Dan Abrams Breaks Down Why There Is No ‘Epstein List’ But Files Release Could Be ‘Embarrassing’ for Trump

ABC News chief legal analyst and Mediaite founder Dan Abrams argued President Donald Trump’s administration is between a rock and a hard place when it comes to MAGA fallout on the “Epstein Files.”

Abrams joined Alisyn Camerota and Dave Briggs on the Sanity with Alisyn & Dave podcast this week where he broke down why exactly an “Epstein list” does not exist and how the administration will not be able to fully satisfy upset supporters.

While Briggs argued the infighting over a Department of Justice/FBI memo on Epstein will “destroy MAGA,” Abrams did not take things that far, but did acknowledge Trump has a “political vulnerability” right now that he hasn’t had in his second term yet.

“I don’t believe that this is going to be some hugely seminal moment that’s going to destroy MAGA, but I do think this is a political vulnerability for Donald Trump with his base because this first time we’ve seen some amount of distance between Donald Trump and the MAGA base since he’s been president on something they care about,” Abrams said.

Trump has repeatedly called an “Epstein list” a “hoax” as numerous MAGA voices have called for more files to be released related to Epstein. The late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein died of an apparent suicide in a Manhattan jail while being charged with sex trafficking in 2019. Many MAGA voices have since pushed the idea of an Epstein list, documents with the names of clients who took part in Epstein’s alleged decades of abuse.

“They want names. They want lists. They want flight logs. And the problem is that Donald Trump is on the flight logs, and there is no client list. There’s no evidence of Jeffrey Epstein selling, you know, having like a ring here,” Abrams said.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has come under fire as she referenced an Epstein list sitting on her desk in February. Abrams argued Bondi has been in over her head and a claim around the same time that FBI agents were going through files and redacting names doesn’t hold up as most of those names had been redacted in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s long-term associate now serving 20 years for sex trafficking.

Abrams noted that while there is a “black book” with the names of victims, there is no actual client list that lies at the center of so many conspiracy theories.

“The problem for them is Dan Bongino and [Kash] Patel are saying, sorry guys, it’s not there. We can’t deliver what you’re looking for. And that’s frustrating,” he said.

The names that could be revealed would be from flight logs and other documents and being included in those documents would not necessarily point to wrongdoing. One of the names already known to be in these files, Abrams said, is Trump. The president was a former friend of Epstein’s. A recent Wall Street Journal report included a letter Trump reportedly wrote to Epstein 2003 for his 50th birthday, which included a doodle of a naked woman. Trump denied writing the letter and is now suing the outlet.

Abrams explained:

They believe that it’s going to expose liberal leaders involved in some level of wrongdoing. Because they believe that there’s been a cover-up by the [Joe] Biden administration to hide wrongdoing primarily by people on the left. And, you know, if you do look in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial — and remember she was also sued, so there was also civil lawsuits — we got a lot of information, and a lot of the people that were on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane, a lot of the flight logs came out. I mean, people go, what about the flight? Like, a lot flight logs are out there. Donald Trump rode on the plane seven times. And he said, I never rode on that stupid plane. We learned in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial, he rode on the plane seven times, but Bill Clinton rode on the plane dozens of times. So, you know, this isn’t a Trump issue. Bill Gates had numerous meetings with Epstein so it does tend to be kind of bipartisan, but that doesn’t fit with what they’re looking for.

Abrams posed a question to “hardcore” MAGA supporters on whether loyalty to Trump would win out over more Epstein documents, if the documents proved to be “embarrassing” for Trump.

Abrams said:

Here’s an interesting question to ask. If you were to ask the hardest core MAGA person, and if you say to them, hey look, here’s the issue. We can release this stuff and it’ll be pretty embarrassing for Bill Clinton, be embarrassing for a lot of, you know, some celebrities and this, it’s also going to be a little embarrassing for Donald Trump. Is it worth it? Should we do it? I don’t know the answer to the question, right? Because they’re not talking about this as if the reason it’s not coming out is because of Donald Trump and again, that doesn’t mean Donald Trump engaged in any wrongdoing. It just means that what they want is all the underlying information.

Abrams agreed that Trump could release more information to try and quiet criticism, but he argued no information will feed the conspiracy theorists properly. The issue, he added though, will likely not have the long-term impact some are predicting for the president.

“I just don’t see where that pocket is of information that supposedly would blow this thing open. With that in mind, then this isn’t a big story. There’s nothing. No release that will change anything,” he said. “And as a result, I don’t think it’ll have any long-term impact.”

Watch above via Sanity with Alisyn & Dave.