolf since we now have a platform bigger than corporate media platform and they don't want to have him on let's have him on the author of All or Nothing how Trump recaptured America First Mr Wolf my question for you is how have you uncovered that you're pretty much banned from being on corporate media you know it was so this this book came out and this is my this is my fourth book and uh all of the other books you know they come out and everybody invites you on to talk about Donald Trump because it's Donald Trump and uh and Donald Trump gets ratings so um and my books and I sell a lot of books so therefore it seems unnatural for television and then so this book came out um or we began planning for it and it was crickets out there everybody was going well no I don't you know we'll we'll get back to you um and MSNBC which of course would book this want me on to talk about this book because what else do they talk about besides Donald Trump um and and and disliking Donald Trump and they had booked me for that first publication week which was I guess two three weeks ago um and um but then just as the as the as the White House started to attack me uh excerpts began to leaks began to appear about the book and then the White House attacked me and they cancelled they canceled everything um and it was like well it's now with we're we're it's it's with our standards um committee or some some strange thing which I've never heard of um and you know clearly and then actually somebody from the White House called up to threaten me and said you know it's a new climate um and and then cited the ABC settlement um this ongoing negotiations with CBS to settle over over the way they edited the kamla Harris interview on 60 Minutes and um and then and then actually MSNBC the people there were fairly straightforward in saying well you know it's a new climate uh so um so I I thought um it was time for someone to um acknowledge that uh things had changed in this new Trump World Order and um and that included uh you know the media running incredibly scared must have shocked you I mean you spent your whole career as a reporter you write these books you read a lot of books that before I even got into quitting my law practice and doing this uh full-time I I read I read your books I read fire and fury um just this idea that you would be told it's it the climate has shifted where you can talk about your book and like I know the exhausted process I mean you go through hours and hours of of interviews and and fact checks and they're being told because you're writing a book critical you can't go on the networks and then Trump's people are saying it's a different climate which you perceived I think rightfully so as a threat well I I mean I I might say that nothing about television ever surprises me um um but I think at this moment in time is a very precarious moment um virtually Trump is out there threatening anybody he perceives as an enemy and the media companies are very vulnerable here they all have I me that we're we're suddenly in this media environment where where everybody is looking at at some consolidation play and they're all going to need um regulatory imp approval from the FCC and Trump is holding this over their heads I mean very clearly and very you know this is not even even a soft suggestion it's an outright threat um we can we can block your business future now all of these media comp I mean there are there are the news news channels and news divisions which I'm I'm talking to but those are those are owned by these very large companies um um uh Comcast uh Warner Brothers Discovery Disney um who have many who where the stakes are much higher than just their news division yeah well you're going to be stuck with me right now for this interview Michael so let me ask you one question and and we get more viewers than a lot of them so and I think all of them so let let me let me start here um I want to go talk about your book in a moment but I I I did show that clip of the Epstein tapes and I think it's in the news a lot because Trump's putting it in the news his regime people are saying we've got the files we're going to release the files and then they release nothing they give binders to influencers who then say these are the Epstein files and then they blamed it on like FBI in New York and said that's the reason why and then I think they're just hoping that everybody like just forgets about it just can can can you remind us and let us know the the amount of one why do you have these the audio recordings like that how many do you have and just remind the audience of like a general flavor of of what they are so people so people know what it is that I even showed him um in 2014 um Epstein who I who I knews through some New York connections uh asked me if I would be interested in writing a book about him um and and I was like well you know I I don't know I said I don't know and I probably wasn't but he was there there there was something about Epstein you might even call it his charm I mean there there is a reason so many people were around him um uh so many well-regarded powerful people were around him um and it was partly his expansiveness and he said and he said to me well you decide if you want to write a book about me but you can come my house at my at my um at this dining room table where where uh people came from morning till till uh till evening incredibly famous people and sat around and um and just discussed the state of the world really um and while he fed them and his Cooks brought out all kinds of food I mean really kind of incredibly peculiar um scene to witness in which I witnessed over and over again and um and uh ran the tape recorder and and he sat for many many hours of discussion with with me um I mean certainly certainly 80 90 probably a 100 hours I have of Epstein on tape and and one of the discussions because this was occurring Trump became the president in in 2017 I began writing writing about about Trump and so we spent a lot of time talking about Donald Trump and Epstein's relationship with with with Trump which was went on for a good certainly 15 years and was incredibly close close they were I you know each other's closest friend for a very long time um and Epstein I you know I think Epstein is one of those people who truly knew Donald Trump knew many secrets about Donald Trump um and was threatening to Donald Trump so and and actually so at this moment in the in in the White House you know the the the whole Mega people think oh Epstein and this is a conspiracy and the you know pedophilia all Democrats are or pedophiles or um but at the same time Trump is totally freaked out about the Epstein thing and you know I mean he they they were very close friends um there's a moment in in my last last book where um uh where I talk about Trump talking to his people about about what G Maxwell might have on him and what she might say and should he pardon her how many hours would you say is about audio uh you said there's like maybe 80 100 hours total but of that what do you think would be of trump related conversations you know I I can't I mean Trump weaved in and out of all conversations and and remember and and also there's a lot in these tapes tape of Steve Bannon who was very F became very friendly with Epstein so it's Bannon in Trump Bannon in Epstein also talking about Trump which was their kind of bond I mean they both they both uh um they're both kind of incredulous about the character of Donald Trump and that this character became the president of the United States are you planning on ever releasing I I saw the Snippets uh on Daily Beast the other portions released yeah you know this is a funny thing because I have I have really tried to try to find venues for this material for quite a number of years now and um um and everybody kind of gets excited about it because it's it's kind of riveting stuff and then everybody goes oh but you know it's Epstein we can't do Epstein because he's Epstein um and um and project after project kind of kind of meets its it's an an untimely end well well we'll chat afterwards and uh I'll make a I'll I'll make a pitch to you but let's talk about the book All or nothing right now um tell us what's in this book tell us why people should get it and why this is um kind of the evolution of your books whether it was fire and fury where where does this I mean this is this is the campaign I mean I started writing this book in in um um in 2022 so it's it really the is the campaign the Trump campaign from the beginning right till the um till till um till the election and um you know and I think it's it's interesting again because this is just another window into who this guy is this is this is the character of Donald Trump I mean you and I often point out I'm not a political reporter I'm I'm a writer I'm interested in in character I'm interested in getting the guy on the page so to be able to see him through this campaign uh really day by day day after day to be talking on a constant basis to the people around him I mean I think I think offers just this this this Vivid window into um into a how this happened how he comes back from Total disgrace after January 6 to winning the presidency again and also the the just the just the peculiar of this guy um you know it's um um you know it's a kind of story in which in which he veers between this kind of mania um um and this depressive rage so this is Donald Trump raw you know there's something too though about your legacy as a writer of these types of biographies that I think scares him it's peculiar and particularly focused on on you and and I think it's because you know and and it's this is a compliment to you that you're one of the kind of remaining old school biographers kind of out there and in his own mind he respects your work in a sense and he knows your process so when you're giving that lens his fragile ego can't accept it I I don't know if there's parts of that but it's something unique about you that pisses him off there's lot yeah I mean I think it's because because again I'm not a political reporter I'm I don't you know I'm you know all most other reporters people covering Donald Trump are seeing him in a political context that's not really the the way I see him or the way I want to see him I want to see the guy as as as real as possible as as as personally as possible you know when I wrote my biography of rert Murdoch um he called me up he was enraged by it and um and he called me up yelling and I said ruper just just please tell me what's wrong with this and he kind of sputtered and he says it's just so personal and I said well rert it is a biography um and and and I think that's part of what happens with with uh with Trump it's it's very difficult for these guys to see them to see themselves in a uh you know um through someone else's eyes and seeing them with with some degree of the emperor with no with no clothes and finally what what I I don't want to ruin the book for everybody so they should all get it here Flash the book One More Time salty so people can see it All or Nothing by Michael wolf how Trump recaptured America and thanks to your team for sending it my way and I'd recommend everybody to read it but what do you make right now obviously you're you know you're observing I think the way the rest of the world is these this manic Trump of tariffs no tariffs tariffs no tariffs him sitting in front of the these world leaders in the Oval Office talking about annexing this country annexing that country how does your research on him maybe inform people on this moment that they're seeing right now are you seeing something different right now in his pathology or is this consistent with who you who you've covered so I it completely consistent I mean Donal Donald Trump I don't think has changed the way he operates or what he wants or how he sees things um in decades um and and these these these first weeks of the new Administration which are actually rather like the first weeks of the first Administration all goes back to what does he want and he wants headlines headlines headlines headlines he doesn't care about policy he doesn't care about legislative agenda he cares about about dominating the news cycle every day so you can read the New York Times today and literally every story is a trump related story that's what he wants um and there's some method to this madness which is to say that if if um um if if he gets airtime or or or headlines uh nobody else does therefore he is the only thing that matters he's the only person on the stage and that's how he has run his political life that's how he ran his real estate life that's how he ran his entertainment business life um and um um and it doesn't matter if he if he contradicts the headlines the next day tariffs on tariffs off because it it just gives him another headline no as I like to say now we are all somewhat trapped as kind of non-consensual participants in this dystopian reality show that he's um you know that that that he's created you gonna do any more books what are you thinking what's the next one you know after every book I say I say I I say I I certainly hope not and I swear off any possibility so and that's that's where I am today in this moment so we will see well you've written a lot of books after swearing it off so we'll come back in a year we'll check in on you Michael wolf thanks for everything and everybody check out the book All or Nothing how Trump recaptured America I appreciate you Michael for coming on thanks so much can't get enough Midas check out the Midas Plus substack for adree articles reports podcasts daily Recaps from Ron Philip cowsky and more sign up for free now at Midas plus.com [Music]
Elon Musk has said an Axios report that the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had concluded there was no evidence of a Jeffrey Epstein client list was the "final straw."
The report also said the agencies had concluded there was no credible evidence the disgraced financier and pedophile blackmailed high-profile and prominent individuals, and confirmed that surveillance footage showed Epstein had killed himself in prison.
It comes amid a renewal of the feud between billionaire Tesla CEO Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump, who were political allies until recently.
The two men dramatically fell out over Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, and a claim by Musk that Trump was not releasing the Epstein files because his name was in them. Musk later said he had gone too far with the remark.
"So... umm... then what is Ghislaine Maxwell in prison for?" Musk posted to his X platform, referring to Epstein's former girlfriend and associate who procured underage girls for him to abuse.
"Stuff like this does not improve people's faith in government."
[x] Left, Tesla CEO Elon Musk listens as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. Right, the mug shot of Jeffrey... More Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/Kypros/Getty Images
Epstein Files Delay
Trump and his allies promised to release the Epstein case files in full amid suspicions of a cover-up about the latter's illicit sexual activities and the involvement of powerful people.
But delays to their release, and now the conclusion that Epstein was not blackmailing people or maintaining a related client list, have angered many Trump supporters, who expected a different outcome. Some believed he had been murdered while awaiting trial.
In February, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, responding to a question on Fox News about Epstein's alleged client list, had said it was "sitting on my desk right now to review."
Musk posted a meme showing the Trump administration's evolving position on the issue, ending with: "There is no Epstein list."
"This is the final straw," Musk wrote in reply to another user of X, formerly Twitter.
Elon Musk Touts New America Party
Musk earlier said he planned to form a new America Party for the 2026 midterms, which would target a handful of winnable Senate and House seats in an attempt to control the balance of power in Congress and break the two-party domination of U.S. politics.
"I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks," Trump posted to his Truth Social platform on Sunday, July 6.
"He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States - The System seems not designed for them.
"The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats, who have lost their confidence and their minds!"
Elon Musk is back online (though, let's be real, he doesn't really ever log off), stirring the pot with Donald Trump.
Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images
If you recall, a month ago, amidst a feud and falling out with Donald Trump, Musk took to his platform X, formerly Twitter, to drop a bomb, accusing Trump in a now-deleted tweet of being "in the Epstein files," and saying that was "the real reason they have not been made public." He later deleted the tweet, saying he "went too far."
Elon Musk @elonmusk Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT! 2:10 PM Jun 5, 2025
Well, now, in a report first shared by Axios, the US Department of Justice and the FBI have released a review concluding that there is no secret "client list" of individuals with whom Jeffrey Epstein conspired with or blackmailed to exploit young women. The review also reaffirmed that Epstein died by suicide. Both findings contradict widely circulated claims and conspiracy theories promoted by some Trump associates.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation __________________________________________________________________________ As part of our commitment to transparency, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted an exhaustive review of investigative holdings relating to Jeffrey Epstein. To ensure that the review was thorough, the FBI conducted digital searches of its databases, hard drives, and network drives as well as physical searches of squad areas, locked cabinets, desks, closets, and other areas where responsive material may have been stored. These searches uncovered a significant amount of material, including more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence.
The files relating to Epstein include a large volume of images of Epstein, images and videos of victims who are either minors or appear to be minors, and over ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography. Teams of agents, analysts, attorneys, and privacy and civil liberties experts combed through the digital and documentary evidence with the aim of providing as much information as possible to the public while simultaneously protecting victims.Much of the material is subject to court-ordered sealing. Only a fraction of this material would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial, as the seal served only to protect victims and did not expose any additional third-parties to allegations of illegal wrongdoing.Through this review, we found no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials and will not permit the release of child pornography.
This systematic review revealed no incriminating “client list.” There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.
Consistent with prior disclosures, this review confirmed that Epstein harmed over one thousand victims. Each suffered unique trauma. Sensitive information relating to these victims is intertwined throughout the materials. This includes specific details such as victim names and likenesses, physical descriptions, places of birth, associates, and employment history.
One of our highest priorities is combatting child exploitation and bringing justice to victims. Perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein serves neither of those ends.
To that end, while we have labored to provide the public with maximum information regarding Epstein and ensured examination of any evidence in the government’s possession, it is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.
After a thorough investigation, FBI investigators concluded that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on August 10, 2019. This conclusion is consistent with previous findings, including the August 19, 2019 autopsy findings of the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the November 2019 position of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in connection with the investigation of federal correctional officers responsible for guarding Epstein, and the June 2023 conclusions of DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General.
The conclusion that Epstein died by suicide is further supported by video footage from the common area of the Special Housing Unit (SHU) where Epstein was housed at the time of his death. As DOJ’s Inspector General explained in 2023, anyone entering or attempting to enter the tier where Epstein’s cell was located from the SHU common area would have been captured by this footage. The FBI’s independent review of this footage confirmed that from the time Epstein was locked in his cell at around 10:40 pm on August 9, 2019, until around 6:30 am the next morning, nobody entered any of the tiers in the SHU.
During this review, the FBI enhanced the relevant footage by increasing its contrast, balancing the color, and improving its sharpness for greater clarity and viewability. The full raw and enhanced videos are available at the following links: https://www.justice.gov/video-file1; https://www.justice.gov/video-file2.
US Department of Justice / FBI / Axios / Via axios.com
In light of the news, Elon Musk re-ignited the public feud to share his thoughts. In a tweet sharing the report, he replied, "So … umm … then what is Ghislaine Maxwell in prison for? Stuff like this does not improve people’s faith in government."
Disclose.tv@disclosetv JUST IN - U.S. DOJ and FBi joint Epstein memo: "There was no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions."
Elon Musk @elonmusk So ... umm ... then what is Ghislaine Maxwell in prison for? Stuff like this does not improve people's faith in government. 11:56 PM Jul 6, 2025
Then, he posted this meme:
ElonMusk@elonmusk WE WILL RELEASE THE EPSTEIN LIST WE JUST NEED MORE TIME THE EPSTEIN LIST IS ON MY DESK THERE IS NO EPSTEIN LIST 12:12 AM Jul 7, 2025
The meme seems to reference a claim made by US Attorney General Pam Bondi in February. In a Fox News interview, she said the list was "sitting on her desk," and that she was reviewing it at Trump's direction, alongside other files like those related to JFK and MLK. That quote is now making the rounds again as it contradicts the DOJ's current stance.
MeidasTouch@MeidasTouch Pam Bondi in February: The Epstein client list is sitting on my desk right now to review. Pam Bondi today: There is no Epstein client list and no "further disclosure" of Epstein-related material "would be appropriate or warranted." 7:46 PM · Jul 6, 2025
Musk didn't stop there, continuing his rant. "This is the final straw," he wrote.
Autism Capital@AutismCapital Replying to @elonmusk What happened to "the client list is on my desk?" What happened to "the Epstein files part 2?" What happened to those magical binders. What a farce.
Elon Musk@elonmusk
This is the final straw 12:117 AM Jul 7, 2025
In another tweet-meme, he posted a "Jeffrey Epstein Pedophile Arrest Counter" set to zero with the caption, "What's the time? Oh look, it's no-one-has-been-arrested-o'clock again …"
Elon Musk@elonmusk What's the time? Oh look, it's non-one-has-been-arrested-o'clock again ... 1:02 AM Jul 7, 2025
And lastly, he then retweeted a tweet that read: "If the entire government is protecting pedophiles, it has officially become the government against the people. I hope you all understand that."
Elon Musk reposted Sarah Fields@SarahisCensored If the entire government is protecting pedophiles, it has officially become the government against the people.
I hope you all understand that.
So...yeah. Musk is back online, beefing, stirring the pot with memes and accusations, while the DOJ says there's nothing more to see here. Whether any of it leads anywhere? TBD. In the meantime, Musk said he is launching a third political party called the "America Party," while Trump, never one to stay quiet, called Musk a "TRAIN WRECK" in a tirade on Sunday.
Elon Musk reposted $TSLA Hodler@TSLAshareholder elon's response to trump
Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely "off the rails," essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks. He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States - The System seems not designed for them. The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats, who have lost their confidence and their minds! Republicans, on the other hand, are a smooth running "machine," that just passed the biggest Bill of its kind in the History of our Country. It is a Great Bill but, unfortunately for Elon, it eliminates the ridiculous Electric Vehicle (EV) Mandate, which would have forced everyone to buy an Electric Car in a short period of time. I have been strongly opposed to that from the very beginning. People are now allowed to buy whatever they want - Gasoline Powered, Hybrids (which are doing very well), or New Technologies as they come about - No more EV Mandate. I have campaigned on this for two years and, quite honestly, when Elon gave me his total and unquestioned Endorsement, I asked him whether or not he knew that I was going to terminate the EV Mandate - It was in every speech I made, and in every conversation I had. He said he had no problems with that - I was very surprised! Additionally, Elon asked that one of his close friends run NASA and, while I though his friend was very good, I was surprised to learn that he was a blue blooded Democrat, who had never contributed to a Republican before. Elon probably was, also. I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon's corporate life. My Number One charge is to protect the American Public!
Le sigh, I wish I could tell you this is all just one sick joke. But no, this is real life, starring the world’s richest man and our country's highest official. What a timeline to watch unfold.
As of posting, the Trump administration has not yet responded to Musk's tweets. We will update you if they do.
BREAKING: Bongino & Patel Consider LEAVING Trump Admin! by Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola and Mark Thompson The Young Turks Jul 11, 2025
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino has reportedly taken the day off work after a fight with Attorney General Pam Bondi about her handling of the "Epstein files." Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola and Mark Thompson discuss on The Young Turks.
Transcript
Even inside of the Trump administration, prominent members of MAGA are roiling with this whole Epstein thing. And we want to start with this guy first because Bongino apparently got into a big tiff with Pam Bondi. And as of right now, at least, he's off the job. He took the day off, I guess, which is a thing that you can just do abruptly even when you have a really important job. And a source close to Bongino said he ain't coming back, which is not a guarantee, but sources are now saying he is considering that if Pam Bondi doesn't go, he'll go, and I hope somehow all of them go, but it's not up to me.
Now, Caitlyn Collins reports it's accurate that Dan Bongino has told people he's considering resigning in a major clash between the FBI and the DOJ over the fallout from the Epstein memo. Apparently he got into it with Bondi about the missing minute in the tape. And so he apparently is mad, because he's been taking some of the blame for not catching the fact that it had the missing minute before they put it out. And Bondi's mad at him because he's been telling the press that he and Kash Patel have been stopped from releasing more information about the Epstein files, but they're not releasing that additional information. And he has a lot of power, you know, unto himself, let alone Kash Patel. And so people are saying he's not happy with the way that Pam Bondi has dealt with the Epstein files. And I think all of this is fascinating, but I also think that it's convenient to just assume, oh wait, maybe Pam Bondi's the cause of the cover up. And actually Bongino and Kash Patel, who made a name for themselves, and tons of money before entering the administration talking about this story, they're secretly fighting the good fight. But the thing is, they've been participating in the early steps of this coverup for literally months. They've been doing those interviews, and going on with Joe Rogan, and going on with all these people, and being like, "I haven't seen anything, and there's no evidence yet the guy killed himself." And like maybe they have an issue with the tape, but what have they been saying over the past few months, while these files have been sitting waiting to be reviewed, they've been like "mums the word." Any of their public comments I think, are totally consistent with either a coverup, or that there is in fact nothing. And I want everyone to bear in mind that, just feel free to disagree, it could be that both of them are, and always have been true believers on this stuff. And now they're aghast at the fact that either nothing is coming up, in which case one would think they would perhaps apologize for leading their audiences on for literally years as they soaked up the money from it, or that it is important, as Jake points out, MAGA 90% in revolt over this, they're thinking, okay, I have this great job, and I don't want to say anything that's going to get Donald Trump to be mad at me. But Donald Trump's heart could explode in his chest in about 6 months, and I would like to have a media career for the next 20 years. And this is perhaps a moment where if I'm not seen to be on the right side of this, that's it for me, and Maga will never trust me.
Yeah. And we know how powerful audience capture is for a lot of these people. And so they have a ton of loyalty for Trump, but they also desperately want more mansions and fancy cars in the years ahead.
[Cenk] Yeah. So that is exactly right. So there's two different issues here. But before then, we're doing a poll in the live chat. Watch the show Monday through Friday at 6:00. I love you guys participating in this. And this is now a really good question. Who's out first? Bongino, Bondi, or Kash Patel? Uh, Bongino seems like he's halfway down the sword, so that's why he's winning. But Pam Bondi is going to be the scapegoat. So, let's get into that.
So, the two different issues are why is Bongino freaking out the way that he is, going to take the day off, saying "That's it! I'm considering resigning." Not just considering resigning, but apparently telling almost everyone in the MAGA world, because there's leaks everywhere, right? And he's like, "Oh, yeah. I might quit. Remember I'm the good guy. I might quit." Right. So, we'll see if he does or he doesn't. So that's point one. And the reason he's doing that is because the MAGA base is like, "Fuck this. All of you have zero credibility left. It turns out you're compromised." Look, you egg on conspiracy theories for 10, 20 years straight. 10 years, let's give them right, the Bonginos of the world. And then when that Frankenstein turns on you, you're going to be surprised, like especially the core Frankenstein you built right now in this case. Though to be fair to MAGA, they are a thousand times more right than Bongino, Kash Patel, Bondi, and Trump right? Because what's the actual conspiracy theory? That hundreds of girls raped themselves, and that there are no clients, and no one should be prosecuted? So that's the conspiracy theory, the government's position.
The Bongino position right now is a wild, ludicrous conspiracy theory. The idea that it's the various forces who our government is covering up for is the leading theory. And by the way, that's not just a MAGA theory. That's also the left-wing theory. And by the way, the middlewing theory. No one thinks those girls raped themselves, that there were no clients, and we shouldn't prosecute a single person. Other than mainstream media reporters and politicians, I don't know a single person who believes that. Left, right, middle, right?
So the government's position is a lunatic conspiracy theory. MAGA agrees with all of us. It's BS. And the fact that they were objective enough to to say, "Yeah, no, this is wrong, and the Trump team is lying," I don't know why they're lying, but they're definitely lying. That is why Bongino is jumping out of his skin.
Cuz you're right. If they keep going like this, Kash Patel, Bongino, Pam Bondi, Pam Bondi is already gone. She has no career left in the right at all anymore. There's not a single right-winger that will ever vote for Pam Bondi. She's gone, gone, gone. That's why she's gonna be the first one under a bus. Bongino might leave earlier, but Pam Bondi's, like her new nickname, could be "Road Bump," because she's going under a bus. There's no question about that. They were all referring to her as Pam Blondie, and the whole thing about the files are on my desk, and then giving out the binders, and now she's saying nonsense. She puts out a total BS tape, etc. So, she's a goner. What Trump would love, or that team Trump would love, is "it was all Pam Bondi's fault. And no no no, not Bongino, not Kash Patel, not Trump, not any of the rest.
Was Pam Bondi right? But here's where it all breaks down, which is the core of the issue, the second issue ,the more important one, yes. But can Bondi can get fired? But where are the freaking clients? If you're never going to release the client list, and you're never going to tell us a single person who did this, and you're never going to prosecute anyone, and you're going to stick with your lunatic conspiracy theory that the girls raped themselves, it's not going to solve anything. Yeah. It's not going to solve Bongino's problem with his career. If he comes out and goes, "No, no, they're right. He killed himself and there were no clients." No one in MAGA is going to listen to him. Not one person.
So, the quitting and the firing is irrelevant. Are you actually going to do it or not?
Look guys, I think this is so big. This is not like, "Oh, hey, that's an interesting amazing story of MAGA turning on Trump and blah blah blah." No. Like this to me feels like somebody taking the finger out of their dam because now like across the board, f the government, f the establishment. We don't believe a word they say anymore. So you could yap on CNN or the New York Times and call everybody conspiracy theorists, etc. But Ed Stein and and his very rich and powerful clients did rape underage girls. None of them have been prosecuted. And the American government at a minimum is definitely protecting the rapists. So now, and by the way, Trump did it, Biden did it, Trump did it, every president did it. So don't tell me it's not an intelligence agency. Like, like, yeah, maybe every president raped an underage girl, and that's why they're all not releasing the the files or the evidence. But Trump ran on it, man. He ran on it. And so now to come in and go the thing that you care most about, MAGA, I'm gonna I mean that is like sticking the knife right into their heart. Right. It's it's a snap at a reporter for bringing it up. Like he personally hates that it's still being talked about. Yeah. Yeah. No, he's he's in a world of trouble, but the entire institutions are in trouble now. Like no one like Jake Tapper will later write a book about how no one could have seen this coming. We all see it coming, Jake. We all see it coming. All right, Mark. Well, they ran as outsiders, right? I mean, initially, it used to suggest this false populism really was something to sell when Trump was an outsider and Banino was an outsider and Patel was an outsider and they could write these books and do their podcasts and claim, you know, those people on the inside. They're holding it back. It's right here. It's at the FBI. Are you kidding? That's where it is. Now, you run the FBI, Cash Patel, and you guys are all in charge. And so, you're on super thin ice and you could release something even with redactions. So they can redact the hell out of the thing. They've done that with other stuff with JFK, with MLK. They redacted a bunch of stuff. We'd already seen it before, but they tried to take a victory lap on how they'd released it. You're right, Jen. There is something huge about this. And because it's something huge, it only gets bigger the more we wait day after day after day. I love the idea that they would throw Bondi under the bus, but that won't be enough for them to skate away from this. Yeah. No way. And then the last piece is what I promised you earlier in the show. Um, Wired magazine did a terrific piece about uh the tape that they released. They said that it was raw footage from the prison and I was instantly amused when Pam Bondi explained, "Oh, every prison tape has a minute missing." Do they every prison tape does? I'm not sure that's true at all. Right. To say the least. All right. So, already it started out disastrous, but now Wired is proven not raw edited. edited by Adobe Premiere Pro. And there they there's two clearly distinct parts edited together. Okay. Now, that doesn't mean that they doctorred it. It doesn't mean that oh, you know, we know they took out something incriminating. All we know is they said it was raw. Definitely not raw. Definitely edited. And so, we just don't know how it was edited. We don't even know if the edit was around the one minute mark. like that's the edit or it was a different edit and there's different ratio problems to the video. The video is a mess and there is a theory that oh well look they they were just trying to clean it up so it looked presentable right but they actually released two different videos one that was more cleaned up and one they called the raw footage and it turns out the raw footage isn't raw that one was also edited. So none of that the stockpile of stuff that is associated with the offing of Jeffrey Epstein. Everything from the removal of his roommate from the cell to uh well it turns out one guard was on uh uh was asleep. The other guard was playing or or buying something on Amazon. The cameras didn't work that I mean at what point do we just understand that something else went down? There's just way too much of a constellation of events here for us to ignore it. Yeah, last thing. Alex Aosta was the guy who gave him a light sentence back in 2008. Remember Epstein got caught earlier and Aassa basically slap on the wrist. Aosta later, even though he's a prosecutor, became the labor secretary for Donald Trump in his first term. So strange. There's so many strange things. If you don't know this, by the way, I I don't know if this has anything to do with anything, but you know, Attorney General Bill Bar's dad was the first person to hire Jeffrey Epstein. not for it sex as a math teacher at a private school and when Jeffrey Epstein didn't even graduate college. This whole thing about like he's like a financial genius. He doesn't know anything about finance. Okay. Like this is insane. Like did you know Galileain Maxwell's dad was a legendary is Israeli spy got a state funeral. Uh Yet Rabbine came to it. And did you know that at one point uh Jeffrey Epstein said that he works with the CIA and did you know that Alex Aosta when challenged this is according to sources it's not he didn't say it in public or in court but they said why'd you give him such a light sentence and he said well the intelligence agencies told me to okay so if that source is correct this thing's we already know what happened we don't know which intelligence agencies but obviously the CIA or the our government is helping either is the intelligence agency or is helping that intelligence agency. So the idea that oh intelligence agencies is like a conspiracy theory. No, that is a very reasonable conclusion, an eminently reasonable conclusion given the evidence at hand. The idea that there were no clients cuckoo for cocoa puffs like that. That's no one on planet Earth believes that. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. Totally not true. But it does keep you updated on our live shows.
Trump's Epstein Failure Ignites MAGA Civil War by Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola and Mark Thompson The Young Turks Jul 11, 2025
President Trump's Justice Department is refusing to release the Epstein files, and MAGA is not happy about it. Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola and Mark Thompson discuss on The Young Turks.
Transcript
Bannon calls Posobiec a "sap" We were all told there was more and now they're telling us and like a sap you believed them. Damn, that's an aggressive podcast they got going on right there. But that of course is uh Steve Bannon and uh Jack Posobiec, conservative influencer. And uh they're fighting as seemingly everybody in the MAGA world is fighting over the perception that Donald Trump is the head of a massive effort to cover up Jeffrey Epstein and his files and his client list and all of that. And so Bannon is now lumping Posobiec in, not just as a person who had talked about the conspiracy, but that might have actually been a participant in the cover up himself. And so we're going to get to that as well as the many other fights, fights that aren't just imperiling perhaps the MAGA, you know, electoral chances, but might even result in people leaving the administration. And so we're going to get to all of that, but what Cenk, are you are you delighting in all the chaos? I I am, but I'm not delighting in in the files not being released and the government lying to us in preposterous ways. And apparently other people are not delighting in it because one of the things we're about to tell you is Dan Bongino is considering leaving the administration. He's apparently furious. Uh but are they really going to do anything? They could fire Pam Bondi as a scapegoat. Bongino can leave. But unless they release the files and or actually prosecute a single rapist, none of that is going to matter. Anyway, we'll have all those amazing details coming up for you guys, but also the detail of turns out uh the prison tape that they said was raw, not raw. Wired magazine, excellent article explaining that it was edited. Mhm. I mean, this is an epic disaster for the government, for Trump, for every part of this. And and as you can see here, I mean, that's Steve Bannon in that first video yelling at Posobiec that he was a sap for participating in the Trump administration stunt about the Epstein files. So that's like MAGA on MAGA crime live on the air and and this is just ripping It's actually not ripping MAGA apart. MAGA is almost completely united against the Trump administration. Yeah. And that is stunning. There's just a few people like Alex Jones that have come up with like a new deeper level of the deep state that Trump is covering this up to help fight as he tries to work through it. Of course. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. And there's the revelations about the tape. Um I don't find it the tape thing as damning as you do. Uh sometimes these things happen like most people don't know. Every Friday we need about 4 minutes for the tape to reset before the show can go live. Yeah. That's why there's a minute missing in every Young Turks episode. Exactly. It's not suspicious. It's just the way it works. Anyway, so we're going to get through all of them, but why don't we start with Posobiec, who uh what was it a couple months ago was one of those right-wing influencers that was brought as part of a PR stunt to meet up with Pam Bondi, who had her Epstein Files binders, and every one of them rushed to Rumble and wherever the hell they do their shows to say, "We're going to blow the lid off this thing, and we're going to take down the Clintons." And then nothing happened because there was nothing of note in the uh the binders which in hindsight now might have been the first indication that nothing at all was going to come of this. But so that's Posobiec's role is that he received the binder and that's what Bannon I think is implying that he was a sap that he was a participant in the coverup not just a guy who sort of is commenting on it now. But that said, now that you understand that background, why don't we get a little bit more between those two? There is enormous confusion on my part. We're told that there's a list on the desk where you know Jack I don't want to get into your whole thing but you know how Jack but I get told I get unless I get told that's phase one Jack's fault Jack was used I hope you guys understand that. Thank you Charlie but I was told there'd be more. I was we were all told there was more and now they're telling us like and like a sap you believed them. You're from the intelligence community. Jack Posobiec, you're from the intelligence community. They're playing us. They're playing all our way. It's just not the media screw the media covering. So yeah, Bannon's really on fire pointing out that Posobiec was from the intelligence community. He means naval intelligence, not that he's an intelligent person, so don't worry about that. But but anyway, uh they were doing that at this um uh Turning Point USA student action summit. They have these summits seemingly every single weekend and they go there to all stand rather than sitting while doing these shows. TPUSA attendees slam Trump But anyway, uh they're not just mad. The attendees were mad, too. And so, let's turn now to some of that. We want to put America first. Like, we're here for the Republican movement, right? But we aren't really seeing it with this administration. I mean, when are we going to get what we voted for? Yeah. We're getting lied to. The pedophiles aren't being uh rounded up. The uh people aren't getting deported. Uh we're not getting what we what we asked for. Do you agree with the special prosecutor has to be an independent special prosecutor has to take over? Do you believe that DOJ and FBI right now with the guys who were all close to Pam Bondi, uh, Dan Bongino, Kash Patel, do you think they have any credibility left to pursue this? No. And I'll tell you exactly why, Steve. Because in 2016, we trusted the plan with Trump. But now Trump has become the deep state. The exact thing he we voted him in. Why? Why? Why? Why do you say Why do you say he Why do you say he's become the deep state? What is more deep state than covering up for pedophiles? Why would you go to that island? Why? Tell me. Why would you go to that island? Looks like that guy might be choosing the Elon Musk side of the split. But um but yeah, that was they were very fired up uh against Donald Trump and not just uh Donald Trump. It's I would imagine is going to to end up trying to save himself. He's going to start pointing the finger. He always does. He throws people under the bus. And that might even be what's happening, which we'll get to that no, it's not actually him. It's these other people. But all of those people are his people, trusted people on the right, trusted people in the Trump orbit. Pam Bondi's personal lawyer. Is that a hold over from the previous administration? He specifically chose her after Matt Gaetz got rejected. But either way, he loved both of them. And so I there's still a little bit of weird cognitive dissonance when you have like the second guy who talked who's like, "Well, I don't know. We're not getting what we paid for." and he's like smiling while talking about the fact that the guy he trusted most in politics is covering up for elite pedophiles. Like that on some level this is still kind of a game in some way. But at least you did have people willing to say that they feel betrayed and not just by the potential scapegoats but by Trump himself. Guys, if you're on the left and you're not seeing it, and I get it, you might not see it because of different media that you consume. No, 90% of MAGA is in rebellion. And so this is not like, oh yeah, they're full of crap and it's not real and they're all lying. No, no, no, no, no. This is not close. Those guys are real. And you can tell uh when they're real or not when they say things like, "Yeah, what the hell, man? They didn't round up all the stupid immigrants." Like you could like they still have their points of view that we can't stand, right? And that we totally disagree with. But this is the Epstein files is the very very core of MAGA. So like when you This is not MAGA versus Trump. And and if you're not if like So are some MAGA making some small excuses for Trump? Sure. Right. And are some of the influencers trying to misdirect like Alex Jones, oh they were too big to jail, so that's why we should let the rapist bankers go and and Trump is being a genius by letting him go. Well, he's saying that he's using it as blackmail material over the world leaders. Yeah, whatever. Like some nonsense, right? But nobody's even buying that. Not not in core maga. later they will change their uh uh excuse and a lot of people will buy this later and it's begun which is oh no Biden got rid of the evidence that is why we could not what didn't what did Trump do in his first term but overall my read of it online in everything I've seen and that's why Dan Bongino is apparently so furious he's he took today off in protest he apparently had a huge shouting match with Pam Bondi is any of that stuff relatively real or Yes. Is he trying to protect himself? Yes. Is he trying to make it seem like, hey, look, it's not me. It is Pam Bundy and it is definitely not me. Yes. All of that. But the reason he's doing that, the reason why Steve Bannon is calling for a special prosecutor in the Trump administration. Unheard of. Unheard of. Like, we don't trust Trump. We need a special prosecutor. That's Steve Bannon saying that. And now the reason why every almost every host Charlie Kirk and others you could tell they're super reluctant, right? But they're like, "Uh, yes, this is really bad. The girls didn't rape themselves because their audience is going, "Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?" Now you're going to turn around and say that that there there were no clients. You're not going to prosecute a single person? and Andrew Schultz uh which we'll who we'll talk about later in the show in one of the many things that he said on the flagrant podcast was like wait so you're saying that like you ran on Epstein Trump you ran on I'm Epstein is being you know the files and I'm going to release them etc and you already had one term so like you if if there's something incriminating the files you would Oh, and then you ran a whole another campaign saying there was there definitely was and you were going to expose it. So now when you come out and say, "Oh, there were no clients and there is no list." No, you're compromised in one way or another. Like it is absolutely inescapable. So more of that evidence in a minute, but Mark, what's your first take on this? Yeah, I I think that you do a good job of decoding what are sort of two aspects to this. One is the political MAGA world and the damage potentially to Trump as a result of that political world turning on him. You saw bits of it. And I think also the reputational problems, the stink reputationally for Trump. I thought that was a great question. Like what are you doing going to this island over and over again? What are you doing sort of hanging out with this guy? It's undeniable that this guy is what we know. And so even if we don't get the files or the list or the black book, it's you Donald Trump who reputationally pay a price. And the reason you additionally pay that price is because you are with helping to withhold this information. So I think you know that which we knew that is to say that Trump was tight with Epstein. I don't know to what extent he was involved with all of this, but you know, it becomes kind of hard to push away when you're hanging out with a guy on his jet all the time, going to his island, going to the different properties. You're doing that enough. I I think it turns the focus back on to Trump. So, reputationally, he has done some harm along the way as well. On on the political stuff, Cenk, I yield to you because I think you have a better sense of what's happening with maga-nation than do I. Uh, I always feel like they'll rationalize their way out of it, but there may just be too much going on here for them to do that. And guys, that So, Mark, to your point real quick, um, I live through all of the different stages, right? So, I would tell MAGA, you know, 5 years ago, four years ago, one year ago, hey, you know, Trump said that Epstein is a terrific guy and they were best friends for 15 years. And Trump even said, hey, everybody knows Jeffrey likes him young. Like, so he knew definitively. And back then the reaction from MAGA was f you don't eat your Clinton covering it up Biden and they just deflection deflection never acknowledged it. Now when I do the same thing they're like oh yep you're totally right. What the hell? Why I don't and I don't know. I would love to ask uh some of them bunch of them like guys what did you like why did you not believe it before and now you do believe it? Like isn't it obvious you were wrong earlier? Right. And I don't but we don't need to even get into that. The fact that they now do believe it makes a big difference. Does everybody think that Trump w did something with Epstein? No. Okay. Do a lot of them now wonder if Trump did something with Epstein? Yes. Yes. Yeah. And they're taking that quote a lot more seriously now because remember the core of MAGA whether we like it or believe it or agree or don't agree. They think they're anti-establishment. Like they think we're going to go get the elites, right? They talk about the elites all the time, etc. So they really the reason they loved Trump and believed in Trump was they thought, it's not true, but they thought he was anti-establishment. They thought he was anti- elites. And what do we say on the Young Turks over and over again? He's a fake populist, right? He's he plays a good populist game that's smart politically and the Democrats are knuckleheads for not doing the same thing, but he doesn't mean it. He already had one term. He was already best friends with Jeffrey Epstein. He already he loves the donor class. He all What did he do in the first term and the second term? Giant tax cuts for rich and the corporations, right? He's a fake populist. And now when he does the same exact thing that MAGA accused the dips deep state of doing, the establishment, the elites of doing and the very core of it, eps, the very core, that's what broke the camel's back. So it doesn't mean that they don't trust him on anything else, but this is massive damage to Trump's credibility with MAGA. Yeah. And it's going to have much more consequences for other issues as well. They confuse the fact that he has a lot of enemies and some of them are elites with him being an enemy of the elites, which is us. And I think the reason the reason that he has been so like caught flatfooted on this thing like the only other time that sort of reminds me a little bit is the vaccine stuff where like he says things they mean it like the base like he'll say stop the testing covid's fake or whatever but he still thinks we should have a vaccine cuz he's not actually a colloidal silver Instagram zombie or whatever and so he has a a a vaccine come out because he doesn't actually mean the antivax stuff. He eventually caught up because he was getting booed at rallies and everything. And I think this is an even worse example where yeah, he mentioned Epstein in his rallies. He doesn't actually believe the QAnon stuff and he doesn't get that. It's a it's a helpful game to him to get people fired up, but there's millions of not just Republicans, but predominantly Republicans that believe it more than they believe literally anything else. And so for him it's like, "Yeah, we had fun with that during the campaign, but now I'm in power and now it's about tax cuts. So shut up with your stupid conspiracy theories." And he doesn't get that they believe that every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. Totally not true. But it does keep you updated on our live shows.
Alan Dershowitz Claims He Knows Who Is On The Epstein Client List by Cenk Uygur, Elliot Morgan and Sharon Reed The Young Turks Jul 11, 2025
A video of Alan Dershowitz has resurfaced of him claiming to knows all about a list of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged clients. Cenk Uygur, Elliot Morgan and Sharon Reed discuss on The Young Turks.
Transcript
I know for a fact documents are being suppressed and they're being suppressed to protect individuals. I know the names of the individuals. I know why they're being suppressed. I know who's suppressing them, but I'm bound by confidentiality uh from a judge and cases and I can't disclose what I know. But I pan to God, I know I know the names of people whose files are being suppressed in order to protect them. And that's wrong. Here we are. The Epstein file saga continues. This time with former Epstein defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz. Uh on Sean Spicer's show there back in March. Dershowitz emphatically claimed that he knew all of the clients on the so-called Epstein list. Uh the clip resurfaced yesterday but left and right-wing backlash to the Trump administration's denials that Epstein was blackmailing other clients. Dershowitz's insistence that there were other clients and co-conspirators was backed up by Cigrid McCauley, the lawyer representing several Epstein victims in their civil cases. Listen, I think what's really just astonishing about this recent um disclosure from the government is that they know they are sitting on a treasure trove of information and they're not turning it over. And I've worked on these cases for over 10 years now. There's a plethora of information that the public has not been able to see relating to Epstein and his co-conspirators. And as we know, he had a a group of people around him who helped protect him and helped that scheme to continue running. None of those people have been prosecuted. All right, folks. And it's getting even sketchier, if you will. We're learning more um that the 11 hours of prison footage that the Trump administration released from the night Epstein died may have been altered. Uh let's talk more about it. with metadata embedded in the video analyzed by wired and independent video forensics experts shows that rather than being a direct export from the prison surveillance system, the footage was modified, likely using the professional editing tool Adobe Premiere Pro. The file appears to have been assembled from at least two source clips, saved multiple times, exported, and then uploaded to the DOJ's website where it was presented as quote raw footage. Experts caution that it's unclear what exactly was changed and that the metadata does not prove deceptive manipulation. video may have simply been processed for public release using available software with no modifications beyond stitching together two clips, but again it adds to the mystery here. With no clear explanation from the Justice Department, we simply can't say for sure what exactly went down that night. Uh Hanny Fared, a professor at UC Berkeley whose research focuses on digital forensics and misinformation, says this about the footage. If a lawyer brought me this file and asked if it was suitable for court, I'd say no. Go back to the source. Do it right. Do a direct export from the original system. No monkey business. DOJ, FBI both refusing to answer questions about this. So Cenk, look, we we've already established that that MAGA loyalists are not going to let this this go. Um, what more though does this these revelations today tell us? So, we kid around about Captain Underpants because uh there's a story of how he got a massage in the uh from in the you know uh at Epstein's place and but he says he kept his shorts on. Uh so we had a good laugh over that and he says no no it's okay my wife was there and I was like um okay but u because we're the fairest show in America. Um, you know, as I watched that uh interview with Sean Spicer, I thought, I mean, he's making he's getting me to to, you know, question if he's really did do anything wrong. And why? Because he's saying the same thing Steve Bannon is saying. And two guy, I can't stand Alan Doritz or Steve Bannon. But they're both saying, why don't you release the whole files because we're we didn't do anything wrong. Now people are accusing us. Dura was being accused for a long time and Bannon just got accused by Elon Musk. So they're like, "No, that's it. Just release the goddamn files because now we're all getting smeared and uh and Steve Bannon's even calling for a special prosecutor." So, okay. So, did Dur I have no idea. I was How would I know? The government's keeping it a secret, right? So, um but I agree with him in this case. Yeah. Release the files, then we'll know. Uh so, now to the tape. I mean, first of all, they released the tape and it's a freaking joke. So, I've, as I've said many times, uh, on the day that Epstein died, Anna and I were on the air, it was breaking news and I said, "If the camera in the hallway isn't working, they killed him." Okay. If the camera in the hallway is working, then it was suicide. And I believed him, right? And then we found out later, "Oh, golly gee, the camera in the hallway wasn't working. We cannot see his prison cell." I was like, "Yeah, all right. Uh, color me shocked. Right. So now they say, "Okay, that's all right. We got to we we got the tape. We I'm like, really? You did? So the camera was working?" No, no, we got a tape of the common area. What does that pro? That doesn't prove anything. Oh, by the way, there's a minute missing. And then Bondi's like, "No, every prison tape has a minute missing." Does it? Okay. So then Wired magazine with a great reporting today where they're like, "Yeah, it was edited." There's two clear different parts of it edited together. We don't know what was if anything was manipulated further, but we do know like there was different issues with the tape. They had different resolution this that and another thing. And this is really important. They the government put out two tapes. One that was like, hey, you can see it more clearly here. And the one they called the raw footage and Wired magazine proved it was not raw footage. It was edited. So the tape was junk and to begin with. It's not showing you the hallway. It's showing you a random place in the prison or almost random. Then it we know that there was a piece of it missing and now we know it was edited. So gee, I wonder if the government is trying to cover it up. I can't quite tell when the government says hundreds, maybe even thousands of underage girls were raped, but no one raped them. We can't find a single client and we're not going to prosecute anyone. Okay. Uh, that's the wildest conspiracy theory I have ever heard. And the fact that it's coming from the government doesn't make it any better. Elliot, what do you think? To be honest with you, Jenk, I appreciate Dershowitz doing what I think you need to do uh, when it comes to a conspiracy theory, which is leave some kind of question mark, something open for people to wonder about. Him saying, "Hey, I know about all this, but I can't talk about it because of confidentiality seems like a really smart move." What's not a smart move is to go, hey, look over there and hey, don't even ask us any more questions about this and don't worry about the tape and don't worry about the list. I think that's going to continue to be a bigger and bigger backlash for him. Yeah. And Elliot, just real quick on that before I toss back to Sharon, it you know, Benny Johnson has a story about Dershowitz and and Epstein. We'll get to that in a sec. And it could be that Dershowitz thinks, "Yeah, I know who did it. And I know that since it's people that are never ever going to release the list cuz they're in the government, I can say anything I want about the list cuz I know it's never going to come out. So that's also possible. But we don't know. Sure. The whole thing just keeps getting, as we said, sketchier and sketchier. One of Trump's buddies now is making excuses about it. Bill O'Reilly is divulging a conversation he allegedly had with Donald Trump back in March. He said, and I agree, there are a lot of names associated with Epstein had nothing to do with Epstein's conduct. They they maybe had lunch with him or maybe had some correspondence for one thing or another. If that name gets out, those people are destroyed because there's not going to be any context. Media doesn't care uh about context. So, you you can't do that. You can't destroy human beings by putting out the files, whatever they may be. Okay. Okay, so Bill Riley there making it seem like, you know, the barista from Starbucks is also on the list who Epstein perhaps visited daily. I mean, this is a guy who loved to party. Are we buying this excuse that you don't want to mudd this politics? We don't want to muddy up everyday people who just, you know, had coffee or lunch with this guy. Yeah. I mean, it's just patently absurd. Okay. So, all right. You're saying, well, if you just throw out a list, you vomit out a list, some of the people might not have done it. And you know, you're okay. Yeah, that's a fair point. So, why don't you put out a list of the people who did do it. You have them on tapes. It's not like you don't know who did it. So, okay, why don't you be super careful? Start with a list of five or 10. Remember, there's hundreds, right? We're not asking you to be wild-eyed, right? So, it's just nothing but excuses. Total and utter BS.
So look guys, the theory most likely, you know, to me, is there's one force on earth that can get both the Democrats and the Republicans to cover up a story of this magnitude, and that's an intelligence agency, CIA, or one of our allies, Mossad, MI6 -- those are the other two that have been mentioned. And we're either working with them, or we're covering up for them, or it's just us and not them, right? That makes sense. And here's why another reason why it makes sense. If you're going to start prosecuting people, one person, five people, whatever it might be, and the CIA did do it, or MOSSAD did do it, then you have to say to people, yes, our government is so evil that not only did we cover up the child rape, we orchestrated the child rape in order to be able to have blackmail material on powerful people. And nobody wants to admit that their government is that evil. And that's the realm we're in now. And that's why this thing is a powder keg, because I don't think the American people on the right, or the left, are going to say, "Ah, you know what? We're good with it." So maybe every once in a while a government, a government we don't know, rapes our kids, and then orchestrates a situation where rich and powerful men rape our kids and then get away with it. I don't think that anyone is going to stand for that at all. And the thing that I promised, Benny Johnson had a segment with Marjorie Taylor Green where he claims, it's not me, but he says that he had an interview with Dershowitz earlier where Dershowitz said that he would take Epstein to meet members of the parliament in Israel. Things that make you go, hm. And so maybe Dershowitz knows, okay? It's not that. And that's why I'm saying, release the files. It's actually maybe the CIA, or just powerful people, and it's not MOSSAD etc. There's no way for us to know. And there's no way the American government is going to throw Israel under the bus. They're going to cover up for Israel from now till the cows come home. "So I can say anything I want." Oh yeah, I'm definitely not on the list. Oh yeah, sure. Release it. Yeah. Oh yeah, I kept my shorts on. Sure. Right. But the very fact that he said, "I know that it exists. There definitely were clients and they are covering it up." Well, thank you, Alan. So, I don't know what you meant by it, but now we all know, as if we didn't already know, we know 100%, that of course there were clients. Of course the girls didn't rape themselves. Of course, it's on tape. And of course, the government is covering it up.
I mean, I just want to take a moment and shout out this administration for finally draining the swamp because, Oh, no, wait, no, sorry. Rather than draining the swamp, they're just saying, "Oh, sorry. We can't release this list because we're the swamp, and there's a swamp back there, and we got to protect the swamp." And I feel like that's just one more level where they're not fulfilling the promises that they ran on. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm going to add one last thing to that because look, when you ask Democrats, at least the left that I know, right, hey, is it weird that both Biden and Trump didn't release a list? I think the overwhelming majority go, yeah, that's super weird, right? Hey, isn't it weird that Trump didn't release the list in his first term, and he was great friends with Epstein? What you would have heard back is, and I know because I did hear it back, it's just, no, no, no, no, no. Trust the plan. Eight dimensional chess. When he gets in office the second time, boom, he's going to release the list, and now we're going to show the deep state, and the Clintons, and the Democrats, and Bill Gates, all those. All right. Now, when you ask MAGA, well, what do you think happened? They're like, yeah, no, they both didn't release it. We're all screwed. We got lied to. And so now, the country is united. The government, whether it's Republican or Democrat, will not prosecute any of these powerful people who raped those underage girls. And now there's a very legitimate chance it's because the government was involved in that. And that is a pretty devastating thing to find out about your government. That's why this story is not going away. It's only going to get bigger and bigger and bigger.
Well, that's what I was going to ask both of you. Is there any diversion that can be um created to kind of force people to look away, go in another direction? And we've got the assistant FBI director who's in some kind of verbal uh argument late breaking with Pam Bondi over this and people threatening to quit. And it just seems to be growing. Whoever's on the list, it's probably huge. Um but it's even bigger because people keep speaking to it, not letting it go, and our imaginations are are running wild. Yeah. I really don't know. I think that when you look at what's happening right now and the amount of people that are potentially on the list, my first thought when this all started happening was, "Oh, this must be the distraction, like this must be something because this administration is throwing everything at the wall to try to say like, hey, look over there." And at first I thought this was just another one of those things, but them just flat out saying no and stop asking questions about it seems to me so counterintuitive for what they normally do. Like normally they're way smarter than this in at least that way. And so now I'm going oh is this like how big does this story get and how big will it get? And uh it seems by the hour to be getting bigger. So we'll see. I don't know. I think it's like uh it's TBD. Yeah. I think this is the iceberg. Um, and so like you know it's just funny you asked that Sharon cuz during the break uh um we were discussing here on the set like the same exact question and and John Iola was saying like Greenland is he going to try to invade Greenland to distract and we were talking about hey is he going to you know go oh yeah you know we didn't finish off all the uranium and the Israelis right let's bomb Iran again but bombing Iran would only be counterproductive it' make his base even angrier right so I don't think that that'll help Like I don't think anybody's going to get distracted by Greenland at this point. So no, I don't think so. I don't know what happens. Why can't it be leaked? Leak it, you know. Yeah. I feel like also the one factor here is that this involves Trump personally and it makes him look bad. And I think that might be a shocker, a driving motivator. Yeah, of course. That's a huge factor in this. And so I don't I can't see how they would distract, but I but on the other hand, are we going to talk about this for the next three and a half years until Trump leaves office? I don't know. And Trump does so many maniacal things, right? But this is I think this is the mother lode. Uh I think they hit the epicenter here in terms of we're all done with government lies on this. So I I don't know what they're I don't know what the government's going to do. I also don't know what mainstream media is going to do. Are they just going to be like, "Okay, yeah, we're moving on. All of you guys are conspiracy theorists." Or are they going to, you know, stay on the story? And that's CBD as well. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. Totally not true. But it does keep you updated on our live shows.
Metadata Shows the FBI’s ‘Raw’ Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Was Likely Modified. There is no evidence the footage was deceptively manipulated, but ambiguities around how the video was processed may further fuel conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death. Photo-Illustration: Wired Staff; Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The United States Department of Justice this week released nearly 11 hours of what it described as “full raw” surveillance footage from a camera positioned near Jeffrey Epstein’s prison cell the night before he was found dead. The release was intended to address conspiracy theories about Epstein’s apparent suicide in federal custody. But instead of putting those suspicions to rest, it may fuel them further.
Metadata embedded in the video and analyzed by WIRED and independent video forensics experts shows that rather than being a direct export from the prison’s surveillance system, the footage was modified, likely using the professional editing tool Adobe Premiere Pro. The file appears to have been assembled from at least two source clips, saved multiple times, exported, and then uploaded to the DOJ’s website, where it was presented as “raw” footage.
Experts caution that it’s unclear what exactly was changed, and that the metadata does not prove deceptive manipulation. The video may have simply been processed for public release using available software, with no modifications beyond stitching together two clips. But the absence of a clear explanation for the processing of the file using professional editing software complicates the Justice Department’s narrative. In a case already clouded by suspicion, the ambiguity surrounding how the file was processed is likely to provide fresh fodder for conspiracy theories.
Any aspect of the official story that isn’t fully explained will be co-opted by conspiracy theorists, says Mike Rothschild, an author who writes about conspiracy theories and extremists. “So whatever your flavor of Epstein conspiracy is, the video will help bolster it.”
For months leading up to the joint memo the DOJ and FBI published Monday, attorney general Pam Bondi had promised the release of records related to Epstein, raising expectations that new, potentially incriminating details might surface about the disgraced financier’s death and his ties to powerful individuals. However, rather than revealing new information, the memo largely confirmed conclusions reached years earlier: that Epstein was found in a Manhattan prison cell on August 10, 2019, and died by suicide while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
To support its conclusion, the FBI reviewed surveillance footage overlooking the common area of the Special Housing Unit (SHU) at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), where Epstein was held. The FBI enhanced the footage by adjusting contrast, color, and sharpness, and released both the enhanced and what it described as the “raw” version. Both versions of the video appear to have been processed using Premiere and include much of the same metadata. According to the FBI, anyone entering the area containing Epstein’s cell during the relevant time frame would have been visible on that camera.
Working with two independent video forensics experts, WIRED examined the 21-gigabyte files released by the DOJ. Using a metadata tool, reporters analyzed both Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF) and Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) data to identify signs of postprocessing.
The “raw” file shows clear signs of having been processed using an Adobe product, most likely Premiere, based on metadata that specifically references file extensions used by the video editing software. According to experts, Adobe software, including Premiere and Photoshop, leaves traces in exported files, often embedding metadata that logs which assets were used and what actions were taken during editing. In this case, the metadata indicates the file was saved at least four times over a 23-minute span on May 23, 2025, by a Windows user account called “MJCOLE~1.” The metadata does not show whether the footage was modified before each time it was saved.
The embedded data suggest the video is not a continuous, unaltered export from a surveillance system, but a composite assembled from at least two separate MP4 files. The metadata includes references to Premiere project files and two specific source clips—2025-05-22 21-12-48.mp4 and 2025-05-22 16-35-21.mp4. These entries appear under a metadata section labeled “Ingredients,” part of Adobe’s internal schema for tracking source material used in edited exports. The metadata does not make clear where in the video the two clips were spliced together.
Hany Farid, a professor at UC Berkeley whose research focuses on digital forensics and misinformation, reviewed the metadata at WIRED’s request. Farid is a recognized expert in the analysis of digital images and the detection of manipulated media, including deepfakes. He has testified in numerous court cases involving digital evidence.
Farid says the metadata raises immediate concerns about chain of custody—the documented handling of digital evidence from collection to presentation in a courtroom. Just like physical evidence, he explains, digital evidence must be handled in a way that preserves its integrity; metadata, while not always precise, can provide important clues about whether that integrity has been compromised.
“If a lawyer brought me this file and asked if it was suitable for court, I’d say no. Go back to the source. Do it right,” Farid says. “Do a direct export from the original system—no monkey business.”
Farid points to another anomaly: The video’s aspect ratio shifts noticeably at several points. “Why am I suddenly seeing a different aspect ratio?” he asks.
Farid cautions that while the metadata clearly shows the video was modified, the changes could be benign—for example, converting footage from a proprietary surveillance format to a standard MP4.
While there may be uncontroversial explanations for the metadata artifacts, such as stitching together multiple days of footage during compilation, or the routine export of surveillance footage to an mp4 format, the FBI did not respond to specific questions about the file’s processing, instead referring WIRED to the DOJ. The DOJ in turn referred inquiries back to the FBI and the Bureau of Prisons. The BOP did not respond to a request for comment.
According to a 2023 report from the DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG), MCC, the detention facility where Epstein was found hanged, had around 150 analog surveillance cameras—but starting on July 29, 2019, a technical error prevented roughly half of them from recording, including most inside the SHU.
The system was scheduled for repairs on August 9, the night before Epstein was found dead. But the technician assigned to fix it couldn’t access the necessary equipment because the corrections officer required to escort him was nearing the end of their shift.
As a result, only two cameras were operational near the SHU at the time MCC staff found Epstein hanging in his cell: one covering the common area and stairwells near the entrance to the adjacent 10 South Unit, and another monitoring a ninth-floor elevator bay. Neither captured Epstein’s cell door.
According to the DOJ’s memo, the footage confirms that from the time Epstein was locked in his cell at approximately 8 pm on August 9, 2019, and between around 10:40 pm and 6:30 am the next morning, no one entered the tier where his cell was located. However, the recording includes a notable gap: Approximately one minute of footage is missing, from 11:58:58 pm to 12:00:00 am. The video resumes immediately afterward.
The OIG’s report found no evidence of a conspiracy to kill Epstein. Instead, it documented years of chronic staffing failures and system breakdowns at MCC. The facility was temporarily closed in 2021 after the DOJ essentially deemed conditions unfit for incarceration.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Bondi attributed the missing minute to a flaw in the surveillance system’s daily cycle, claiming that one minute is missing from every night’s recording.
Given the years of high-profile conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein, any perceived inconsistency in the official narrative is likely to draw intense scrutiny. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones called the DOJ memo “sickening.” “Next the DOJ will say, ‘Actually, Jeffrey Epstein never even existed,’” he wrote in a post on X.
“In the world of conspiracy theories, evidence that disproves something happened becomes proof that something happened,” says Rothschild. He explains that the case of Epstein's death is a good example of this phenomenon. “Every piece of evidence that points to him taking his own life—the negligence of the prison staff, the disrepair of the cameras, the coroner's report—is turned into evidence that he was killed by powerful figures who weren't competent enough to cover up the crime correctly.”
The apparent gaps in the video, Rothschild says, will naturally inflame these suspicions.
One media forensics expert, who reviewed the metadata and agreed with WIRED’s analysis but requested anonymity due to privacy concerns and a desire to avoid having their name publicly associated with anything related to the Epstein case, put it bluntly: “It looks suspicious—but not as suspicious as the DOJ refusing to answer basic questions about it.
BOMBSHELL: Shocking update on Epstein prison video Brian Tyler Cohen Jul 11, 2025 Brian Tyler Cohen Breaking #news - Epstein prison video “likely modified”
[Bryan Tyler Cohen] Some bombshell news here. As the Trump administration keeps wishing the Epstein story away, Wired has just come out with a devastating expose suggesting that the DOJ's so-called raw surveillance footage from Epstein's prison cell may have actually been modified using professional editing software. According to Wired, metadata embedded in the video and analyzed by Wired and independent video forensics experts showed that rather than being a direct export from the prison surveillance system, the footage was modified, likely using the professional editing software Adobe Premiere Pro. The file appears to have been assembled from at least two source clips, saved multiple times, exported, and then uploaded on the DOJ's website where it was presented as raw footage. So, when Pam Bondi's DOJ told us that it was full raw surveillance footage proving Epstein killed himself, that certainly doesn't seem to be able to support its own weight. This isn't raw footage. It has been manipulated, edited, and reconstructed. And that's not even counting the missing minute that jumps from 11:58 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., which has conspiracy theorists rightfully asking what the hell happened during that last minute. But here's what makes this whole thing infinitely worse. Trump, Bondi, Patel, and Bongino are now facing a massive backlash from their own MAGABase for completely screwing all of this up.
[Steve Bannon] Do you believe that DOJ and FBI right now with the guys who were all close to Pam Bondi, Dan Bongino, Kash Patel, do you think they have any credibility left to pursue this?
[MAGA supporter] No. And I'll tell you exactly why, Steve. Because in 2016, we trusted the plan with Trump, but now Trump has become the deep state, the exact thing we voted him in for.
[Steve Bannon] Why? Why? Why? Why do you say, why do you say he, why do you say he's become the deep state?
[MAGA supporter] What is more deep state than covering up for pedophiles? Why would you go to that island? Why? Tell me. Why would you go to that island?
[MAGA supporter 2] It's insulting our intelligence. Like obviously the intelligence community is trying to cover it up. Obviously the Trump administration is trying to cover up. Something changed because they ran on this idea of exposing it all. All these guys had great ideas. He was ready to tear it all down. He was ready to tear down the entire FBI office.
[MAGA supporter 3] Shut down the Hoover building day one. Them, they still standing.
[MAGA supporter 2] Then he goes on Joe Rogan and he's like, "Listen, do you think if I had it, I wouldn't share it with you?"
[MAGA supporter 3] I do.
[MAGA supporter 2] Yeah, I do. I do believe that 100%. Especially when you're staring at me like this, telling me that.
[MAGA supporter 4] How cockeyed is that? Can we get a photo of him really quick?
[MAGA supporter 2] Once you protect pedophiles, you are the most cockeyed person in the entire world. I never called him "Cockeyed Kash" before this. I watched all 3,000 hours of footage.
[MAGA supporter 3] Yo, and maybe I'm, maybe I'm, maybe I'm wrong on this, but if okay, you keep talking about this Epstein, they keep talking about this Epstein list. "I got the list on my desk right now." They're saying nothing happened. So, one of two things in my mind is possible now: (1) you're covering it up. Or (2) nothing really happened, and you exploited the rape of thousands of children to get your man elected. So, which one do you want here?
[MAGA supporter 5] The timing of it, come on. Just seems, Come on. It seems like How do we get the attention off of Epstein for 500, please, Alex?
[Alex Jones] I hope this story breaking today isn't just a cover story or diversion from the giant fiasco with the FBI and DOJ doing a 180 on Epstein.
[Lindell TV Reporter] So, that's it. No client list? Epstein killed himself? No further investigations? Case closed?
[MAGA supporter 6] "Hey, we're going to do an investigation. Now, we can't tell you about the investigation, because it's under investigation. So, we can't actually talk about the investigation of the people that are being investigated, but they're under investigation.
[Alex Jones] We don't rise and fall with Trump. We need him. You know, it's a historic thing that's happening. But that said, I'm not breaking my integrity, or my morals, or what I stand for, for nobody.
[Bryan Tyler Cohen] And frankly, these people are right to feel used and lied to. Pam Bondi told Fox News in February that Epstein's client list was quote "sitting on my desk right now to review." She invited right-wing influencers to the White House and handed them binders marked the Epstein files phase 1, and promised a truckload of evidence that would blow this case wide open. She said there were quote "tens of thousands of videos that would expose the truth." And what did we get? Nothing. Literally nothing. This week, the DOJ released a memo saying there is no client list, and also that Epstein died by suicide, and also that they're not releasing any more documents. If you dare ask about it, by the way, well, this is the freakout that will follow.
[Donald Trump] 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. Do you want to waste the time, and do you feel like answering?
[Pam Bondi] I don't mind answering.
[Donald Trump] 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. It just seems like a desecration.
[Bryan Tyler Cohen] Yeah, "How dare anybody ask about the thing that half of Trump's cabinet predicated their entire brands on? Why are you still harping on stuff from the past? Now, where were we?" Oh, right. "The Biden crime family."
And look, I obviously have no insight into the truth about a client list. Uh, but these disillusioned MAGAFans are not wrong to be pissed off based on what they've been told for months and years. Whether you believe in Epstein conspiracy theories or not, the Trump administration clearly lied about what they had and what they could deliver. Kash Patel spent years on his podcast questioning the official Epstein narrative. Dan Bongino built his brand pushing conspiracy theories about Epstein's death. But the moment they got into the federal government, the moment they had the opportunity to actually substantiate the very claims that they spent so long making, they completely flipped.
[Maria Bartiromo] You said Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide. People don't believe it.
[Kash Patel] Well, I mean, listen. They have a right to their opinion, but as someone who has worked as a public defender, as a prosecutor, who's been in that prison system, who's been in the Metropolitan Detention Center, who's been in segregated housing, you know a suicide when you see one. And that's what that was.
[Dan Bongino] He killed himself. You again, you want me to get I've seen the whole file.
[Bryan Tyler Cohen] What's worse, we now know that there's been internal fighting about this disaster. According to Axios today, Bongino and Bondi had a heated clash at the White House over their handling of the Epstein case. Bonjino was reportedly so angry he took off the day from work today with some reporting suggesting that he's considering resigning over the Epstein fallout. Sources say that he was increasingly displeased with Bondi's handling of the Epstein case because she had publicly overpromised and underdelivered.
So, here's the bottom line. The administration promised transparency, and delivered deception. They promised the truth, and delivered edited videos. They promised to drain the swamp, and instead they have become part of it. Whether you think Epstein was murdered or killed himself, whether you believe that his client list exists or not, the fact remains that Donald Trump's team lied about what evidence they had and what they could release. They built up expectations that they knew they couldn't meet, and now they are facing the consequences from their own base. Bondi's excuse that she was talking about the file instead of a client list is pathetic. Bongino and Patel's sudden conversion from conspiracy theorists to establishment defenders is laughable. And Trump's frustrated response of, "Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein," shows that he knows this is a political loser for him. The edited video is just the latest proof point that we can't trust a word coming out of this administration. That when they claim that something is raw footage, it's been manipulated. When they promise transparency, they deliver cover-ups. When they pledge to fight for the truth, they've become the very swamp creatures that they claim to oppose. The MAGA base is finally seeing what the rest of us have seen all along. That Trump and his team will say anything to win power and that they'll betray anyone, including their own supporters, once they actually have it.
