By The tangled legacy of Jeffrey Epstein—financier, convicted sex offender, and suspected intelligence asset—continues to raise questions that official denials do little to extinguish. At a recent Cabinet meeting, Attorney General Pam Bondi dismissed inquiries into Epstein’s alleged intelligence ties, telling reporters, “I have no knowledge about that. We can get back to you on that.” But her vague deflection has only sharpened focus on the decades-long mystery surrounding who, if anyone, was protecting Epstein—and why.
"Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?"
President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi responded to questions about Jeffrey Epstein during a Cabinet Meeting. pic.twitter.com/SOeNIA85No
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) July 8, 2025
The origin of such suspicions traces back to former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, who, according to a Newsweek report from 2019 claimed that Epstein “belonged to intelligence” and was therefore to be left alone. Acosta, then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, oversaw the 2007 non-prosecution agreement that granted Epstein and his alleged accomplices sweeping federal immunity in exchange for state-level charges—resulting in a 13-month sentence served mostly on work release. Defending the arrangement in a 2019 press conference and later under congressional questioning from Rep. Frederica Wilson, Acosta claimed the plea deal was an aggressive tactic that, paradoxically, ensured Epstein faced at least some jail time.
Yet the shadow of espionage lingers, explained The Daily Caller, not least because of Epstein’s known affiliations. Julie K. Brown—the Miami Herald investigative journalist whose reporting reopened the Epstein case—told The Times of Israel in 2021 that “it’s not beyond the realm of possibility” that Epstein had ties to Israeli intelligence. She cited his relationship with Robert Maxwell, the disgraced media tycoon and father of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of aiding Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. Maxwell’s 1991 funeral in Jerusalem, attended by a who’s who of Israeli political and intelligence elites, serves as a persistent, if circumstantial, data point in this sprawling enigma.
Newly surfaced documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal in 2023 revealed another web of high-level association: former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak visited Epstein regularly between 2013 and 2017, including monthly meetings beginning in late 2015. Barak, who said he met Epstein through Shimon Peres in 2003, confirmed he had flown on Epstein’s private jet—though only with his wife and security personnel—and emphasized that he had never observed or participated in “any party or any other improper event” involving minors or adult women in a compromising context.
Nor are such ties confined to Israel. A separate Wall Street Journal investigation disclosed that William Burns—then deputy secretary of state and now CIA director—met Epstein on three occasions in 2014. According to a former CIA spokeswoman, Burns understood Epstein to be a financial sector expert and merely sought general advice on transitioning to private life. “They had no relationship,” she said flatly.
And yet, the fog thickens. A two-page memo and jailhouse surveillance footage leaked to Axios on Sunday reiterated the official conclusion that Epstein died by suicide and claimed there was “no incriminating ‘client list.’” That assertion appears at odds with Bondi’s earlier remarks. In February, speaking on Fox News’ America Reports, she asserted that such a list was “sitting on my desk right now to review” at President Trump’s direction. When asked if the contents surprised her, Bondi replied, “Not yet.”
The Miami Herald’s ongoing legal struggle to obtain Epstein-related records—a campaign now stretching over five years—continues to stoke public curiosity and institutional discomfort. Each new revelation seems less to resolve the matter than to confirm what the public already suspects: that the Epstein case is not merely a sordid criminal episode, but something closer to a state mystery—one whose answers, if they exist at all, remain buried in a labyrinth of intelligence ties, elite protection, and bureaucratic silence.
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