Donald Trump’s decision to reverse course on Sunday night and urge House Republicans to vote to release the government’s files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein may have sent the media into a frenzy, but it didn’t move Mark Epstein.
“I really don’t care. I’m not interested in the files or anything,” Epstein, the late financier’s brother, told TheWrap on Monday. “My brother’s dead, so it doesn’t matter to me. What I’m concerned about is the fact that Jeffrey did not commit suicide.”
Mark Epstein has long maintained that his brother didn’t take his own life in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while facing federal sex-trafficking charges. He expressed doubt Monday that unreleased government files will provide any fresh insight into his brother’s death.
“There’s a whole cover-up,” Epstein added. “The DOJ is covering this up. They never investigated this as if it might be anything other than a suicide.”
The Epstein saga came roaring back last week following the release of more than 20,000 emails, some suggesting Trump was aware of his former friend’s sex-trafficking of underage women, claims the president has strongly denied. The document dump came hours before the swearing-in of Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who provided the final signature to force a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The murky circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death, which included a breakdown of prison protocols, along with the financier’s sprawling ties to powerful people, have fueled suspicions that he was murdered — even as officials have shot them down.
New York City Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson concluded that Epstein committed suicide, while FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino — both of whom once questioned the official story surrounding Epstein’s death — said in May that, after reviewing government files, they believe he killed himself. Bill Barr, who was Attorney General at the time of Epstein’s death, said in Congressional testimony that it was “absolutely” a suicide.
“Bill Barr is full of sh-t,” Mark Epstein told TheWrap.
He said that renowned pathologist Michael Baden, who was hired on behalf of the family, concluded that the evidence pointed to homicide. “But you don’t hear the government talking about that,” he added.
What Mark Epstein wants, he said, is “a real independent investigation,” and one not conducted by the Department of Justice.
Mark Epstein wasn’t pleased to see emails between him and his late brother made public last week, one of which caused an internet uproar.
In one email, Mark asked Jeffrey to ask Steve Bannon whether Russian President Vladimir Putin “has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba,” a reference some interpreted to mean Bill Clinton. Epstein put out a statement that the reference was not to Clinton, and the back-and-forth was “part of a humorous private exchange between two brothers” that was never meant “to be interpreted as serious remarks.”
Epstein said he spoke to Bannon, a former top Trump adviser, about the roughly 15 hours of footage he is said to have recorded of Jeffrey Epstein prior to his death. A clip surfaced in 2021, with Epstein claiming to be a supporter of anti-harassment organization Time’s Up, and there is a trailer for a film, titled “Monsters: Epstein’s Life Among the Global Elite,” but Bannon has not released the rest.
Mark Epstein said Bannon told him about the tapes when they met after Jeffrey’s death, and that he asked to view them, but has not. Epstein said he hasn’t spoken to Bannon since a few months after Jeffrey’s death.
Bannon did not respond to a request for comment.
While all eyes turn to Washington this week, where a vote is expected on the government’s files, Epstein said he will not be joining Congressman Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie as they hold a news conference with Epstein survivors.
“I have nothing to do with Jeffrey’s case or the charges against him or the victims or anything like that,” he said, adding: “I’m interested that he was killed. That matters to me.”
