Team Trump’s Questionable Opening Moves on Epstein

It is unlikely that a wayward F.B.I. field office is the full explanation for Attorney General Bondi’s fiasco of a document release, writes Elizabeth Vos.

By Elizabeth Vos
Special to Consortium News

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi went on a media offensive on Feb. 26, touting her office’s upcoming publication of the so-called “Epstein files” related to the case of the deceased child sex trafficker Jeffery Epstein, a financier who had elite contacts in business, politics and intelligence.

Although Bondi hyped the initial release the night before it was published as containing a plethora of (implied to be new) names and flight logs to Epstein’s private Caribbean island where some of his contacts had illicit rendezvous with under-age girls, Bondi’s release proved a total flop.

It consisted of previously published documents that were theatrically handed out to a handful of conservative influencers as if they would provide some new revelation.

In a letter written on Feb. 27 to newly confirmed F.B.I. Director Kash Patel, Bondi claimed to have been hoodwinked by the F.B.I.’s New York Field Office, and threatened to fire those found responsible for withholding files.

She wrote:

“Before you came into office, I requested the full and complete files related to Jeffrey Epstein. In response to this request, I received approximately 200 pages of documents, which consisted primarily of flight logs, Epstein’s list of contacts, and a list of victims’ names and phone numbers.”

I repeatedly questioned whether this was the full set of documents responsive to my request and was repeatedly assured by the F.B.I. that we had received the full set of documents. Late yesterday, I learned from a source that the F.B.I. Field Office in New York was in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein.

Despite my repeated requests, the F.B.I. never disclosed the existence of these files…”

A Truckload

Last Monday came the resignation of James Dennehy, head of the F.B.I. Field Office in New York where Bondi claimed that thousands of Epstein documents had been withheld from her. Dennehy’s resignation letter didn’t specify whether his being forced out of the job was due to a coverup of the existence of Epstein files, as the timing would suggest.

Bondi told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday that a “truckload” of thousands of Epstein-related documents had been delivered to her office on Feb. 28 from the Southern District of New York, where Epstein had been charged with sex trafficking minors in 2019, one month before his death.

Bondi said that F.B.I. Director Patel had assembled a team to comb through the documents.

“Friday at 8[am] a truckload of evidence arrived. It’s now in possession of the F.B.I., Kash is going to get me – and himself really – a detailed report as to why all these documents and evidence had been withheld,” she told Hannity.

Asked about redactions, Bondi said Epstein’s victims would be protected while vowing that “America has the right to know… everything is going to come out.”

At Hannity’s prompting, however, Bondi said she might also redact for reasons of “national security,” without elaborating.

Bondi also told Hannity that the release of both the JFK and MLK Jr. assassination files would be treated with the same transparency, repeating that Americans “have the right to know.”

A Deep Purge

Trump is in the process of purging people in the F.B.I. and Department of Justice who persecuted him during the Russiagate era. But those in the national security state are unlikely to give up without a fight.

Does Trump really intend full transparency, or does he simply want to fire parts of the Deep State that sill opposes him? Are the Epstein, JFK and other cases vehicles to simply sack those who oppose Trump, or a genuine effort to reveal explosive secrets and root out corruption?

Trump has supported parts of the Deep State that serve him, such as when the C.I.A. persecuted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The C.I.A. under Trump went so far as to consider assassinating and kidnapping the journalist.

Burning Questions

Because the first round of the Epstein publication failed to provide anything new it was roundly ridiculed. Bondi did not provide a clue what this truckload of documents will reveal, raising a number of questions.

Why would the Epstein evidence need to be redacted for national security reasons? Why, since Bondi hadn’t mentioned that reason for redaction, did Hannity raise it? Was there some involvement of national security or intelligence officers in the sex trafficking ring of minors, authorized or otherwise, which would need to be protected from public view?

The corporate media has highlighted Epstein’s wealth and celebrity acquaintances, while ignoring the origin of his meteoric rise – especially his links with intelligence agencies.

‘Belonged to Intelligence’

Epstein died in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City in August of 2019, a mere one month after being arrested on federal charges of sex trafficking minors. His partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, was later convicted of sex trafficking minors and was eventually sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Prior to his 2019 arrest Epstein had received an unprecedented sweetheart plea deal in 2008 for procuring a child for prostitution.

The 2008 deal was so astoundingly lenient that Alexander Acosta, the former U.S. attorney in Miami who gave Epstein the plea bargain, was forced to defend himself on the issue while being confirmed as Trump’s Labor Secretary. Acosta said of the case: “I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone.”

Only One Conviction

So far the only one to be charged and convicted in this sordid affair is Maxwell. though suspicion has fallen on several of his well-known associates.

Investigative journalist Nick Bryant pointed out that we already know the names of many of the alleged perpetrators in Epstein’s abuses thanks to Bryant’s publication of Epstein’s “little black book.” It contains the many flight logs of Epstein’s infamous plane, the so-called ‘Loliita Express,’ alongside numerous court documents regarding Epstein and his alleged victims.

Bryant said via YouTube:

“In a defamation lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell, Virginia Giuffre accused the following men of being among her perpetrators: Alan Dershowitz, Prince Andrew, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, billionaire Glenn Dubin, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, scientist Marvin Minsky, modelling agent Jean Luc Brunel, Les Wexner, and also the former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.”

All of these men are still innocent in the eyes of the law. As long-public flight logs reveal, Trump himself is documented to have flown on Epstein’s plane at least seven times. To date, he has not been accused of illegal activity in relation to Epstein’s sex trafficking ring.

Former President Bill Clinton also flew on the so-called Lolita Express at least 26 times, with his Secret Service detail absent for at least 5 flights. The ubiquitousness of Epstein associations amongst the U.S. plutocratic class is beyond remarkable.

All of this seems to often go overlooked by the establishment media that wants to profit from the salaciousness of the story while avoiding embarrassing the plutocrats and intelligence agencies that allowed Epstein to become one of the richest and most influential men in the world.

Trump’s Loyalty to Israel

Trump’s overt Zionism is longstanding, both in terms of public statements and actions while president. He’s called himself the “best President ever for the people of Israel, and Jewish people.”

Less than two months into his second term, Trump has already removed conditions on military aid to Israel leftover from the Biden administration, and committed $16 billion in arms to Israel, including $12 billion in weapon sales and $4 billion in direct military aid.

In thanks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Trump “the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.” During Trump’s first term in office he made the controversial decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump also recently shared an AI-created video portraying Gaza transformed into a gaudy Israeli resort town after his idea to ethnically cleanse 2 million people from the Strip.

Trump’s top donor during his 2024 presidential race was zionist billionaire Miriam Adelson, who gave Trump’s campaign $100 million: a sum eclipsing even donations from Elon Musk. Adelson was carrying on the project of her late husband, Sheldon Adelson, who was known as a hawkish ally of Israel’s far-right.

Adelson was also a figure in the first Trump administration’s prosecution of Assange. As The Grayzone reported in 2020, Adelson’s company served a key role in coordinating the illegal surveillance of Assange by Spanish company UC Global at the behest of “American friends,” ie, U.S. intelligence:

“US intelligence appears to have worked through Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands, a company that had previously served as an alleged front for a CIA blackmail operation several years earlier. The operations formally began once Adelson’s hand-picked presidential candidate, Donald Trump, entered the White House in January 2017.

… it was Adelson’s top bodyguard, an Israeli-American named Zohar Lahav, who personally recruited Morales [of UC Global], then managed the relationship between the Spanish security contractor and Sands on a routine basis.”

As Trump rushes weapons to Israel while it resumes its siege on Gaza let’s recall how Trump openly admitted he’s bought and owned by Adelson cash. A few years earlier Roger Waters was internationally denounced as an antisemite simply for saying Trump was controlled by Adelson. https://t.co/iAID9Dfis1

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) March 2, 2025

Virtually every senior member of the Trump administration has also expressed unwavering support for Israel, including even the more anti-establishment picks, like the newly confirmed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In fact, one could reasonably argue that express support of Israel is the common thread within the otherwise ideologically diverse cabinet.

Vice President J.D. Vance is also a pro-Israel hardliner, as is his mentor and top Republican donor Peter Thiel, whose C.I.A.-linked Palantir has reportedly helped generate kill lists for Israel in Gaza.

Bondi and Patel are ardent zionists. Bondi has referred to Israel as the U.S.’s “greatest ally,” and called for the F.B.I. to question pro-Palestinian campus protesters, as well as for protesters on student visas to be removed from the country. Meanwhile, Patel also refers to Israel as “our number one ally,” and has argued for “America to wake up and prioritize Israel.”

Even the influencers hand-selected to disseminate the contents of the Epstein binders to the public, are supporters of Israel, one with direct ties to the Israel lobby. Plenty of conservative influencers have criticized Israel, and yet none of those individuals made the cut.

Among the pro-Israel influencers is Emily Austin. She is a sports reporter, a Miss Universe judge, and a pro-Israel activist who has taken to Piers Morgan to defend Israel’s genocide in Gaza. She has also identified via social media as a “freelance” Anti-Defamation League speaker. The other influencers, including Mike Cernovich, are similarly pro-Israel.

Epstein’s Israeli Intelligence Ties

Epstein’s intelligence links with Israel are numerous and have been well documented by journalists like Bryant, Whitney Webb, Vicky Ward, and others.

As previously reported in Consortium News, former Israeli intelligence officer Ari Ben-Menashe said that Epstein worked with Israeli military intelligence: “Military intelligence was who he was working with…He never worked with Mossad, and Robert Maxwell never did, either. It was military intelligence.”

Ben-Menashe claimed Robert Maxwell was Epstein’s “tie over. Robert Maxwell was the conduit [in the Iran-Contra scandal]. The financial conduit.”

In Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Ben-Menashe is quoted as saying he worked with Robert Maxwell, who introduced his daughter Ghislaine and Epstein to Israeli intelligence, after which they engaged in a blackmail operation for Israel.

“[Epstein] was taking photos of politicians f**king fourteen-year-old girls — if you want to get it straight. They [Epstein and Maxwell] would just blackmail people, they would just blackmail people like that,” Ben-Menashe says in the book.

As Consortium News also reported, Ben-Menashe and Robert Maxwell were not Epstein’s only ties with figures in Israeli intelligence. Ward, a veteran journalist who long covered the Epstein case, reported that Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi arms dealer, was another of Epstein’s clients.

In addition to connections with Saudi intelligence, Kashoggi was reportedly paid by Israel’s Mossad, as detailed in the book By Way of Deception by former Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky.

The Times of Israel reported in 2019 that Epstein was an “active business partner with former [Israeli] prime minister Ehud Barak” until 2015. Barak reportedly visited Epstein dozens of times and flew on his infamous Lolita Express.

As detailed by investigative journalist Webb, Barak was “first introduced to Epstein by former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who eulogized Robert Maxwell at his funeral.”

Webb concludes, considering the question as to who Epstein was ultimately working for that:

“Ultimately, the picture painted by the evidence is not a direct tie to a single intelligence agency but a web linking key members of the Mega Group, politicians, and officials in both the U.S. and Israel, and an organized-crime network with deep business and intelligence ties in both nations.”

Many of Epstein’s additional associations (such as those with Leslie Wexner, the Mega group, and so on) have been outlined in great detail by Webb in her book One Nation Under Blackmail.

The Israel connection raises questions about what was behind the New York field office’s initial refusal to turn over all the documents and about what might be redacted when we finally get to see what the F.B.I. has.

Elizabeth Vos is a freelance reporter, co-host of CN Live! and regular contributor to Consortium News. 

Views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.