Facing backlash from his base over his administration’s handling of the Epstein files, President Donald Trump shifted blame to his Democratic predecessors.
Trump’s Justice Department on July 7 announced it would not be releasing any more documents related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in federal custody in 2019 following his arrest on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. The announcement came as a surprise to many Trump supporters, who had hoped his cabinet members would follow through on their promises to release all federal Epstein case files.
Speaking to reporters July 15 on the White House lawn, Trump said Attorney General Pam Bondi had briefed him on her review of the government’s investigative files on Epstein before announcing her office would not be releasing any additional case documents.
“You know, these files were made up by Comey,” Trump told reportersreferring to former FBI Director James Comey. “They were made up by Obama. They were made up by Biden.”
He went further in a Truth Social post the next day, calling the Epstein files a “hoax” and “scam” pushed by Democrats. He has continued to make similar claims. Trump’s argument that the documents were “made up” by Democratic officials doesn’t add up.
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The two federal investigations into Epstein happened from 2006-2008 and 2019, during the George W. Bush and Trump administrations — not during the tenures of presidents Barack Obama or Joe Biden and not while Comey was leading the FBI.
The White House did not respond to PolitiFact’s request for comment or provide evidence in support of this claim.
First federal investigation started and ended under the Bush administration
Local police first began investigating Epstein in March 2005 following reports that he was molesting young girls at his Palm Beach, Florida, mansion. In July 2006, Epstein was arrested on one charge of soliciting prostitution following a grand jury indictment. A 2020 Justice Department report said local police department officials were dissatisfied with the low-level charges and asked the FBI to intervene.
The FBI opened its investigation in May 2006. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Marie C. Villafaña and two FBI case agents led the initial federal investigation.
In 2007, while Bush was president, federal investigators at the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office prepared to indict Epstein, but negotiations between Epstein’s lawyers and the U.S. attorney’s office in Florida’s Southern District led by Alexander Acosta resulted in a secret deal that let Epstein avoid federal charges.
As part of the nonprosecution agreementEpstein agreed to plead guilty to state prostitution charges, register as a sex offender, serve 18 months in county jail, and provide monetary damages to his victims. In exchange, the U.S. attorney’s office agreed to end its investigation into Epstein and forgo federal prosecution of Epstein or “any potential co-conspirators,” according to the agreement.
In June 2008, Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in jail but served most of his sentence on a work-release program in which he was allowed to leave jail during the day and return at night. By the time he was released to house arrest in July 2009, Obama had been in the White House about six months.
Investigations resume in 2018 under Trump administration
The Justice Department’s 2020 report said Epstein spent the next decade, from 2009 to 2019 (which overlapped with eight years of the Obama administration and two years of Trump), embroiled in legal battles with victims who were seeking monetary damages and challenging the validity of the nonprosecution agreement. During this period, the U.S. attorney’s office fought efforts to unseal documents.
In 2016, a federal judge found that the FBI was not complying with Freedom of Information Act requests related to the Epstein case, The Guardian reported at the time.
Details of Epstein’s conducthis powerful connections, and allegations of a federal cover-up were featured in news stories during this period, typically brought forward by Epstein’s victims.
In 2017, Trump nominated Acosta — the Florida prosecutor who approved Epstein’s 2008 nonprosecution agreement — to become U.S. labor secretary.
The case regained widespread public scrutiny in November 2018, when the Miami Herald published a detailed report about Epstein’s conduct and the federal government’s secret deals with Epstein.
In July 2019, while Trump was president, Epstein was arrested on federal charges after a judge found that the nonprosecution agreement had violated victim’s rights laws. Epstein was charged with recruiting dozens of underage girls to his New York City mansion and Palm Beach estate from 2002 to 2005 to engage in sex acts for money. But he was never tried for those crimes. He was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell Aug. 10, 2019, and investigators concluded he died by suicide.
Epstein’s longtime partner, Ghislane Maxwell was arrested on federal charges of conspiracy to sexually abuse minors in July 2020.
Comey worked in the private sector during both investigations
Comey served in different government roles for three decades but he was not working at the FBI or Justice Department during the Epstein investigations. From 2001 to August 2005, Comey worked under the Bush administration’s Justice Department, the last two of those years as deputy attorney general. He left to join the private sector in late 2005, nine months before the FBI launched its first investigation into Epstein.
Comey returned to serve as FBI director in 2013 under Obama, until Trump fired him in 2017.
Biden administration did not release documents, Epstein’s co-conspirator Maxwell convicted in 2021
The Biden administration did not publicly release any files related to the investigations into Epstein, but federal judges unsealed several troves of court documents from previously settled civil cases while Biden was in office. The released files came from a 2009 settlement between Epstein and one of his victims and a defamation case against Maxwell that was settled in 2017.
Maxwell’s federal court trial happened in November 2021, while Biden was in office. She was convicted on five counts related to sex trafficking of minors between 1994 and 2004. She was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison. Maxwell’s trial involved the unsealing of documents from the 2017 settled defamation suit and of bank records, photosand flight logs, but the judge restricted the release of Maxwell’s entire address book which some believe could hold incriminating details about “clients” involved in sex trafficking.
On July 17, the Trump administration fired for undisclosed reasons Maurene Comey, the federal prosecutor who worked on the Epstein and Maxwell cases and James Comey’s daughter. After celebrity gossip site Radar Online sued the FBI seeking documents related to the Epstein case, Maurene Comey in early 2024 argued against releasing the cases’ investigative files on grounds that doing so could interfere with Maxwell’s appeal. The court sided with the prosecution in withholding them. Maxwell’s appeal was denied in September.
Our ruling
Trump said the Epstein files “were made up by Comey. They were made up by Obama, they were made up by Biden.”
Trump did not explain what he meant and the White House did not provide any evidence to support his claim. But the files are not “made up” by anyone — they collectively represent investigative evidence and findings from law enforcement documents, victims’ testimonies, and court cases.
Neither Obama nor Biden were in office when the FBI investigated Epstein; Bush and Trump were. And Comey worked in the private sector during those investigative periods. Both Epstein and Maxwell were arrested on federal charges during the Trump administration.
There is no evidence that the Epstein files were “made up” by Comey, Obama or Biden. We rate this statement Pants on Fire!
