“Everyone thought it would be just a welcome,” Cernovich told the Daily Mail. “No one really knew the agenda.”
That’s when Attorney General Pam Bondi walked in—uninvited and unannounced—carrying white folders.
“She just walks in and says, ‘Hey, I’ve got a surprise for you guys—here are the binders,’” recalled Rogan O’Handley, a conservative commentator known online as DC_Draino.
Just 24 hours earlier, Bondi had teased the appearance on Fox News, telling Jesse Watters, “We’re going to be releasing Epstein stuff.” Hopes soared.
The binders, labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1,” were handed out like gifts. The influencers posed for photos, beaming as they held up what they believed were explosive revelations finally seeing the light of day. “Only 15 binders were printed,” one attendee, Jessica Reed Kraus, boasted on Instagram. “We are the new trusted media.”
But the elation didn’t last.
What they got wasn’t a bombshell—it was a dud.
The so-called “Epstein Files” were nothing more than publicly available documents: flight logs, a redacted version of Epstein’s well-worn address book, and a list of 254 vague “masseurs.” No client list. No videos. No smoking gun.
The backlash was swift.
Many attendees, blindsided and embarrassed, were ridiculed by their own audiences for looking like administration “shills.” Five months later, the wounds still haven’t healed—and the frustration has only intensified.
Cernovich is now calling for the release of the original search warrant applications from Epstein’s 2019 arrest, which he insists Bondi could have declassified months ago. “Why don’t we have this basic stuff?” he asked. “That’s sus.”
Even worse for the administration, the July 7 memo from Bondi’s Justice Department extinguished what little hope remained. It declared, flatly, that:
No client list exists.
No evidence of blackmail has been uncovered.
Epstein was not murdered.
And “no further disclosure” is warranted.
The response was met with fury.
Comedian and podcaster Tim Dillon, who had previously interviewed VP Vance, said he recently confronted the Vice President at a private dinner.
“He told me those 10,000 hours of Epstein video files are just ‘commercial pornography,’” Dillon revealed. “That they don’t have any tapes of powerful people in compromising positions.”
“I said, ‘If you don’t disclose everything, you’re done. Nobody will trust you. You’re now part of the cover-up.’ And he agreed with me.”
Even Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist behind InfoWars, claimed the White House called him directly last week. “They asked, ‘What do you want?’” Jones said. “I told them: I want you to do what you were elected to do.”
The pressure campaign extended to Charlie Kirk, head of Turning Point USA and one of the most influential voices among Gen Z conservatives.
Kirk initially amplified the outrage, calling his audience “flaming mad” and insisting, “They want to go after the deep state.”
But within 24 hours of reportedly speaking with Trump himself, Kirk reversed course: “Honestly, I’m done talking about Epstein for the time being… I’m going to trust my friends in the administration.”
The damage, however, was already done.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Bondi announced that her deputy would soon visit Ghislaine Maxwell in prison, fueling speculation of further disclosures. But on the same day, House Speaker Mike Johnson abruptly sent Congress into early summer recess—just one day before a bipartisan bill was set to force the release of Epstein files.
Then came the bombshell from The Wall Street Journal: DOJ officials allegedly told Trump back in May that his name appears in a “truckload” of Epstein documents.
If true, it could explain the White House’s radio silence.
Cernovich, for his part, says no one has pressured him to stop talking—but he wouldn’t listen even if they did. “This whole thing is bizarre,” he said. “Suddenly, we’re just supposed to shut up about Epstein?”
In a statement to the Daily Mail, the White House insisted they “hold regular meetings and calls with influencers” to cover a wide range of topics.
But for many in the MAGA media world, that’s not enough.
“This,” warned Cernovich, “might be the only issue where the MAGA base will truly assert itself. On anything else, Trump can steer the train. Not on Epstein.”