David Schoen, a former lawyer for Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, said Attorney General Pam Bondi and other officials “jumped the gun a bit” in overhyping the Epstein files.
Schoen in an interview with BBC “Newsnight” Thursday said there is no Epstein “client list” that would highlight connections between the disgraced financier and wealthy individuals.
“If someone were to think that there’s actually a list — which Jeffrey Epstein wrote down the name of, you fill in the name of the famous, wealthy person with some young girl — that just doesn’t exist,” he said.
He also suggested that Bondi and other officials created a hyped environment about what might be included in the files that couldn’t be matched by what was released.
Schoen was careful to not blame President Trump for overhyping the files. He said he thought Trump had called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI to release anything big they found and that the others jumped the gun in how they described what was coming.
“I think what happened is, President Trump said he’s open to the idea, and it should be disclosed if there’s any such file that hasn’t been disclosed so far. But he didn’t know what was in it,” Schoen said.
“I think that maybe some of the others, the attorney general, director of the FBI, and so on, jumped the gun a bit. They were in favor, for good reasons, of disclosing and full transparency, but they didn’t know what they had yet,” he said.
“When they saw what they had, there was no ‘smoking gun’ and therefore they said there was nothing to release of any substance. And now you see this catch-up,” Schoen said.
The controversy over the Epstein files has continued for weeks, causing problems for Trump and Republicans in Congress.
Democrats have sought to further divide the GOP over the issue by offering amendments in committee to release more federal information on Epstein.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Friday was set to meet with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is imprisoned on sex trafficking charges. Trump said Friday he hadn’t thought about pardoning Maxwell.
Republicans in Congress have been divided over how to handle the issue. Some have called for the release of all files on Epstein held by the DOJ, while others have wanted to put guardrails on disclosures.
Schoen is far from the first person to argue the files were overhyped.
Karl Rove, republican strategist, said Thursday, “There’s hell to pay when those who hyped the conspiracy have closed the books on the case.”
Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino as a conservative pundit outside the administration was among those pressing the idea there were files that showed the government could be protecting wealthy associates of Epstein.
Epstein’s acquaintances include a number of luminaries — including Trump and former President Clinton — which has sparked conspiracy theories for years.
Schoen previously made statements that no client list existed and that Trump was not involved in the Epstein case.
He stated June 16 on NewsNation that Bondi and Trump were not hiding a client list.
On June 5, Schoen posted on social platform X, “I was hired to lead Jeffrey Epstein’s defense as his criminal lawyer 9 days before he died. He sought my advice for months before that. I can say authoritatively, unequivocally, and definitively that he had no information to hurt President Trump. I specifically asked him!”