President Donald Trump's handling of the disclosure of the Jeffrey Epstein files has breathed new life into a long-discredited conspiracy theory involving child sexual abuse: Pizzagate.

The Pizzagate scandal refers to the disproved claim that Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign operated a child sex trafficking ring out of Comet Ping Pong, a Washington, D.C. pizzeria. The theory appeared to retreat from the American mainstream after Comet Ping Pong was attacked by a gunman — an incident in which no one was hurt. According to conspiracy theory expert Anna Merlan, however, Trump's refusal to fully release the Epstein files has added fuel to the Pizzagate fire. The dynamic illustrates how debunked narratives endure: as long as official disclosures remain incomplete, adherents can treat each newly documented fact about Epstein as proof that earlier 'debunkings' were premature.

"That is because reality has continued to give Pizzagate more material," Merlan, a journalist and author who studies conspiracy theories, wrote for The New York Times on Sunday. "The #MeToo movement came less than a year after the shooting at Comet, and soon stories of the elite and powerful engaging in unchecked sexual abuse were seemingly everywhere. No one exemplified this culture of impunity better than Mr. Epstein."

"In 2008 he pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution in a sweetheart deal that helped him avoid federal prosecution," she wrote. "He spent the next decade cavorting with top businessmen, academics, entertainers and politicians who shamelessly pursued his money and social clout while evidence and allegations of his sexual abuse grew."

Merlan also pointed to the flight logs for Epstein's private jet. "The flight logs for Mr. Epstein's private jet — Mr. Clinton, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then-Prince Andrew, Kevin Spacey, Mr. Trump — seemed to confirm the 'deep state' that conspiracists saw everywhere," she wrote, adding that Bill Gates flew on another of Epstein's private jets and had conversations with him from 2011 to 2014, well after Epstein's conviction.

"The social associations between Mr. Epstein and people in the upper echelons of power were confirmation of one piece of the Pizzagate worldview: that the elite know and protect one another," Merlan wrote. That distinction matters for readers weighing the revival: the flight logs and social ties are documented, while the child trafficking ring Pizzagate alleged was disproved — and it is by collapsing that distinction that the theory's proponents have sought to bring it back.

The theory has surfaced in political debate as recently as last year, when Republicans fending off inquiries into the Epstein files sought to deflect by bringing up Pizzagate. With the files still not fully public, the open questions are whether fuller disclosure arrives and whether 'debunked' labels continue to face skepticism from elected officials.

Per The Huffington Post's Yashar Ali, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) in December reposted a video from "a conspiracy theorist who regularly spreads neo-Nazi propaganda." The theorist, Ian Carroll, wrote that "the 'Pizzagate' conspiracy came out way before the Epstein revelations came out," and asked: "Am I, like, way out of line to say that Epstein is pretty solid evidence that there might be some child trafficking going on with elites? Right? Like, is that too far out there?"

In reposting the video, Lee added: "What comes to mind first when you hear that mainstream-news media sources have 'debunked' a particular 'conspiracy theory'? I don't know this guy, but he asks some legitimate questions. Watch the video and see for yourself."