AMERICA DEFENSELESS, SCIENCE FINALLY BANNED: Trump administration fires all members of US National Science Board

COVID WAS A HOAX BY TRUMP'S JEWS.  THIS ACCORDING TO THE PRESIDENT HIMSELF!


At least half a dozen top Trump administration officials appear in the 
Jeffrey Epstein files.   tRUMP is a known sex offender.   He's been sued 
for sex assault dozens of times.
 
 
By Dareh Gregorian
 

At least a half-dozen top officials in the current Trump administration 
have connections to Jeffrey Epstein, according to an NBC News review of 
some of the over 3 million documents the Justice Department has released.

The degree to which each individual was connected to Epstein varies 
significantly, from a single email to years of communications. President 
Donald Trump, who had a lengthy relationship with Epstein, is mentioned 
thousands of times in the files. Trump has never been accused by 
authorities of any wrongdoing connected to Epstein, and has said he parted 
ways with him in the mid-2000s because he was a "creep. " He has also 
denied any wrongdoing.

During a testy oversight hearing on Wednesday. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt. , 
pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi on whether any current administration 
officials have been questioned by the Justice Department about their ties 
to Epstein.

"I'm stunned that you want to continue talking about Epstein, " Bondi 
replied while sidestepping the question.

In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump praised Bondi's appearance at 
the Senate hearing and claimed that the files provide "conclusively" that 
he "has been 100% exonerated. "

Some officials from previous Democratic administrations have appeared in 
the files — including former President Bill Clinton, his former Treasury 
Secretary Larry Summers, and former Obama White House counsel Kathy 
Ruemmler.

Ruemmler announced this week that she would leave her position as Goldman 
Sachs' top lawyer amid blowback over her extensive emails with Epstein. 
Ruemmler has said she was friendly with Epstein only in the context of 
being a criminal defense attorney and that she regrets ever having known 
him.

Summers announced in November that he was taking a leave of absence from 
his teaching at Harvard University and would step back from other public 
commitments. Summers said in November that he was "deeply ashamed" of 
emails that came out last year showing him corresponding with Epstein as 
recently as July 2019. He has not been accused of any wrongdoing in 
connection with Epstein's crimes.

Clinton has said that he cut ties with Epstein before the financier was 
accused in 2006 of having sex with a minor. His spokesperson said the 
emails "prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing. " He has not been 
accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein by authorities.

Two other ex-Trump administration officials — former DOGE chief Elon Musk 
and former chief strategist Steve Bannon — also made appearances in the 
files. Neither has been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with 
Epstein's crimes.

Alex Acosta, who was Trump's Labor secretary during his first term, led the 
first federal criminal probe into Epstein as U. S. attorney for the 
Southern District of Florida. Acosta approved a much-maligned secret 
nonprosecutorial agreement that allowed Epstein to plead guilty in 2008 to 
lesser state charges, which helped him avoid potentially decades of jail 
time. Acosta has defended the plea deal and said that his office "acted 
appropriately" given the context of the 2008 case. "Times have changed, and 
coverage of this case has certainly changed, " he said in 2019 after 
Epstein's arrest in New York.

Reached for comment, a White House spokesperson referred NBC News to 
remarks Trump made on Thursday about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who 
admitted this week to visiting Epstein's island in 2012.

"No I wasn't aware of it, " he said of Lutnick's trip, adding, "I actually 
haven't spoken to him about it, I wasn't, but from what I hear, he was 
there with his wife and children. And I guess in some cases some people 
were. I wasn't. I was never there. Somebody will someday say that. I was 
never there. "

No major U. S. political figure has been accused by law enforcement of any 
crimes and all have denied wrongdoing. A joint DOJ-FBI memo released last 
year found that there was no evidence of a so-called "client list" and that 
no one else would be investigated in connection with Epstein.

Here's a look at administration officials' ties to Epstein and his co-
conspirator in a sex tracking ring, Ghislaine Maxwell:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz

A 2016 email from the former TV personality to Epstein appeared to contain 
an invitation to a Valentine's Day party in 2016 — three years before 
Epstein was charged in a federal sex trafficking case in New York, and 
eight years after he pleaded guilty in Florida to procuring a person under 
18 for prostitution and felony solicitation of prostitution.
Dr. Mehmet Oz Visits "Varney & Co. "
Mehmet Oz. John Lamparski / Getty Images

"Mehmet and Lisa Oz's Valentine's Celebration, " read the subject line of 
the February 2016 email to Epstein. The email shows a link to a Paperless 
Post invitation that is no longer active. Another link in the email appears 
to show the couple's Palm Beach address for the event.

It's unclear if Epstein attended the event. The Centers for Medicare & 
Medicaid Services did not respond to a request for comment.
Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg
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Stephen Feinberg, the billionaire financier who's now the No. 2 official at 
the Pentagon, makes numerous appearances in the newly released files in 
connection with the business he founded, Cerberus Capital Management.
Stephen Feinberg side profile
Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg. Win McNamee / Getty Images file

Details of their connection are murky: there are numerous business 
documents involving Cerberus that include Feinberg's name over a span of 
years between 2009 and 2018, including some involving Deutsche Bank, one of 
the banks Epstein was known to do business with. The documents contain an 
email exchange between officials at Deutsche Bank in which the bank's 
compliance staff appear to be conducting a review of Cerberus and 
Feinberg's accounts.

It's unclear why the documents were in the Epstein files.

Cerberus did not respond to a request for comment and a spokesperson for 
the Pentagon declined comment.
RFK Jr.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also appears in 
the files, both in Epstein's flight logs and in an email exchange between 
Epstein and Maxwell.

Epstein wrote Maxwell in 2012 that he'd recently gone "dinosaur and fossil 
hunting on the ranch" with a fossil expert, and she replied, "Love that — 
didn't we go fossil hunting with him and Bobby Kennedy in NDakota? "
Robert F. Kennedy speaks at a podium
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Evan Vucci / AP 
file

Maxwell also discussed Kennedy and the trip during an interview with Deputy 
Attorney General Todd Blanche last year. "Bobby Kennedy knew him, " she 
said, referring to Epstein. "Because we went on a trip together. Was — we 
went to — dinosaur bone hunting in the Dakotas, " she added, estimating the 
trip took place in 1993 or 1994. She said she never saw Kennedy do anything 
inappropriate.

HHS did not respond to a request for comment, but Kennedy had previously 
acknowledged he'd flown on Epstein's plane in the 1990s and gone on the 
dinosaur hunt.

"My wife knew his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell and they offered us a ride 
when we were going down to see my mother, " he told NewsNation in 2024. "I 
was with two children and my wife ... on the plane at that time. I knew 
nothing about Jeffrey Epstein. "

Kennedy said his second trip with Epstein came "one or two years later. "

"We took my kids fossil hunting in Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. 
That was the extent of anything that I had to do with Jeffrey Epstein's 
airplane, " he told the network, adding that besides running into him at 
social events, he "had no relationship with him. "
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick

The commerce secretary was shown in the emails to have a longer history 
with Epstein than he'd previously claimed.

Lutnick told the New York Post in October that he thought Epstein, his 
former next-door neighbor, was "disgusting" and that he wanted nothing to 
do with Epstein after the financier made an inappropriate remark in his 
presence in 2005.

"So I was never in the room with him socially, for business or even 
philanthropy. That guy was there, I wasn't going 'cause he is gross, " 
Lutnick told the paper.

The files, however, showed Lutnick and Epstein emailing in 2012 about a 
possible boat trip to Epstein's private island.
Howard Lutnick politics political
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Evan Vucci / AP file

His agency initially sidestepped questions about whether he took the trip, 
but Lutnick acknowledged the visit during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

"My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies. I had another 
couple with, they were there as well, with their children, and we had lunch 
on the island — that is true — for an hour, " he said.

He said there was nothing "untoward" about the trip, but could not recall 
why they did it.

The Commerce Department said in a statement after the emails were released 
that "Secretary Lutnick had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the 
presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing. "
Secretary of the Navy John Phelan

Navy Secretary John Phelan's name appeared in a March 2006 flight manifest 
for Epstein's 727, which was coming to New York from London, according to a 
CNN review of Epstein-related documents released by the House Oversight 
Committee last year.

At the time, Phelan was working for MSD Capital, a private investment 
company serving billionaire Michael Dell. MSD Capital did not immediately 
respond to a request for comment.
John Phelan smiles
Secretary of the Navy John Phelan. Andrew Harnik / Getty Images file

NBC News has not independently verified the report. The Navy did not 
respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Balint asked Bondi if DOJ had asked Phelan about his "ties to Jeffrey 
Epstein" at Wednesday's hearing. "I don't know whether he has addressed 
those or not, " Bondi said.
Fed nominee Kevin Warsh

On Jan. 30, Trump announced on social media that he was nominating Kevin 
Warsh, a former Fed board governor, to be the central bank's next chairman. 
Hours later, the Justice Department released millions more Epstein-related 
documents.

One of those included a 2010 email, where a redacted sender forwarded 
Epstein a list of people labeled "St. Barth's Christmas 2010. " Warsh is 
listed on page four with a note: "House near Isle de France. "
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World Bank
Kevin Warsh. Tierney L. Cross / Bloomberg via Getty Images

It is unknown whether Warsh ever took the trip or went to St. Barts. NBC 
News reached out to both Warsh and the White House for more information at 
the time, but neither responded.
Former DOGE head Elon Musk

Elon Musk, who headed the Department of Government Efficiency as a special 
government employee last year, made numerous appearances in the newly 
released files in friendly-sounding email exchanges with Epstein in 2012 
and 2013.

In a November 2012 email, Epstein wrote to Musk, "how many people will you 
be for the heli to the island. " Musk responds: "Probably just Talulah and 
me. What day/night will be the wildest party on your island? "

In December 2013, Musk wrote, "Will be in the BVI/St Bart's area over the 
holidays. Is there a good time to visit? " Epstein responded, "any day 1st 
— 8th. play it by ear if you want. always space for you. "
Elon Musk lin the Oval Office on May 21, 2025.
Elon Musk. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

NBC News hasn't verified whether Musk traveled to the island and he is not 
accused of any wrongdoing. Musk told Vanity Fair in a 2019 interview that 
Epstein "tried repeatedly to get me to visit his island. I declined. "

After the emails were released, Musk posted on X, "I knew that I would be 
smeared relentlessly, despite never having attended his parties or been on 
his 'Lolita Express' plane or set foot on his creepy island or done 
anything wrong at all. "
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon

The new files show a deeper relationship than previously known between 
Epstein and Bannon, a longtime Trump ally who served as White House chief 
strategist during his first administration.

Bannon has said he was working on a documentary about Epstein, and the 
release shows they frequently emailed and texted each other between January 
2018 and June 2019, days before Epstein was arrested on federal sex 
trafficking charges.

"Now you can understand why Trump wakes up in the middle of the night 
sweating when he hears you and I are friends, " Epstein texted to Bannon on 
June 28 of that year, according to messages released by the DOJ.

An April 2019 text shows Bannon, who's helped stoke conspiracy theories 
about Epstein, offering to help "rebuild your image. "

Bannon has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein's 
crimes. He did not respond to requests for comment