The Trump administration continues to flip-flop on its stance regarding the release of Jeffrey Epstein’s files, including an alleged list of clients. The list is said to have been created by Epstein, a convicted child sex offender, who died in his jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
After many in President Donald Trump’s inner circle pushed for Epstein’s alleged client list to be released, the Justice Department and FBI released a memo earlier this month claiming that a “systematic review” of the documents relating to Epstein included “no incriminating ‘client list.'” The memo continued, “(W)hile we have labored to provide the public with maximum information regarding Epstein … no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”
This announcement was met with broad backlash, including from Kevin Spacey, the disgraced Oscar-winning actor who was accused of sexual misconduct in 2017. On July 15, the 65-year-old actor posted to X: “Release the Epstein files. All of them. For those of us with nothing to fear, the truth can’t come soon enough. I hate to make this about me — but the media already has.”
The files are said to contain a list of influential individuals who were involved in the disgraced financier’s international sex trafficking ring. The Justice Department and the FBI’s July claim that there is no client list contradicts what Attorney General Pam Bondi said in February, when she stated that she planned to release “a lot of flight logs” and several names related to Epstein that month. However, no additional documents have been made public to date.
Spacey’s name was mentioned in a Manhattan civil lawsuit filed by one of Epstein’s alleged victims, which was unsealed by a federal judge in January 2024. NPR reports that Spacey, along with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, the magician David Copperfield, Prince Andrew, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, the late New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and former Vice President Al Gore, among others, were named in the 2015 lawsuit as either associates, affiliates or victims of Epstein — though this does not incriminate them.
Spacey has faced separate credible accusations of sexual assault by actor Anthony Rapp and others. Spacey was found not liable a New York civil case relating to Rapp’s allegations, and he was found not guilty of sexual assault by a U.K. jury in a separate case in 2023.
This article originally appeared on Out: Kevin Spacey demands release of Epstein files