White House press sec defends Trump DOJ amid Epstein memo outrage

The memo, leaked by Axios on Sunday, stated that there was no Epstein "client list" and that Epstein's death, long an incident of speculation, was a suicide as was originally reported in 2019. In her remarks, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the memo, as leaked, was real and that further files would not be released.

"I would argue," said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, "this administration has done more to lock up bad guys than certainly the previous administration, and the Trump administration is committed to truth and to transparency." After the release of the memo, there was MAGA backlash over the apparent refusal to release more of the documentation on the Epstein case.

Commentator Mike Benz compared the release unfavorably to the ODNI release of documentation on the Kennedy assassination, saying that DNI Tulsi Gabbard created a document drop where interested Americans, scholars and others could go through every bit of documentation the government had on the case.

"That's why the Attorney General and the FBI Director pledged, at the President's direction, to do an exhaustive review of all of the files related to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and his death, and they put out a memo in conclusion of that review," Leavitt continued from the briefing room.

"There was material they did not release, because, frankly, it was incredibly graphic and it contained child pornography, which is not something that's appropriate for public consumption, but they committed to an exhaustive investigation. That's what they did, and they provided the results of that. That's transparency."

Fox News' Peter Doocy asked the follow-up, reminding Leavitt that Attorney General Pam Bondi had said earlier this year that she had the Epstein client list "on her desk." Doocy quoted the interviewer who asked the questions, John Roberts, as saying "the DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients. Will that really happen?"

In response, Bondi said "it's sitting on my desk right now to review."

Leavitt addressed the issue, saying that Bondi was not actually referring to the client list she'd been asked about at the time, but "the entirety of all the paperwork, all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes.

"That's what the Attorney General was referring to, and I'll let her speak for that. But again, when it comes to the FBI and the Department of Justice, they are more than committed to ensuring that bad people are put behind bars," Leavitt continued, pivoting away from Epstein and onto an administration talking about.

"They have an operation going on right now called summer heat, which has our murder rate trending in the lowest direction in United States history. Their emphasis on violent crime and locking up violent criminals has led to the arrest of 14,000 violent criminals. That's a 62% increase from the same time period last year. So this attorney general and the FBI director are committed to putting bad people behind bars where they belong. They promised an exhaustive review. That's what they did. For any further details, I would refer you to the Department of Justice."

The memo leaked to Axios, which has since been removed from their site but is available for viewing, stated that Epstein was not murdered and that there was no client list. It also stated that due to the graphic nature of the material and over concerns for victims, one of whom, Virginia Giuffre, killed herself earlier this year, the documents would not be released.

The release of the Epstein files had been promised by the Trump administration. In the memo, they state that after the "...review, we found no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials and will not permit the release of child pornography."