Fact Check: Did Jeffrey Epstein Documents Reveal Al Gore Was on Client List?

Former Vice President Al Gore was among the high-profile celebrities and political leaders named in the hundreds of documents related to a court case against late financier Jeffrey Epstein that were made public on Wednesday night.

The names were unsealed from a lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre, who has alleged Epstein abused her when she was a minor and that his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, aided in the abuse. Epstein was indicted in 2019 on charges of sex trafficking involving underage girls and was found dead in his jail cell while awaiting trial. Maxwell was found guilty in 2021 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Those named in the newly unsealed documents are facing new scrutiny over their ties to Epstein, though an individual named in the documents does not mean they have committed wrongdoing. And most have been mentioned previously in legal proceedings or news accounts. Charges have only been filed against Epstein and Maxwell. In June 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to the two state charges of soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18.

Read the unsealed Epstein documents in full here.

Gore, a Democrat who served as vice president under former President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001 and unsuccessfully ran for president himself, was among those named in the documents, along with Clinton, who has denied knowing anything about Epstein's crimes.

Some social media users have equated Gore being named in the court documents with him appearing on a list of Epstein's alleged clients.

The Claim

Multiple posts on social media claimed Gore was listed as a "client" of Epstein in the documents.

"Al Gore has been revealed as a client on The Epstein List. Your Thoughts??" posted X user @MS_Sambo_.

"From the Epstein client list: Att 37 page 27-28. Not quite the rise in global temperature that Al Gore had in mind," wrote X user @Theodor27935194.

The Facts

Although Gore was among the dozens of names listed in the trove of Epstein documents released Wednesday evening, he was not listed as one of the late financier's clients.

The court documents did not contain a list of alleged Epstein clients.

Gore was named during a May 2016 deposition from Johanna Sjöberg, one of Epstein's alleged victims. Sjöberg said she never met Gore, nor saw him or his wife Tipper Gore on Little St. James island, where Epstein was alleged to have trafficked and abused his victims.

Gore was also named in a separate court filing, dated April 29, 2016, dealing with a series of documents Maxwell's attorneys requested from Giuffre as part of a long-settled civil defamation lawsuit.

In the filing, dated April 29, 2016, Giuffre's attorneys objected to turning over several of the documents, including a request for "all photographs or video containing any image of You and the following individuals."

The list included Epstein, Maxwell, attorney Alan Dershowitz, Britain's Prince Andrew, Stephen Hawking, Ron Eppinger, Clinton and Gore.

"Ms. Giuffre objects to this request in that documents responsive to this request are within the possession, custody and control of the defendant and Jeffrey Epstein with whom she claims a joint defense privilege and defendant has refused to produce responsive documents to Ms. Giuffre's request seeking communications between the Defendant and Ms. Giuffre and between Jeffrey Epstein and Ms. Giuffre," the filing read.

Newsweek reached out to Gore's spokespersons for comment via email.

The Ruling

False.

Although Gore was mentioned in the Epstein documents, a list of Epstein's clients was not released Wednesday. Therefore, Gore could not have been listed as a client in the court files.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team