Epstein files firestorm shows the power of online conspiracy

Summary

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There Are No Girls on the Internet

Episode: “Epstein files firestorm shows the power of online conspiracy”

Host: Bridget Todd
Date: July 19, 2025
Podcast Network: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode, hosted by Bridget Todd, explores the recent resurgence of online conspiracy theories surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, catalyzed by the unsealing of files and a high-profile political stunt that frustrated Trump’s own supporters. Bridget lays out the tangled intersection of Epstein’s criminal legacy, political opportunism, QAnon, and how the internet both amplifies and distorts the narratives around actual abuse and the institutions meant to deliver justice. The episode also focuses on how true victims are marginalized and the broader implications for online conspiracism in modern American politics.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Who Was Jeffrey Epstein? – Context and Crash Course

[02:44 – 08:50]

• Bridget summarizes Epstein’s background, from his dubious career beginnings to establishing connections among powerful elites.
• Highlights:
  • Epstein’s mysterious financial origins, early inappropriate conduct as a teacher, first conviction in 2008 for sex crimes against minors, and death in jail (2019), ruled a suicide.
  • His “M.O.” of building influential networks as both cover and protection from accountability.
  • Examples of his reach, connecting to the MIT Media Lab, Matt Groening (the Simpsons), and the notorious Ghislaine Maxwell.
  • Foot massage anecdote involving Matt Groening and the author Virginia Giuffre illustrates the bizarre intersections between celebrities and Epstein’s operations.

2. Epstein’s Strategy: Money, Influence, and ‘Compro’

[08:50 – 12:23]

• Epstein exploited his elite connections not just for status but as a shield—sometimes even blackmailing, as per media reports.
• Bridget details Epstein’s attempted extortion of Bill Gates, leveraging knowledge of an affair for financial demands and reputation-building attempts via JP Morgan.
• Uses Melinda Gates' media appearance to underline the chilling effect Epstein had even on the powerful:
  • [11:34] Melinda Gates: “He was abhorrent. He was evil personified. I had nightmares about it afterwards... I feel terrible for those young women.”

3. The Unsealed Files: More Names, More Theories, No Clarity

[12:23 – 15:30]

• 2024 court unsealing further compromises already frayed public trust, naming high-profile individuals (Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, Kevin Spacey, Alan Dershowitz, David Copperfield, Al Gore, and others).
• Trump’s prior friendly relationship with Epstein called out—Bridget plays clips and quotes, highlighting Epstein’s “closest friend” claims and Trump’s later distancing.
• Conspiracy entanglements: Epstein’s real crimes become “proof-points” within broader, often anti-Semitic, false narratives about child harm and a “cabal of global elites.”

4. Conspiracy as Glue: Trump, QAnon, and the MAGA Movement

[15:30 – 20:07]

• Trump and allies harness the cloud of suspicion around Epstein as a rhetorical weapon, branding himself the fighter against the “deep state.”
• Trump subtly, but repeatedly, gave credibility to QAnon-adjacent narratives, never directly affirming them but often signaling support.
• Bridget highlights Trump’s deliberate use of plausible deniability—promoting supporters’ QAnon content, while maintaining “distance.”

5. The “Epstein Files” Political Stunt

[20:07 – 25:30]

• Describes the February 2025 White House PR event: Attorney General Pam Bondi dramatically handing out massive “Epstein Files: Phase One” binders to right-wing influencers.
  • The binders contained nothing new—just information already public, prompting MAGA-aligned influencers to cry foul.
  • [22:43] Jack Posobiek: "They flew us to DC for this. This is PR, not justice."
  • [22:49] Chaya Raichik (Libs of TikTok): "We were promised transparency. Instead, we got a whitewashed version of the truth."
  • Pam Bondi blamed the fiasco on FBI Director Cash Patel. No substantive new Epstein information surfaced.

6. The Nonexistent “Client List” and Backlash

[25:30 – 30:40]

• Shortly after the PR event, Administration officials quietly announce there is no secret “Epstein client list,” and that there’s no evidence of blackmail.
• A supposed “full raw surveillance video” of Epstein’s jail cell is released—BUT, Wired exposes it's missing almost three critical minutes, igniting more suspicion.
  • DOJ explanation: routine technical reset—but this only fuels distrust.
• MAGA influencers and conspiracy-peddlers turn on the administration:
  • [28:49] Benny Johnson: “This is the worst response I’ve ever seen from President Trump.”
  • [28:56] Michael Flynn: “Donald Trump, please understand the ALL CAPS Epstein affair is not going away.”
  • [29:12] Matt Walsh: “[Trump’s] statement [was] extremely obtuse... we don’t accept obvious bullshit from our political leaders.”
  • Trump, bizarrely, defends Bondi, blames “selfish people...all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein.”

7. Hoisted by Their Own Petard: Conspiracy Grips the Right

[33:34 – 37:41]

• Bridget frames Trump as ensnared by conspiracies he once encouraged:
  • Trump’s prior exploitation of distrust (“government officials as liars... deserve to be fired”) is now biting him, since his own officials are in the hot seat.
  • “Now the government officials are people he appointed and now he’s saying there’s nothing to see here.”
• Cites media and academic observers:
  • Russell Muirhead (Dartmouth): “Nobody exploited these questions more than Donald Trump.”
  • Brandy Zadrozny (NBC): “We’re about to find out if ‘get over it’ from a trusted leader can pull people away from a conspiracy theory. I’m skeptical, but you never know.” [36:35]
• Trump lashes out on Truth Social; calls followers who persist “weaklings,” tells them:
  • “Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work. Don’t even think about talking about our incredible and unprecedented success because I don’t even want their support anymore.” [35:39]

8. Ongoing Fallout and Congressional Moves

[37:42 – 41:53]

• Despite efforts to shut down the story, it refuses to die. House Republicans block a Democrat-led measure for document release.
• New Wall Street Journal report alleges Trump sent Epstein a risque birthday card; Trump immediately denies, sues for defamation, then suddenly directs Bondi to accelerate file release.
• Senate Democrats question why files took so long to summarize and why any references to Trump were flagged for extra attention.
• Bridget notes the chaos is ongoing, with no real closure or transparency.

9. Who is Lost? The Real Victims

[41:00 – end]

• Amid political games, Bridget emphasizes how victims’ voices are erased; closes with survivor Danielle Bensky’s heartbreaking reflection:
  • “It feels like the current cabinet is essentially erasing our voices after years of bravery and work to find our way out of silence. It’s actually worse than silencing. It’s rewriting a narrative as if none of us existed in the first place. What does this teach our children? That if you are wealthy and powerful enough, you can make anything disappear or play the blame game and create conspiracy theories.” [41:40]
• Bridget reiterates the need to center survivors, not spectacle.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Epstein’s reach:

  • “So I wanted to share that to illustrate the diversity of famous, powerful and wealthy people who have a connection to Epstein. And that is by design. He did this as a way of protecting himself and shielding himself from accountability for his many crimes.” – Bridget Todd [08:45]

• Melinda Gates on meeting Epstein:

  • “I met Jeffrey Epstein exactly one time… He was abhorrent. He was evil personified. I had nightmares about it afterwards.” – Melinda Gates [11:43]

• On the 'client list':

  • “They were like scamming their own people. Like, these were the worst of the worst. People like Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok.” – Bridget Todd [22:05]

• On conspiracy backlash:

  • “This is the worst response I’ve ever seen from President Trump.” – Benny Johnson [28:49]
  • “Donald Trump, please understand the all Caps Epstein affair is not going away.” – Michael Flynn [28:56]

• Bridget’s summary of the main theme:

  • “I think the fact that some of his supporters are so caught up in this really shows how much Epstein and QAnon and conspiracy theories in general have become intertwined with today’s Republican Party. Like these are not fringe attitudes or beliefs.” – Bridget Todd [34:30]

• On survivors being erased:

  • “It feels like the current cabinet is essentially erasing our voices after years of bravery and work to find our way out of silence. It’s actually worse than silencing. It’s rewriting a narrative as if none of us existed in the first place.” – Danielle Bensky [41:40]

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Timeline of Key Segments

• [02:44] – Context: Who was Jeffrey Epstein?
• [08:50] – Epstein’s use of power, influence, and blackmail
• [11:11–12:23] – Melinda Gates reflects on Epstein
• [12:23–15:30] – Unsealing Epstein files and the “client list” myth
• [15:30–20:07] – Trump, QAnon, and weaponizing conspiracy
• [20:07–25:30] – The PR “binder stunt” and influencer backlash
• [25:30–30:40] – No “client list” found; missing surveillance footage
• [33:34–37:41] – Trump as victim of his own conspiracy-mongering
• [37:42–41:53] – Ongoing political fallout; victims sidelined
• [41:00–end] – Survivor testimony and call to center victims

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Final Thoughts

Bridget Todd’s episode meticulously breaks down how the manipulations of conspiracy for political gain can quickly spiral out of control and even backfire on their exploiters—leaving actual survivors and the truth ever more marginalized. She reminds listeners that beyond sensational headlines and social media uproar are real people still facing the consequences of unchecked power and institutional neglect. This episode is a resonant critique of the culture of conspiracism and media spectacle that now shapes American political life.

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Transcript

[Bridget Todd]

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[Bridget Todd]

Just a quick heads up. Today's episode mentions sex crimes against minors. There Are no Girls on the Internet is a production of iHeartRadio and unbossed creative. I'm Bridget Todd and this is Are no Girls on the Internet. We've talked a lot about online conspiracy theories on the podcast, but it's been a little while since we've talked about qanoni stuff. And with Jeffrey Epstein back in the news, I think it's time to dip back in a little bit because I honestly don't know if I believe what a lot of folks are saying that this, and by this I mean Jeffrey Epstein might be the thing that finally shakes up Trump MAGA world. More on that in a moment. But I do think it is a very interesting example of what happens when somebody who makes their entire thing about feeding conspiracy theories and builds up a loyal following in doing so tries to put that toothpaste back in the tube. Will it work? We will see. So here's what's going on for folks who don't know. First, I'll start with a kind of quick and dirty crash course on who Epstein was with, a few diversions, how we got here, and then I'll get into what I think it all means foreign. So first, who is Jeffrey Epstein? Jeffrey Epstein was a wealthy financier who really threw his money all over the place. It's not totally clear how he got his money and how much money he actually had. Some people call him a billionaire. I've heard that disputed. His background is kind of unbelievable. His first job was as a teacher at a high school despite not having any formal teaching credentials or formal teaching education, if you can believe that. And of course, while teaching, he had a reputation for inappropriate behavior with his students. He was first convicted of sex crimes against minors in 2008 and got off with a very lenient sentence only about 13 months with work release. After serving his unbelievably short sentence, Epstein continued to amass money, power and influence until he was arrested again in 2019. Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. The New York City medical examiner ruled his death a suicide, but conspiracy theories claiming that Epstein didn't kill himself began to spread almost immediately in the aftermath of his death. The idea here is that Epstein did not actually die of suicide like we were told, but instead was taken out to avoid more details that might incriminate powerful people. And it's one of those theories that kind of works regardless of what side of the aisle you're on, because Epstein had deep ties with both political parties. The thing about Epstein is that part of his MO really was ingratiating himself in lots of influential spaces with wealthy, powerful people. He gave donations to a lot of influential spaces. We did an episode that I'll link to in the show notes about the contributions that he made to MIT's Media Lab and the Kenyan first year MIT grad student who called this out and called for the head of the media Lab to resign once his connections to Jeffrey Epstein were revealed. So it's one of those things where a lot of powerful rich and or famous people on all sides of the aisle had deep connections with Epstein at one time or another. And that is exactly the way that Epstein designed it. Now, obviously, just because somebody was connected to Epstein does not mean they did anything illegal. Rich and famous people know other rich and famous people. So once Epstein was in some of those circles, I think a lot of people probably did just casually know them because they were all rich and powerful, not necessarily because they were all doing crimes together. Just to give you a sense of the diversity of people who were connected to Epstein's world, allow me two quick diversions. One is that I just finished the fantastic memoir called what Remains by Carol Radzwell, formerly of the Real Housewives of New York City. And once I finished the book, I flipped the book around the back cover to see her author photo and was shocked to see the photo credit because that photo was taken by none other than Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently incarcerated in connection with helping traffic women and girls for Epstein. The second diversion, if you'll allow me, is Epstein's connection to the creator of one of my favorite television shows, the Simpsons, Matt Groening. One of the last accusers of Epstein to be public and not use a pseudonym like Jane Doe, was Virginia Giuffre, who died by apparent suicide this April, who in court described being sexually abused by Epstein. She gave a detailed description of a foot massage that she said that she was asked to give Matt Groening when she was 1616 years old on a private flight in California. This specific claim was made in an unpublished manuscript that she wrote called the Billionaires Playboy club, where she described how she was talking to Matt Groening on a flight, telling him how much she loved the Simpsons. When Epstein suggested that she give Matt Groening a foot massage and she agrees, he takes off his shoes and his feet are so horrible that she's like, I can't do this. And she takes out a rag and washes them first because that's how bad they are. And as a show of thanks, Matt Groening gets her a little drawing of her two favorite Simpsons characters, Homer and Bart, as a thank you. Disgusting. So I wanted to share that to illustrate the diversity of famous, powerful and wealthy people who have a connection to Epstein. And that is by design. He did this as a way of protecting himself and shielding himself from accountability for his many crimes. Kind of like we talked about in that episode that we did about Diddy really getting in tight with a lot of different powerful people across a lot of different industries and sectors. And of course throwing around tons of money. Because how can a man who spends so much of his own money supporting charitable causes also be a serial abuser and trafficker? Right? Also very similar to Sean P. Diddy Combs. Epstein was known for having hidden cameras all around his property as part of a compro not strategy where he would get evidence of these powerful people doing things they shouldn't be doing and then use that to extort or blackmail them later. And he apparently extorted people like Bill Gates, who was friendly with Epstein, and eventually Epstein tried to extort him. According to the Wall Street Journal, before his arrest and death, Epstein extorted Bill Gates by threatening to release information about an extramarital affair that Gates had while he was married. Now Gates is divorced now and has admitted that he had affairs while he was married. This is from the Guardian. Epstein found out about the Microsoft co founders affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova and he threatened Gates into reimbursing him for tuition costs that Epstein had initially covered for Antonova to attend software coding school. Epstein's threat to Gates came in the form of an email he sent in 2017 after he failed to convince Gates to join a multi billion dollar charity fund he attempted to set up. I looked into this story and it's clear, kind of a very weird situation. Basically this 20 year old Russian bridge enthusiast Antonova wanted half a million dollars to start a business that would teach people to play bridge online. Epstein was like, oh, I bet Gates will give you the money. So connected her with Bill Gates. Bill Gates declined to give her the money, but it sounds like they did start some kind of a relationship while Gates was married. Then Epstein paid for her to stay at an apartment and go to coding school. At the same time, Epstein was trying to start up this charitable fund with the bank JP Morgan. And this was meant to be a way for Epstein to kind of rebuild his reputation and polite society after he had to register as a sex offender because of his 2008 conviction for sex crimes against minors. But starting up this fund really relied on Epstein getting big money from Bill Gates. So Epstein was kind of scamming. He was communicating with JP Morgan as if he was Bill Gates financial advisor. But in reality, he wasn't. When this scam all blew up in Jeffrey Epstein's face, it sounded like Epstein thought, well, at least Bill Gates should be reimbursing me for this woman's coding school because he ended up having an affair with her. So in 2017, Epstein emailed Gates about Antonova after Gates's affair with her ended. In the email, Epstein demanded Gates reimburse him for her coding school costs. The tone of the message was that Epstein knew about the affair and could expose it. The Wall Street Journal reported Bill Gates ex wife Melinda has given interviews to the effect that Bill Gates relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was a contributing factor to their marriage falling apart.

[Melinda Gates]

You know, it was also widely reported that Bill had a friendship or business or some kind of contact with Jeffrey Epstein and that you were not that. That was very upsetting to you. Did that play a role in the. In the divorce at all, in this process? Yeah, as I said, it's not one thing. It was many things. But I did not like that he'd had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein.

[Bridget Todd]

No.

[Melinda Gates]

And you made that clear to him. I made that clear to him. I also met Jeffrey Epstein exactly one time. Did you?

[Bridget Todd]

Yes.

[Melinda Gates]

Because I wanted to see who this man was. And I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door. He was abhorrent. He was evil personified. I had nightmares about it afterwards. So, you know, my heart breaks for these young women because that's how I felt. And here I'm an older woman. My God, I feel terrible for those young women.

[Bridget Todd]

It was awful.

[Melinda Gates]

You felt that the moment you walked. I didn't hear it. Yeah. And you shared that with Bill and he still continued to spend time with him. Any of the questions remaining about what Bill's relationship there was, those are for Bill to answer.

[Bridget Todd]

Okay.

[Melinda Gates]

But I made it very clear how I felt about him.

[Bridget Todd]

So Epstein was all mixed up with all kinds of wealthy, powerful people. In tech and politics, and notably had connections with both Democrats and Republicans. In 2024, a federal court in Manhattan unsealed the court documents associated from a 2015 civil lawsuit and revealed the names of numerous individuals described in the suit as associates, affiliates, or victims of Jeffrey Epstein. Those names include people like President Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump, Magician David Copperfield, Prince Andrew, which, like, no surprise there, the former Israeli prime minister, actor Kevin Spacey, lawyer Alan Dershowitz. Dershowitz was a member of the legal defense team for the criminal case against Epstein in 2008. The late New Mexico governor Bill Richardson and former Vice President Al Gore, among others. And of course, Trump has his own documented connections to Epstein. Trump was known to have been friendly with Epstein, telling New York magazine in 2002, I've known Jeff for 15 years, terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It's even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side now. These statements came before there were any public allegations of wrongdoing against Epstein. Epstein and Trump shared events at Mar a Lago and Palm beach, where they both lived. There is lots of video and photos of them partying together at Trump's Mar a Lago in 1992, 1997 and 2000. They frequently traveled together. Epstein's private jet logs list Trump on multiple flights between Palm beach and New York in the 90s. Epstein is on audio describing Trump as, quote, his closest friend for 10 years. But remember, Epstein is somebody who inflated his connections or representation with wealthy and powerful people. So who knows? In any event, very conveniently, in 2019, after Epstein's arrest, Trump said that he had a falling out with Epstein a long time ago. So during Trump's campaigns, he really fanned the flames of the kind of conspiracy theories adjacent to Epstein, but not necessarily Epstein specifically. This is all complicated by the fact that Epstein was a real convicted child sex criminal. But his whole saga kind of got lumped in with a mishmash of harm against children conspiracy theories and that are not true. Things like QAnon, Pizzagate and Save the Children. So the fact that Epstein really was an abuser of children and really was connected to powerful political leaders kind of gets used as a proof point for a larger umbrella of often anti Semitic false narratives about harm being done to children by a cabal of global elites who control everything. And that is the set of conspiracy theories that Trump more openly flirted with, even if he did not often evoke Epstein specifically. You can see how this was a useful message for Trump to have used in his campaigning. Trump and his allies really harnessed the kind of simmering suspicion of establishment figures and cast Trump in opposition as this bold outsider and the only person brave enough to take on the Deep State. Trump pretty openly evoked all of this while campaigning in 2022. He reposted an image of himself wearing A Q for QAnon lapel pen or overlaid with the words the storm is coming in QAnon war. The storm refers to what people think will be Trump's final victory when there will be mass arrests and maybe even mass executions of Democrat sex criminals in the street in 2020. Trump was asked about QAnon directly in an interview. Now, he could have dismissed this as a baseless conspiracy theory, but instead he praised the movement as people that love our country. He basically was like, oh, QAnon says that I'm against pedophiles. I'm an enemy to pedophiles. If that's a good thing, I'll take it. And he more or less reinforced their belief that he was exposing a satanic pedophile ring. So we saw Trump really lean into this idea too, posting images referring to himself as a martyr, fighting bad guys and criminals and psychopaths and the so called Deep state. Trump didn't often mention QAnon himself, but he was more than happy to boost people who did. Media Matters actually did an analysis of how often he would repost outright obvious explicit QAnon supporters on social media, and that happened a ton. So he gets to signal to these people, hey, I see you. I get you. I'm one of you. Wink wink. While keeping this kind of plausible deniability cover of not having to have said so directly, which we know by now is a Trump classic. Let's take a quick break.

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[Bridget Todd]

At our back so the big point of Contention here is what is often called Epstein's client list, a supposed list of powerful elites that Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell might have trafficked women and girls to slash with. I should add that Gawker, Rest in Peace, published Epstein's address book maybe 10 years ago, and New York Magazine published an annotated version back in 2019. Business Insider released a searchable version the next year, along with flight logs from Epstein's private plane, which were released in 2015. So Trump himself has spoken directly about this client list since he got back into office, telling supporters that he does intend to look into Epstein's client list. He talked about it on his appearance on Lex Friedman's podcast. I was going to put the audio here, but honestly, y' all don't want to hear Trump's voice. Y' all don't want to hear Lex Friedman's voice, and frankly, neither do I. But the exchange went like this, Friedman says, it's just very strange for a lot of people that that list of clients that went to the island has not been made public. And Trump responds, it's very interesting, isn't it? It probably will be, by the way. Friedman responds, if you're able, you'll be. And then Trump interjects and says, yeah, I'd certainly take a look at it. Now. Kennedy's interesting because it's so many years ago. They do that for danger because it endangers certain people, etc. Etc. So Kennedy is very different from the Epstein thing, but I'd be inclined to do the Epstein. I'd have no problem with it. But you'll recall that back during Elon Musk and Donald Trump's big breakup earlier this summer, Musk claimed that Trump will never release the Epstein client list because dun dun dun Trump is on the Epstein client list. So this is a big issue because I simply cannot express to you how much Some of his deepest supporters truly did expect mass arrests of Democrats and hundreds of Democratic lawmakers being perped walked through the streets in connection with sex crimes against children. And Epstein and Trump, kind of low key, hyped them up for this too, even if he never came out and said it directly. Trump further leaned into that whole conspiracy theory mindset when he appointed to senior positions. Folks who have similarly used the same kind of conspiracy theories to make broad accusations of corruption and abuse, most notably FBI Director Cash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. Before they joined government, both Patel and Bongino spent years on podcast after podcast and TV appearance after TV appearance. Kind of winking at QAnon and Epstein conspiracy theories and demanding the files released. Even going so far as to suggest the Biden administration was intentionally withholding the Epstein client list to protect its own. So these picks to the FBI were men who are deep in, deep in conspiracy world. When they came on board, I think it gave Trump supporters this sense that like, yes, the people in charge of the FBI, they are one of us. All of these theories are going to be taken seriously and all of these theories are going to be acted upon because Patel and Bongino believe them too, and they are now in charge. So now the White House knows they've got these people frothing at the mouth. And back in February, they were like, let's throw them a little bit of red meat, shall we? Which brings us to the binder stunt. In a presentation at the White House on February 27, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi personally handed out these like big white oversized binders labeled the Epstein files, colon, phase one to about 15 right wing influencers inside the West Wing. If you have not seen an image or video of this event, I really do implore you to take a look. I'll put the link down in the show notes because I don't think I've ever seen an event that was more clearly a photo op stunt. The binders are massive and the typeface on the front of the binders that say the Epstein Files Phase one, it's so big that it could be seen from practically across the street. Like I could see it in my apartment in Columbia Heights fucking miles away from the White House, right? And so they're photographed, like holding these big binders that say Epstein Files Phase one above their heads and even calling them Epstein Files Phase one kind of gave the impression that this was just the beginning. There was going to be more Epstein information being released to the public to come. The event, which Trump, Bondi, FBI Director Cash Patel and J.D. vance all attended, was meant to showcase these newly declassified documents. But then these influencers get home, open the binders and realize that all that's in them is previously public information like public flight logs, publicly available redacted contact lists, and old evidence lists that were already public. The big thing was a letdown for them and it was obviously just a stunt. And mind you, these are MAGA people. They were like scamming their own people. Like, these were the worst of the worst. People like Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok. So when they get home and find out that these binders have nothing in them and they've basically been scammed. And it prompted instant criticism of Pam Bondi and the doj. Jack Posobiek reportedly left the event early and later posted, they flew us to DC for this. This is pr, not justice. Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok posted on Telegram, we were promised transparency. Instead, we got a whitewashed version of the truth. DC Drano publicly called for AG Pam Bondi's resignation and accused her of, quote, running cover for elite pedophiles. What's kind of funny is that Pam Bondi essentially blamed this whole thing on Cash Patel. Bondi released a letter to Patel accusing the FBI of inappropriately withholding thousands of pages of files related to epstein from the DOJ and demanded the FBI turn over the material by 8am the following day. But no additional information ever came. Bondi said in a response to a question from a Fox News host about Epstein's client list, that the client list is, quote, sitting on my desk right now to review. So get out those handcuffs and get ready for those perp walks, because there's about to be a mass wave of arrests, right? This is going to invigorate the mega base, right? Well, no, because now they're saying, actually, our bad, there is no Epstein client list. They announced this on 4th of July holiday weekend, which is a classic time to drop information you kind of don't want people to see because everybody's on vacation. In a memo, they said that after a systematic review of the Epstein files, the Justice Department officials revealed no incriminating client list, nor did they find evidence that Epstein had blackmailed any powerful figures. And the memo reaffirmed that Epstein died by suicide in his Brooklyn jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019. So Bondi basically said there is no client list. Epstein died of suicide. Nothing to see here. The administration also released what they called raw video of surveillance footage of Epstein's death by suicide. However, Wired recently reported that newly uncovered metadata reveals that nearly three minutes of footage were cut out from what the FBI and the DOJ described as full raw surveillance video from the only functioning camera near Jeffrey Epstein's prison cell the night before he was found dead. The Trump administration said that releasing this full, this, quote, full raw surveillance video was part of their commitment to fully investigate his death. But given that almost three minutes of that footage was not released, it only raised new questions about how that footage was edited and assembled. Now, Wired had previously reported that that video had been stitched together in Adobe Premiere Pro from two different video files, contradicting the Justice Department's claim that it was, quote, raw footage. And now further analysis shows that one of the source clips was approximately 2 minutes and 53 seconds longer than the segment included in the final video, suggesting that that footage appears to have been trimmed before release. But to be super clear, it is unclear what, if anything at all the minutes cut from that first clip showed. Attorney General Pam Bondi has attributed it to a nightly system reset. So as you can imagine just, even just hearing that, as you can imagine being told like, oh, that, that missing footage of just a normal glitch in the system that happens every night, none of this went down super well for Trump's Q and on True Believers because remember, these are people, they are Trump's own supporters who have made their entire personality this stuff. Their entire personalities and identities in some cases are about getting justice for kids. Some of these people have alienated their entire families and lost lots of money because of this pursuit. And they were told by Trump that they could not trust elected officials because all the elected officials are implicated in this and lying. And now those same people are just saying trust us. And his supporters are not having it. Here's some of what they had to say. Right wing commentator Benny Johnson. This is the worst response I've ever seen from President Trump. Disgraced former general Michael Flynn, considered a hero by the QAnon movement, said Donald Trump, please understand the all Caps Epstein affair is not going away. Right wing commentator Matt Walsh called Trump's statement extremely obtuse, saying we don't accept obvious bullshit from our political leaders. Laura Loomer, the far right conspiracy theorist and pundit and influential Trump advisor, accused Pam Bondi of lying and called for her to be fired. And former Fox News host Tucker Carlson accused Bondi of covering up crimes, very serious crimes by their own description. It seems like a lot of the heat and ire has really been aimed at Pam Bondi, even though it's pretty clear that she is acting on behalf of Trump. Trump defended her saying Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a fantastic job, all caps. We're on one team maga and I don't like what's happening. We have a all caps, perfect administration, all caps, talk of the world. And weirdly in quotes, for some reason, selfish people are trying to hurt it all over a guy who never dies. Jeffrey Epstein. For years it's Epstein over and over again. Why are we giving publicity to files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey Brennan and the losers and criminals of the Biden administration, even though side note, the DOJ files were largely written in 2019 when Trump was president. But okay. More after a quick break.

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[Bridget Todd]

Let's get right back into it so do you know that phrase hoisted by his own petard, the idea of becoming ensnared in the very trap that you were setting for someone else? I think that is kind of what's going on here because Trump has been exploiting all of these conspiracy theories for years and using them to sow distrust in government officials. Russell Muirhead, a professor at Dartmouth College, was written on the online intersection of conspiracy theories and politics, puts it this way, nobody exploited these questions more than Donald Trump. And he did that because, as always, he wanted to paint government officials as liars, as self serving as people who just deserve to be fired. Well, now the government officials are people he appointed and now he's saying there's nothing to see here. And Trump really leaned in hard to those Epstein rumors when it suited him, even so far as retweeting a post in 2019 that alleged that Bill Clinton was somehow connected to Epstein's death. And now he is just trying to abandon all that, tell everybody stop doing that, stop asking these questions, and have us all go along with that, even after he was the one who kicked up all this dirt and dust around it. And I think the fact that some of his supporters are so caught up in this really shows how much Epstein and QAnon and conspiracy theories in general have become intertwined with today's Republican Party. Like these are not fringe attitudes or beliefs. Marjorie Taylor Greene is an Open QAnon supporter, and she's not just some kook posting on a random message board. She's in Congress with the President's endorsement. And in many cases, I really think that conspiracy theories like this are the glue that holds everything together. So now that they're saying, oh no, this conspiracy theory, it's not real, it doesn't exist. Get over it what will be the glue that holds this whole thing together in its absence. And I think that's one of the reasons we're not seeing this go away as quickly as Trump wishes that it would. Because Trump is now finding out just how powerful and what a grip conspiracy theories can have on people. You know, live by the sword, die by the sword. Trump completely melted down about this on his truth Social account. Basically saying that he can't believe that anybody wants to talk about abstinence. A hoax by Biden. Here's a bit of what he had to say. What's going on with my quote boys and in some cases gals. They're all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was doing an all caps fantastic job ellipses for some reason. Let's keep it that way and not waste any capital T time and capital E energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that no one cares about. Their new all caps scam is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein hoax. And my past supporters have bought into this bullshit hook, line and sinker. Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work. Don't even think about talking about our incredible and unprecedented success because I don't even want their support anymore. Which I have to say fucking all time truth social post from Trump and that is really saying something. And him basically coming out and saying that if you are still asking questions about Epstein, I don't even want your support. I think is really something. Now people have been saying a lot that they think that this is going to be the thing that pulls Mega World apart. Can you believe that Jeffrey Epstein, and you might be thinking if I think that as well, do I think this is going to have a lasting impact in MAGA world considering that Trump has been telling his supporters that he wants them to shut up about it and they have not shut up about it. Honestly, I really don't think so. I don't know if this is just my own cynicism and sort of resigned status to what's happening, but I think that a lot of these people have built up so much of their identities and their personalities around this. Like where else would they go? Who else would enable that? Where would all that energy go? One of my favorite journalists who focuses on conspiracy for NBC, Brandy Zardroni, put it very well on a blue sky. She writes, we're about to find out if get over it from a trusted leader can pull people away from a conspiracy theory. I'm skeptical, but you never know. That really sums up how I feel about it.

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[Bridget Todd]

And maybe we will never know because House Republicans just voted down another Democratic procedural maneuver aimed at forcing the DOJ to release documents related to Epstein. Republicans in the House voted against attaching a Democratic amendment to another piece of legislation that would have forced the DOJ to release the Epstein files. This would, have, had it gone through, it would have forced Pam Bondi to publish all documents related to Epstein within 30 days. So Trump officials were trying really hard to put this whole thing to bed, but it has not been put to bed at all because the Wall Street Journal released a report that Trump may have sent Epstein kind of a gross crude birthday card for his 50th birthday back in 2003 with a hand drawn picture of some boobs. And it ends with the words, a pal is a wonderful thing, Happy birthday, and may every day be another wonderful secret. Trump says he never wrote it, doesn't draw pictures, doesn't talk like that, and filed a suit against the Wall Street Journal news corps, Rupert Murdoch, and the two journalists responsible for the article. And on Thursday night, Trump suddenly reversed course and instructed Pam Bondi to release pertinent files on the criminal investigation into Epstein, subject to court approval. And on Friday, Bondi filed a motion in New York to release grand jury transcripts associated with the Epstein case. Now, keep in mind that the Department of Justice and the FBI still retain the bulk of what those who are calling for transparency are really wanting to see. And it's not even clear what, if anything, would be potentially released in that. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats sent a letter to Bondi asking why exactly, it took an additional three months to release a summary of the findings related to Epstein and importantly, why agents were instructed to flag any mention of Trump and whatever they found. Curious, right? This is obviously a developing story and no doubt there will be more twists and turns as it continues. And I think it's really important to note that amidst all this noise and all this chaos are actual voices of actual victims and survivors. And it is incredibly important to me that those voices do not go unheard. Danielle Bensky, who was abused by Epstein when she was a teenager in 2004, said that the decision to close this case left her feeling like she was on a first class flight on a refurbished Lolita Express, which was the nickname for Epstein's private jet. Her story is deeply heartbreaking. Her mom had a brain tumor when she was a teenager and an aspiring ballerina. And once she got mixed up with Epstein, Epstein told her that he knew the best surgeons in New York City, but that if she wanted Epstein to help her mother, who was dying of cancer, she would have to recruit other girls for him, her lawyers alleged in a lawsuit. She told the Times. It feels like the current cabinet is essentially erasing our voices after years of bravery and work to find our way out of silence. It's actually worse than silencing. It's rewriting a narrative as if none of us existed in the first place. What does this teach our children? That if you are wealthy and powerful enough, you can make anything disappear or play the blame game and create conspiracy theories. And I think it's a good reminder that that truly is who matters here and that truly is who we are failing the actual victims and survivors who went through something horrible and might not ever get a sense of closure or justice. And they deserve both. Got a story about an interesting thing in tech or just want to say hi? You can reach [e-mail] youm can also find transcripts for today's [e-mail] There are no girls on the Internet was created by me, Bridget Todd. It's a production of iHeartRadio and Unboss Creative Jonathan Strickland is our Executive producer, Tari Harrison is our producer and Sound Engineer Michael Amato is our contributing producer. I'm your host, Bridget Todd. If you want to help us grow, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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