A group of 15 right-wing influencers visited the White House on Thursday and emerged with binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” that they obtained from Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has vowed to release information held by the Justice Department about the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
But the documents have not been released more widely, and some of those who received the binder said there was little new information in the files.
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Liz Wheeler, who was seen leaving the White House, went live on X later in the day to describe the binder and flip through its contents. She said that while people are looking for new information related to the Epstein case, “that’s not what’s in” the folder. Most of the pages that Wheeler showed were from Epstein’s address book, which has long been public, with addresses redacted.
Jessica Reed Kraus, another influencer, wrote in an Instagram post that Bondi personally delivered the documents to the group in a meeting that President Trump joined. Wheeler wrote that FBI Director Kash Patel and Vice President JD Vance were also in attendance.
A total of 15 influencers were on hand for the meeting, according to Kraus. Others included conspiracy promoter Jack Posobiec, election denier Scott Presler and Rogan O’Handley and Chaya Raichik, the people behind the accounts DC_Draino and LibsofTikTok, respectively.
Posobiec described the contents of the binders as “contacts” and “flight logs.” He said “more and more pieces of this” would be coming.
Bondi said in a Fox News interview on Wednesday that she anticipated releasing information about Epstein’s case on Thursday. But the limited nature of the release disappointed many of those who were eagerly awaiting more information about Epstein, including some lawmakers. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican who leads the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, criticized the release online and said neither she nor the task force had reviewed the documents.
“GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR instead of leaking old info to press,” Luna wrote, referring to a story about the binder published by the New York Post.
Wheeler said Bondi told the group that the FBI and prosecutors in the Southern District of New York had failed to turn over other documents that Bondi had ordered them to produce.
Epstein, a wealthy financier, was found dead in his New York City jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019. His death was ruled a suicide. Since then, hundreds of pages of documents related to his case have been released through lawsuits and public information requests.
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