(Sigh) The more things change ...

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Ben Bartee, PJ Media: The Absolute State of the New Fourth Estate!

The established fact pattern as of March 1, 2025 vis-à-vis the Epstein files:

  • Attorney General Pam Bondi claims on Feb. 21 that she has the Epstein client list “sitting on her desk right now,” all set to be published.

  • On Thursday, Feb. 27, Bondi hosts over a dozen MAGA “influencers” prominent on X, many of which you might be familiar with, for a grand reveal of the files.

  • The influencers receive binders labeled allegedly containing the promised files labeled "The Epstein Files: Phase 1."

  • Afterward, the influencers pose outside of the White House for the media cameras, holding up the binders as if they are some kind of big game trophy.

  • Said influencers take to X and elsewhere to post selfies of themselves holding said binders for engagement farming. Some describe the scoop as “exclusive.”

  • It turns out, we learn, that the binders contain nothing of news value whatsoever. There is no Epstein client list; there is no information.

  • Bondi releases a letter claiming that, actually, despite claiming that she had the files “on her desk” almost a week earlier, the FBI only gave her 200 documents and was stonewalling the full disclosure — a revelation she had never made publicly while making multiple media appearances to hype the files she had “on her desk” and was ready to distribute to the public.

  • The government’s failure here is clear, even if the details are scant: someone is lying to the public and covering for whatever interests desperately want to keep the Epstein files secret.

    But what about the “influencers” who allowed themselves, wittingly or not, to be used in this weird stunt?

    Via New York Post (emphasis added):

The Justice Department released a handful of files on notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday — though there appear to be no new names or details.

The info first went out to a hand-selected crop of right-wing social media influencers Thursday afternoon — and even those recipients were underwhelmed by what the documents revealed….

When the conservative social media personalities began livestreaming footage of the content after The Post’s initial report, they revealed files that were long available in the public record — such as flight logs — and that all of the boldfaced names in the contact list already were known from prior disclosures…

The document appeared to be a copy of Epstein’s “black book” that was first published in 2021 and later put up for auction.

But wait, there’s more!

After the historic summit to reveal what was already known four years ago, these influencers were then seen sharing social media posts with identical talking points, which would presumably indicate some kind of centralized rather than “independent” media operation.