Even if Trump-administration officials had examined every government file related to Jeffrey Epstein in the most responsible and transparent way possible, they would not have shut down the rampant speculation about the deceased sex offender, as that’s not how conspiracy theories work. So, in a way, their pledge to answer lingering questions about Epstein’s “client list” and whether he really killed himself in federal prison in 2019 was doomed from the start.

However, top officials at the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation did themselves no favors by grandstanding and making contradictory public statements about the investigation in recent months. And now it looks as though all that their Epstein review has managed to do is anger MAGA influencers and give Elon Musk new fodder for his recently revived Trump feud.

On Sunday night, Axios published a two-page memo from the DoJ and FBI that pours cold water on all the major Epstein conspiracy theories. It says that following an “exhaustive review” of Epstein-related “investigative holdings,” conducted by “teams of agents, analysts, attorneys, and privacy and civil liberties experts,” the agencies have concluded that there is nothing more to release, there is no Epstein “client list,” and there isn’t any incriminating evidence that warrants an investigation into the pedophile’s powerful associates. The memo........

© Daily Intelligencer