Did Jeffrey Epstein “Belong to Intelligence”?
The shaky source behind a foundational myth of the Epstein conspiracy theory
Among the various, often feverish, conspiracy theories surrounding the deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, perhaps the most intriguing posits that his deviant activities were part of a state-sanctioned operation to compromise powerful figures on behalf of an intelligence agency, the Israeli Mossad being the most common candidate. This narrative, which circulated for years in the more conspiratorial corners of the internet, has become mainstream enough that a former prime minister of Israel recently felt compelled to publicly refute it.
The cornerstone of this narrative is an oft-cited quote attributed to Alexander Acosta, the former U.S. Attorney who oversaw Epstein’s 2008 plea deal in Florida and later served as Labor Secretary in the first Trump administration. As the story goes, Acosta claimed he was told by someone to leave Epstein alone because Epstein “belonged to intelligence” and this explains how Epstein got his supposedly lenient deal.
Like a game of telephone, the particulars of the provocative quote seem to change with each retelling. Peter Thiel intimated to Joe Rogan that Acosta raised his right hand and swore it in “congressional testimony;” Megyn Kelly declared Acosta said it on the record; Mike Benz claims Acosta said it publicly; Candace Owens suggested Acosta told it to reporters. Tucker Carlson claims that Acosta confirmed the quote was true but couldn’t recall who told him Epstein belonged to intelligence.
Within Epstein conspiracy circles, Acosta’s quote is assumed to be settled fact, even if some details have been forgotten with time. But the quote’s sanctity is belied by its flimsy foundation: it can be traced to a single anonymous source in a 2019 Daily Beast article by the journalist Vicky Ward.
Like a game of telephone, the particulars of the provocative quote seem to change with each retelling.
Ward recounted a conversation she had with a “former senior White House official” a couple of years prior. Ward’s source, clearly collegial with Epstein, describes him glowingly and notes his connection to Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. According to this mysterious official, Epstein’s name had come up when Alex Acosta was being interviewed by the Trump transition team for the role of Labor Secretary. Acosta allegedly explained that he’d signed off on the controversial plea deal because he had been told that Epstein “belonged to intelligence,” was above Acosta’s pay grade, and to back off. Contrary to the confident assertions of influencers, the quote was allegedly uttered behind closed doors, and certainly not in congressional testimony, on the record, publicly, or to reporters.
Ward’s reporting has drawn both praise and unease. Graydon Carter, Ward’s esteemed former editor at Vanity Fair, told The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner, “My staff, to a person, did not trust her.” Carter’s recent memoir, When The Going Was Good, doubles down, noting that fact-checkers “regularly expressed concern about her reporting.” Others have echoed this refrain. One former colleague, speaking to Chotiner, claimed Ward held “zero credibility with the fact-checking and legal departments.” Another said Ward had provided “inaccurate quotations.” Chotiner was more blunt, telling The New Yorker readers that “many of the things that she told me—and had told her podcast listeners—turned out to be untrue.”
Darryl Cooper has offered his opinion on the matter, telling Tucker Carlson’s audience of millions that “I don’t think Ward would make that up.”
Darryl Cooper has offered his opinion on the matter, telling Tucker Carlson’s audience of millions that “I don’t think Ward would make that up.” For her part, Ward stands by her reporting. “I can't name my source,” Ward recently told The Megyn Kelly Show, “but nothing has happened since then to make me think that there was anything wrong with that person's memory or what they told me.”
Ward’s source is said to have been a “former senior White House official” in the Trump administration, as of July 2019, who was friendly with Epstein a couple of years before his death. They also had knowledge of Epstein’s then unknown connection to Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. We also know that Vicky Ward had spent two years writing a critical book on Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Kushner, Inc., published in early 2019.
Shortly after being ousted as Trump’s chief strategist in August 2017, Steve Bannon met Jeffrey Epstein through Michael Wolff, author of the explosive Fire and Fury for which Bannon was a key source. According to Michael Wolff, Bannon and Epstein spent an enormous amount of time together and became very close friends. Given his bitter and well-attested feud with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Bannon's role as a key source for Ward's book was, as with Fire and Fury, transparently obvious. So obvious, in fact, that one book reviewer for NPR wrote:
…Bannon’s ideas quietly permeate the book without attribution. Surely [Ward] could only write phrases like “Bannon thought to himself” because he talked to her. But she remains coy.
Through his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, Bannon was also aware of Epstein's connection to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. In Too Famous, Michael Wolff recounts Bannon gesturing towards Epstein’s framed photo gallery and remarking on a photo of a laughing Mohammed bin Salman embracing Epstein. Snapshots of Epstein’s framed photo gallery, which also included a photo of Bannon, were published by The New York Times in August.
While there’s no definitive proof that Steve Bannon was Vicky Ward’s source, just as there’s no definitive proof that Donald Trump was pretending to be a spokesman named John Miller, the available evidence strongly suggests Ward’s source was Steve Bannon.
Steve Bannon, a polarizing figure even in conservative circles, is widely viewed as a sensationalist showman with a penchant for disinformation. He is quoted as saying “the real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.” Vicky Ward, who has appeared on Steve Bannon’s The War Room, has noted his sometimes forgotten background in Hollywood and praised his flair for dramatic storytelling.
Making false statements to federal investigators or Congress is a serious crime. Making false statements to Vicky Ward is not.
Alex Acosta, the former Labor Secretary, has no such reputation. When asked at a press conference if he was ever made aware that Epstein was an intelligence asset, Acosta said he couldn’t address it because of guidelines, but that he would hesitate to take this reporting as fact. Acosta was later asked by federal investigators from the Department of Justice if he had knowledge of Epstein being an intelligence asset. Under oath, Acosta said “The answer is no.” Additionally, none of the subjects of a DOJ investigation regarding Epstein’s 2008 plea deal believed it to be the case that Epstein was an intelligence asset. In recent congressional testimony, Acosta reiterated to lawmakers that he was not aware of Epstein having any foreign or domestic intelligence connections.
Making false statements to federal investigators or Congress is a serious crime. Making false statements to Vicky Ward is not. So to believe that Acosta went easy on Epstein because he belonged to intelligence requires us to trust Ward’s anonymous source, almost certainly the untrustworthy Steve Bannon, and to believe that Acosta, and all the other subjects of the DOJ investigation, decided to risk jail time by lying to federal investigators.
Conspiracists have devoted countless hours scrutinizing the mundane posts of a Reddit account named “maxwellhill,” which they believe belongs to Jeffrey Epstein’s erstwhile confidante, Ghislaine Maxwell. One prominent conspiracist, Whitney Webb, was initially inspired to write two laboriously long volumes scrutinizing Epstein’s supposed intelligence connections after coming across Acosta’s purported “belonged to intelligence” quote. Curiously, the source of seemingly the most authoritative quote yet that Jeffrey Epstein was an intelligence asset has never been scrutinized by conspiracists, despite the telltale clues. And can you blame them? Never let some dubious source get in the way of a good yarn.