Brian Lerer on WNYC.

Now we'll turn to Washington, where Donald Trump is experiencing another test of his political authority over his MAGA base. Changing his tune on Russia

and deficit spending are in the news already. Now comes his administration's handling of the Jeffrey

Epstein case that closed in 2019 after the financier and convicted sex offender died by suicide

while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges in a lower Manhattan

jail cell. Why has Epstein become Maga's political lightning rod this week? Well,

conspiracy theories have been swirling for years. As some of you know about the crimes,

Epstein committed against underage girls and the very famous company that he kept, listen to some of the names of figures associated with Epstein committed against underage girls and the very famous company that he kept,

listen to some of the names of figures associated with Epstein found in unsealed court documents

from 2024. Former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Bruce Willis, Kevin Spacey, Naomi Campbell,

Leonardo DiCaprio, Victoria's Secret mogul, Lex Wessner, Michael Jackson, Stephen Hawking.

While most of these individuals have not been implicated in Epstein's crimes, to be clear,

the notoriety of just his associations with them has led conspiracists to the belief that Epstein held a quote client list,

which is at the center of this controversy now. Take a listen to Attorney General Pam Bondi

on Fox News back in February of this year. The DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein's

clients. Will that really happen?

It's sitting on my desk right now to review. So she said a list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients is sitting on her desk right now, Trump's Attorney General. But here she is a week ago saying,

well, maybe not. In February, I did an interview on Fox and it's been getting a lot of attention

because I said I was asked a question about the client list and my response was it's sitting

on my desk to be reviewed meaning the file along with the JFK, MLK files as well.

That's what I meant by that.

All right.

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