The DOJ's 305-Name List: What Bondi's Letter Actually Reveals About the Epstein Files
AG Pam Bondi's letter to Congress names 305 'politically exposed persons' in the Epstein files -- but without context, the list obscures more than it reveals
On Valentine's Day 2026, Attorney General Pam Bondi transmitted a six-page letter to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. The letter announced that the Department of Justice had "completed" its release of Epstein files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, publishing 3.5 million pages of documents.
Buried in the letter was a list. 305 names. "Government officials and politically exposed persons" whose names appeared in the released files at least once.
The list detonated across the internet within hours. Cable news chyrons screamed the names. Social media turned every entry into a conviction. And in the chaos, a critical caveat from the DOJ's own letter was almost universally ignored:
"Names appear in the files released under the Act in a wide variety of contexts. For example, some individuals had extensive direct email contact with Epstein or Maxwell, while other individuals are mentioned only in a portion of a document (including press reporting) that on its face is unrelated to the Epstein and Maxwell matters."
In other words: being on the list tells you nothing. Elvis Presley is on the list. So is Janis Joplin, who died in 1970 -- before Epstein was even born. So are Kurt Cobain, Marilyn Monroe, and Pope John Paul II.
We spent the last 48 hours doing what the DOJ refused to: providing context. We cross-referenced every name against our database of 1,500+ persons of interest, 264,000+ documents, and 1,708 flights. Here's what we found.
The Numbers
Three Tiers of Connection
After reviewing the available evidence for every name on the list, the 305 names break down into three distinct tiers:
Tier 1: Documented Substantive Connections
These individuals appear in the files through direct emails, business dealings, guest lists, financial transactions, or legal proceedings involving Epstein:
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Stephen Feinberg -- Founder of Cerberus Capital Management and current Deputy Secretary of Defense. Named in 20+ documents; Cerberus appears in 360 files. Emails from 2009-2015 document financial dealings. Deutsche Bank flagged Cerberus as "high risk" with unidentified guarantors.
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Michael Milken -- The "Junk Bond King." Listed on Epstein's "Seminar-MONEY" planning document alongside Bezos, Gates, and Thiel. Both operated in the Drexel Burnham Lambert orbit where Milken mentored Leon Black, who became Epstein's largest known financial client.
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Michael Cohen -- Trump's former lawyer. An SDNY prosecutorial note reveals Cohen's attorneys offered information about "Trump say[ing] things about Epstein" in exchange for a Rule 35 sentence reduction in July 2019 -- days after Epstein's arrest. Prosecutors declined. Cohen has repeatedly denied this publicly.
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Howard Lorber -- Trump associate and Douglas Elliman CEO. Referenced directly in emails to Epstein's assistant and named in Epstein's August 2018 "war council" proposal listing Trump allies.
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Kevin Warsh -- Trump's nominee for Fed Chair. Named on a "St. Barth's Christmas 2010" guest list forwarded to Epstein, alongside Roman Abramovich and Brett Ratner.
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Jared Kushner -- Trump's son-in-law. His New York Observer sent a 2013 gala invitation to Epstein. Indian billionaire Anil Ambani asked Epstein in 2017 to arrange meetings with "Jared and Bannon."
Tier 2: Contextual References With Some Substance
These individuals are mentioned in the files in ways that provide some context, but fall short of documenting a personal relationship:
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Joe Biden -- Mentioned through the "Poetry in America" PBS series that Epstein funded. Epstein forwarded an email about a clinical trial app with the note "sent to biden private."
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George Soros -- 350+ file mentions, but primarily in Steve Bannon's emails to Epstein about European political strategy ("I need to get serious about taking on Soros").
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Benjamin Netanyahu -- 650+ file mentions, almost entirely forwarded news articles about Israeli politics. A debunked "torture video" claim was widely circulated.
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Keir Starmer -- The UK Prime Minister was not connected to Epstein but suffered massive political fallout after firing Peter Mandelson over revelations in the files.
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Eliot Spitzer -- Received $50,000 in campaign donations from Epstein in 2006 (later returned).
Tier 3: Press Clippings, News Articles, and Peripheral Mentions
The vast majority of names fall here. These people's names appear because a news article about them happened to be saved in an email account, or because their name was mentioned in passing in an unrelated document:
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Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ro Khanna, Thomas Massie, Nancy Mace -- Legislators who fought hardest to release the files ended up on the list themselves. Greene noted: "Don't make sense like Janis Joplin who died in 1970."
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Meghan Markle -- Named solely through a Yahoo Lifestyle article about Prince Harry's prank call regarding Prince Andrew.
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Chuck Schumer -- The senator who championed the transparency bill appears on the list via news clippings about unrelated political matters.
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Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, JD Vance, Marco Rubio -- All appear through peripheral press references. Fabricated AI images of Harris with Epstein were debunked by France24.
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Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Princess Diana -- People who died before Epstein built his network. Their names appear in media content within the files.
The Real Story the List Obscures
The DOJ's undifferentiated list serves a purpose -- but it may not be the purpose you think.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a co-author of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, accused the DOJ of "purposefully muddying the waters on who was a predator and who was mentioned in an email."
By lumping Stephen Feinberg (20+ documents, Deutsche Bank high-risk flag, financial dealings) together with Cher and Bruce Springsteen (press clippings), the list makes it harder, not easier, to identify individuals with real questions to answer.
Meanwhile, some of the most substantively connected individuals in the files -- people with dozens of documented interactions, business deals, and personal visits -- were already known before this list. The 305-name release added relatively few names with genuinely new, substantive connections to Epstein's network.
What We're Watching
The real stories from the February 2026 releases aren't on the 305-name list. They're in:
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The Feinberg-Cerberus connection -- A sitting Deputy Secretary of Defense with documented financial ties to Epstein, flagged by Deutsche Bank's own compliance team.
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The Cohen Rule 35 revelation -- Trump's former lawyer offered information about "Trump say[ing] things about Epstein" that he never disclosed publicly. What did Cohen know?
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The Norwegian political crisis -- Criminal charges against former PM Thorbjorn Jagland, scrutiny of Crown Princess Mette-Marit (mentioned 1,000+ times), and the Mandelson-Starmer fallout that nearly toppled the UK government.
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The intelligence thread -- With the current FBI Director (Kash Patel) and CIA Director (John Ratcliffe) both appearing on the list, questions about Epstein's alleged intelligence connections are closer to the people who could answer them than ever before.
Our Methodology
For every name on the DOJ's 305 list, we:
- Searched our existing database of 1,500+ persons, 264,000+ documents, and 10,000+ emails
- Searched news reporting from CNN, NBC, Fox News, PBS, NPR, CBS, The Hill, and 30+ other outlets covering the February 2026 releases
- Reviewed available document context to determine whether each name appeared in substantive correspondence or peripheral media content
- Added 79 new person profiles with researched descriptions explaining the specific context of each mention
Every person page on Epstein Exposed now carries a description explaining why they appear in the files -- not just that they appear. Browse all 1,500+ persons of interest.
If you have additional context about any name on this list -- or know of names that should be added -- you can submit information through our community contributions page. Every submission is reviewed before publication.
This analysis is part of our ongoing coverage of the Epstein files. For the full database, visit epsteinexposed.com. Follow our changelog for daily updates.
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