Will Donald Trump Release Jeffrey Epstein List? What We Know
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President Donald Trump has said he will release government documents related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.—leading some to question whether he will release a Jeffrey Epstein “client list.”
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment via email outside normal working hours.
Why It Matters
In August 2019, Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died in jail while awaiting new sex trafficking charges. Though his death was ruled a suicide, conspiracy theories about Epstein’s passing persist because of his well-documented connections to many public figures.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump suggested he would be open to releasing Epstein’s client list if he returned to the White House. He now faces calls to do so.
Donald Trump, his then-girlfriend Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 12, 2000. Donald Trump, his then-girlfriend Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 12, 2000. Davidoff Studios/Getty images
What To Know
On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order to declassify documents on the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK to provide “Americans the truth after six decades of secrecy.”
The move has prompted calls from people across the political spectrum for the president to release a client list that they hope will show who was directly involved in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking network.
In January 2024, a New York judge released a 900-page document that mentioned the names of people, including Donald Trump, who had associations with Epstein.
The document is not Epstein’s alleged client list. Many of those named in document were not accused of any wrongdoing and did not necessarily have any criminal connection to the sex offender.
Trump was named in the Epstein files only in passing, with Epstein quoted saying he would like to drop in to visit Trump when in New York. The document did not allege any wrongdoing on Trump’s behalf.
Epstein and Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1997. Epstein and Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1997. Davidoff Studios/Getty images
On the Lex Fridman Podcast in September, Trump said he never visited “Epstein’s Island”—the private island of Little Saint James where prosecutors said Epstein’s alleged abuse of underage girls took place.
When Fridman said, “It’s just very strange for a lot of people that the list of clients that went to the island has not been made public,” Trump responded that it was “very interesting” and that he would “certainly take a look at it.”
According to the president, he and Epstein fell out in the 1990s, years before Epstein’s first arrest for soliciting sex from girls in 2008. However, he told New York magazine in 2002: “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy.”
The president has also denied allegations that he groped Epstein’s former girlfriend Stacey Williams in 1993. She told CNN that Trump and Epstein were both talking to each other while the now-president groped her. She said, “I just had this really like sickening feeling that it was coordinated, that somehow the whole thing was—I was rolled in there like a piece of meat for some kind of twisted game.”
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign said in 2024: “These accusations, made by a former activist for Barack Obama and announced on a Harris campaign call two weeks before the election, are unequivocally false. It’s obvious this fake story was contrived by the Harris campaign.”
What People Are Saying
Donald Trump told Lex Fridman in September: “I’m not involved. I never went to his island, fortunately, but a lot of people did.”
Podcaster Shawn Ryan wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “I’m ready for the Epstein list.”
Political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen wrote on X regarding Trump’s recent executive order: “I wonder why he won’t include Epstein.”
What Happens Next
Trump has ordered the director of national intelligence and other officials to develop a plan for releasing files on RFK’s death within 15 days—and 45 days for the deaths of MLK and JFK.
Though the president has previously suggested he is open to releasing an Epstein client list, whether he will remains to be seen.
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