Jeffrey Epstein List Release Sparks Donald Trump Conspiracy Theory

The release of previously sealed court documents relating to the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein has prompted theories that it was intentionally timed to coincide with a separate disclosure by Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, a U.S. District Court in New York published the names of alleged associates of the sex offender, after Judge Loretta Preska found that there was no legal justification for continuing to withhold the names in December.

Included on that list were two former presidents: Trump and Bill Clinton. A Trump spokesperson said the release "thoroughly debunked" any claims regarding his relationship with Epstein, while Clinton reiterated that he had cut ties with Epstein before any allegations about him came to light.

The highly-anticipated documents did not insinuate any wrongdoing on the part of those named, whose lawyers were able to view the files before they were unsealed and lodge objections if any.

The release came within hours of Trump taking to his social media site Truth Social to publish a 32-page dossier that claims to provide evidence for his allegation that the 2020 presidential election—which he lost—was subject to fraud in five swing states.

The former president claimed the report was "fully verified" and "compiled by the most highly qualified Election Experts." He warned that if the supposed issue was not addressed, "it will happen again, and be virtually impossible for Republicans to WIN ELECTIONS in the future."

The document did not name any of the experts that Trump claimed had compiled it.

Trump continues to claim the 2020 election was rigged despite no official investigation supporting the assertion, and he has already suggested he thinks the 2024 election too could be subject to interference.

The timing of the two releases prompted some conservatives on social media to suggest the Epstein document had been unsealed to undermine attention towards Trump's report.

"Is it any coincidence that within hours of Trump exposing the largest voter fraud operation in history, they unseal the Epstein court docs?" David Leatherwood, a self-described "ultra MAGA," wrote.

"Did yall [sic] realize Trump just released the entire proof of election fraud in the swing states the same time the Epstein files are released. Coincidence?" another user said.

"Don't let Trump's just-released damning summary of 2020 presidential election fraud be overshadowed by the newly-released Epstein list," Susan Bearry argued. "They are masters at diverting our attention."

Newsweek approached a spokesperson for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York via email for comment on Thursday.

Included in the dossier was supposed evidence of election fraud in Georgia. Trump is currently facing a criminal trial in the state over allegations he attempted to overturn the 2020 election result, as well as another, federal trial on similar charges.

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to procuring a child for prostitution in 2005 and served 13 months in prison. He was accused of sexually abusing as many as three dozen underage girls.

He was arrested again in July 2019 on federal charges of trafficking minors for sex in Florida and New York between 2002 and 2005 but died in a Manhattan jail cell in an apparent suicide.

Epstein was also alleged to have flown underage girls to his private island in the Caribbean and to have offered them to wealthy and influential associates for the purposes of blackmail. While his long-time girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty in 2021 of the sexual trafficking of minors, no other person has been criminally charged in relation to the claims.