In their own words: Trump, Patel, Bongino and Bondi on the Epstein scandal

PHOENIX (AP) — When Jeffrey Epstein died in prison, then-President Donald Trump speculated that authorities might be wrong in ruling it a suicide.

Many of his allies in the pro-Trump media went further, casting Epstein's death as a murder meant to continue a decades-long coverup of pedophilia by elites.

Now back in the White House, Trump has elevated prominent proponents of Epstein conspiracies to senior law enforcement roles, and they're struggling to contain a fire that they spent years stoking. Much of Trump's base is choosing to believe the president's earlier claims about Epstein over his latest contention that there's nothing of substance in government files.

Here’s a look at how Trump and his aides, including the attorney general and FBI leadership, fanned the flames of the Epstein conspiracy theories over the years, and how they're now trying to extinguish them.

In their own words:

Trump and Epstein were friends

Before Epstein's sexual predation was well-known, he and Trump were friends. Both were New Yorkers with homes in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump knew something about Epstein's “social life” and interest in women “on the younger side,” though there's no evidence Trump was aware Epstein was involved in sex trafficking of minors, as prosecutors allege.

"I've known Jeff for 15 years," Trump told New York Magazine for a 2002 profile of Epstein. "Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."

The friendship later fell apart, according to Trump. He has since distanced himself from Epstein and more recently describes their relationship as far more distant than he portrayed in 2002.

"Well, I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him," Trump said on July 9, 2019, after Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges. "I mean, people in Palm Beach knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Beach. I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don't think I've spoken to him for 15 years. I wasn't a fan."

Three days later, Trump was asked what led to his falling out with Epstein and whether the financier had been banned from Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Palm Beach home.

"Yes. And I did have a falling out a long time ago. The reason doesn't make any difference, frankly," Trump said. He said he had "no idea" Epstein was molesting women. A month later, on Aug. 10, 2019, Epstein was found dead in his New York City jail cell. His death was ruled a suicide.

Trump nods toward conspiracy theories

The day Epstein was found in his cell, Trump shared a social media post that linked his death to former President Bill Clinton.

"I want a full investigation, and that's what I absolutely am demanding," Trump told reporters on Aug. 13, 2019.

Pressed on whether he really believed Clinton was involved in Epstein's death, Trump responded at length about Clinton traveling on Epstein's private plane. "Because Epstein had an island that was not a good place, as I understand it," Trump said. "And I was never there. So you have to ask: Did Bill Clinton go to the island?"

In a 2020 interview with Axios, Trump cast doubt on the New York medical examiner's ruling that Epstein's death was a suicide. He was asked about Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's longtime companion. Maxwell had been charged a month earlier with luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein, and Trump had controversially responded: "I wish her well."

"Well, her boyfriend died in jail and people are still trying to figure out how did it happen? Was it suicide? Was he killed? And I do wish her well. I'm not looking for anything bad for her. I'm not looking bad for anybody," Trump told Axios on Aug. 3, 2020.

After Trump left office, Maxwell was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

In the years since, Trump has said he's unsure whether Epstein killed himself. In a Fox News interview during his 2024 campaign, Trump hedged when asked whether he'd release the Epstein files. His noncommittal answer came right after he'd agreed without hesitation to declassify files related to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the John F. Kennedy assassination.

"I guess I would. I think that, less so, because you don't want to affect people's lives if it's phony stuff in there because it's a lot of phony stuff with that whole world. But I think I would," Trump said on June 2, 2024.

Trump allies lean in

Trump's unconventional picks to lead the FBI — Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino — were commentators in Trump's Make America Great Again movement before joining federal law enforcement. In their prior roles, both aggressively promoted theories that Epstein was killed to keep him quiet.

In a 2023 appearance on Benny Johnson's podcast, Patel was incensed that House Republicans weren't trying harder to force the release of an alleged list of high-powered Epstein associates — a document the Patel-led FBI now says doesn't exist.

“What the hell are the House Republicans doing? They have the majority. You can't get the list? ... Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are," Patel said in the interview, which Johnson posted to social media on Dec. 19, 2023.

As a podcaster, Bongino called the Epstein story “one of the biggest political scandals of our time” and portrayed it as a wide-ranging conspiracy involving global elites.

"What the hell are they hiding with Jeffrey Epstein?" Bongino asked on his show on May 4, 2023. "What do Clinton, Obama officials, big money leftists, a former Prime Minister of Israel — why do they want to make this Jeffrey Epstein story go away so bad?"

Attorney General Pam Bondi stoked the conspiracy even after taking the helm at the Justice Department. The alleged Epstein client list is "sitting on my desk right now to review," Bondi said in a February interview on Fox News. She later told reporters, "There are tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn."

Trump and his team try to put the genie back in the bottle

Patel, Bongino and Bondi now contradict their earlier selves.

The Justice Department this month said Epstein did not maintain a "client list" of powerful men for whom he trafficked underage girls and said no more files would be released. Patel and Bongino offered assurances that they'd reviewed the evidence and there was no reason to doubt Epstein killed himself.

"I believe he hung himself in a cell in the Metropolitan Detention Center," Patel testified in a Senate hearing on May 8.

Trump himself has been the most aggressive.

In a lengthy post Wednesday on Truth Social, he lashed out at his "PAST supporters" who have believed in Epstein conspiracy theories, calling them "weaklings" and saying he doesn't "want their support anymore!" He claimed, without offering evidence, that Democrats concocted the Epstein stories that have animated his base.

“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax,” Trump wrote.

In another lengthy post on Saturday, he vouched for Bondi and pressed his supporters to move on.

“What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals'? They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!” Trump wrote.