Former TV Judge Joe Brown is backing up a conspiracy theory as to why President Donald Trump and his administration may be withholding key evidence in classified files about convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“I have a sneaking suspicion that when the investigations are completed and they’re solid, we’re going to start seeing something come out of it,” Brown told far-right radio host and personality Alex Jones.
On Tuesday, President Trump expressed annoyance during a White House Cabinet meeting when asked by a reporter to respond to growing conspiracy theories surrounding the classified files of Epstein’s federal sex trafficking conviction and subsequent prison suicide.
Despite his documented friendship with Epstein over the years, Trump blasted the late Epstein as a “creep” and suggested there were more serious national topics to discuss, including the recent flooding in Texas that killed more than 100 people.
“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years…are people still talking about this guy?” said Trump, who added, “That is unbelievable.”
The conviction and death of Epstein have become a larger-than-life phenomenon, particularly among far-right and conservative voices, including some elected officials and online platforms. Various conspiracies have emerged as a result of the convicted pedophile’s case, including the existence of a “client list” with high-profile individuals.
Among Trump’s MAGA world, unverifiable conspiracy theories spread like wildfire online over the years, largely targeting Democratic figures like former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Bill Clinton and Trump, among others, have been connected to the well-connected wealthy financier over the years; they’ve been mentioned in court filings and photographed with him in various social settings.
In 2019, during his first term, Trump helped to spread conspiracies about the Clintons when he retweeted a post accusing them of being clients of Epstein’s sex trafficking network of recruiting minor girls for sex and being responsible for his death. Though Epstein died by suicide (he hanged himself in a New York City jail), some conspiracists believe he was murdered and that his prison death was staged to look like a suicide.
Since Trump returned to office in January, many conservative voices expressed anticipation for the release of federal files on Epstein, hoping to feed various conspiracies of a cover-up to protect the rich and powerful. On Monday, the Department of Justice and the FBI concluded that soon-to-be-released footage confirms there was no foul play in Epstein’s death and that there is no known “client” list of powerful figures he was believed to have blackmailed.
Judge Brown joined Jones in peddling more conspiracies after the DOJ memo. When Jones asked Brown if he thought Trump was shielding the public release of certain key information in the Epstein files in an attempt to delay a larger plan to blackmail or expose what they call the “deep state,” which includes agents within federal intelligence agencies like the CIA.
“The best approximation I’ve got–and it is speculation by a lot of points–is that Trump has decided to just use the file against them,” said Jones, seemingly referring to conspiracies that Epstein was a spy.
Judge Brown appeared to agree, telling Jones that he believes it is connected to the 2022 FBI raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and the subsequent criminal charge against him related to retaining classified documents.
“My sneaking suspicion is that a lot of what he refused to turn over to the archivist…is that there was wrongdoing; that if he turned it over to the archivist, it was going to be turned over to the people who were recorded doing wrong,” said Brown, who defended Trump’s retaining of classified documents post-presidency as his constitutional authority.
Brown said that if it got into the wrong hands, the alleged federal workers would destroy it.
“So we had an obligation to the people to maintain control of that, which he did,” the judge said of Trumo. “I see absolutely nothing wrong with it. It has been dropped. It’s dead. It’s not there. But he knows that, and I have a sneaking suspicion that when the investigations are completed and they’re solid, we’re going to start seeing something come out of it.”
Some MAGA supporters are frustrated by the Trump administration’s inaction on the Epstein files, particularly considering that Trump’s FBI Director, Kash Patel, and Deputy Director Dan Bongino supported conspiracies about Epstein before entering office.
Despite telling Fox News that Epstein’s so-called client list was “sitting on my desk” back in February, and that she was prepared to publicly release it, Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters on Tuesday that she was actually referring broadly to the Epstein files, and not a specific client list.
The DOJ memo debunking the existence of the client list comes after former Trump advisor and friend, billionaire Elon Musk, suggested Trump was named in the files.
During Musk’s very public fight with Trump online, he wrote on X, “That is the real reason they have not been released.” Days later, Musk deleted the post. However, on Tuesday, Musk returned to critiquing Trump over the Epstein files.
“How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won’t release the Epstein files?” he wrote on X. Musk indicated that he would make the public release of the Epstein files a major priority for his proposed third political party, called “American Party.”
