‘Another wonderful secret’: What’s going on with Trump and the Epstein files?

Jeffrey Epstein died in prison in August 2019 and left a legacy of unanswered questions. He had been part of America’s service economy, but there is controversy as to just was the nature of his services.

Certainly, much of it was sex trafficking with underage girls. But he apparently rendered financial services as well. Epstein had a close relationship with Donald Trump that lasted for more than a decade. In 2002, Trump told a reporter that Epstein was a “terrific guy” who “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

The circumstances of Epstein’s death were mired in controversy. The FBI and Department of Justice ruled his death a suicide, but the public largely didn’t buy it.

The murder versus suicide debate died down, but the controversy lingered on, morphing into focus on Epstein’s “client list.” When Trump campaigned in 2024, he pledged full transparency and release of the Epstein files. His MAGA base enthusiastically applauded him in this, suspecting that the files were larded with names of Epstein clients, enablers and collaborators who were pillars of the Democratic Party.

There might be something to this suspicion. President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland were in power for four years, and they never released the documents.

But the files may yet blow up in Trump World’s face.

Since Trump took office, disclosure of the Epstein files has been a drip feed. During a Fox News interview in February, host John Roberts asked Attorney General Pam Bondi whether the Justice Department would release a “list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients.” She responded, “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review. That’s been a directive by President Trump. I’m reviewing that.”

Old court documents included a redacted list of Epstein contacts that included former President Bill Clinton, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Prince Andrew and Trump. Epstein’s address book, produced long ago in civil litigation, suggests he spread his tentacles widely, recording the names of prominent political figures of every stripe, together with names and numbers of prominent businessmen, socialites, headwaiters, chiropractors, dry cleaners and “masseuses.” But there was no list of sex clients as such.

Then something happened. Bondi, although reciting her “commitment to transparency,” tried an end run. She conceded that there was still a “significant amount” of undisclosed “material” in Justice Department files, “including more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence.” But the attorney general tried to finesse it by saying there was no “incriminating ‘client list,’” no evidence that Epstein blackmailed “prominent individuals.” Moreover, she maintained that Epstein in fact had committed suicide. FBI Director Kash Patel also said there was no “client list.”

Asked by a reporter about the Epstein files, Trump said that it was all “pretty boring stuff ... I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.” Really?

Bondi’s statement only excited demands from every band of the political spectrum for full disclosure.

As events then developed, Bondi abruptly fired Maurene Comey, a line prosecutor in the Southern District of New York — and the daughter of ex-FBI Director James Comey, a longtime Trump nemesis. Maurene Comey helped mount the criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell and presumably had full access to the Epstein files.

There was no explanation for the curious dismissal. Did Bondi see her as a potential leak in the cover-up?

Then came the bombshell. The Wall Street Journal reported that in 2003, “it was Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday, and Ghislaine Maxwell was preparing a special gift to mark the occasion. She turned to Epstein’s family and friends. One of them was Donald Trump.”

The gift was a bound book of birthday letters. According to the Journal, Trump’s contribution was “several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker ... the future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.”

In the text — a short, imagined dialogue between Epstein and Trump — Trump says, “We have certain things in common, Jeffrey” and “Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?” He ends with a wish that “every day be another wonderful secret.”

Trump denied that he had ever written such a letter or, indeed, drawn anything ever. “I never wrote a picture in my life,” he said, adding later on Truth Social, “I don’t draw pictures,” and that he was going to sue Journal owner Rupert Murdoch’s “ass off.”

Trump’s claim that “I don’t draw pictures” was belied within minutes of his making it. Vice President JD Vance dismissed the story entirely, asking, “Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?”

But this doesn’t pass the laugh test. The purported letter was written one year after Trump stated that Epstein “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side” and two years before telling “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush about his approach to women he’d just met: “grab them by the pussy.” It may not “sound like Donald Trump” but it is surely close harmony.

The Journal story jolted Trump into reversing course. He directed Bondi on social media to seek the release of “pertinent” grand jury transcripts in the case. Bondi instantly posted her reply: “President Trump — we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”

And she did.

This development sparks a whole new set of questions. Why only the grand jury testimony? After all, such testimony is likely among the least informative of the undisclosed “Epstein files.” In addition, it would require a court order to obtain the release and may not identify unindicted co-conspirators.

And, if the files are ever released, would anyone trust Trump lackey Bondi not to cleanse them first?

There are too many unanswered questions.

James D. Zirin, author and legal analyst, is a former federal prosecutor in New York’s Southern District. He is also the host of the public television talk show and podcast Conversations with Jim Zirin.