U.S. Lawyer Common Pam Bondi appeared to briefly unite the web political spectrum beneath one banner Thursday after failing to ship any new info on the infamous intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The backlash towards Bondi exploded after she repeatedly promised to launch never-before-seen recordsdata referring to Epstein, hyping up the doc dump for days as bombshell developments that had the potential to reshape the U.S. political and cultural dialog.
When the second lastly got here, nevertheless, guarantees gave the impression to be damaged.
Throughout an look on Fox Information Wednesday, Bondi instructed host Jesse Watters that “some Epstein info” together with flight logs and names can be launched by her workplace the following day which she assured would “make you sick.” The transfer was a key pillar within the Trump administration’s broader purpose of thinning the glass between the general public and the federal government in pursuit of transparency.
However the info launched by the Justice Division Thursday appeared to be completely comprised of data that had already been made public over the previous decade because of a number of instances in opposition to Epstein and people in his interior circle.
The rug-pull angered many on each side of the political aisle.
“I nor the duty pressure got or reviewed the Epstein paperwork being launched right this moment… A NY Publish story simply revealed that the paperwork will merely be Epstein’s phonebook,” Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who was just lately picked to steer a activity pressure on ending authorities secrecy, wrote on X Thursday. “THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR and an entire disappointment. GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR!”
Making issues worse was the way in which the administration rolled out the paperwork’ launch: By inviting greater than a dozen far-right influencers to the White Home, handing them a shiny binder stuffed with sordid allegations and permitting them to take glamour shots with the paperwork exterior 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Onetime Trump confidante and far-right influencer Laura Loomer, who was not invited to the soiree, additionally criticized Bondi Thursday, taking repeated jabs on the White Home’s “stunt.”
She even declared in one X submit: “There may be one one that takes the blame for what occurred right this moment. It’s @PamBondi. I feel she ought to resign.
“She went on Fox Information and stated the recordsdata have been on her desk. Then she went on Fox Information final night time and stated we’d have recordsdata right this moment. She is a complete liar. Simply face it,” Loomer concluded.
Democrats, together with Reps. Eric Swalwell and Jared Moskowitz, decried the lackluster reveal, with Swalwell posting a picture to X displaying a web page of redacted traces, including, “You have been promised the total Epstein recordsdata. You bought this.”
Moskowitz, reacting to the doc dump on CNN Thursday night time, stated “I’ve by no means seen the Left and the Proper come collectively in a second [like this].”
For her half, Bondi was fast to level fingers on the FBI, blaming the company’s Subject Workplace in New York of holding “1000’s of pages of paperwork” associated to Epstein.
She wrote in a letter to newly minted director Kash Patel that the bureau “by no means disclosed the existence of” the extra paperwork to her.
“Whenever you and I spoke yesterday, you have been simply as shocked as I used to be to be taught this new info,” Bondi continued, seemingly absolving Patel of blame.
“By 8:00 am tomorrow, February 28, the FBI will ship the total and full Epstein recordsdata to my workplace,” Bondi continued, requesting shopper lists, video footage, audio recordings and extra. “There can be no withholding or limitations to my or your entry. The Division of Justice will be certain that any public disclosure of those recordsdata can be accomplished in a way to guard the privateness of victims and in accordance with legislation, as I’ve accomplished my whole profession as a prosecutor.”
She additionally requested Patel to conduct a right away investigation into why her order was “not adopted,” and requested for a report back to be despatched again inside 14 days.
Bondi’s fast turnaround didn’t go unnoticed by even the staunchest supporters of her boss. Fox Information host Jesse Watters centered his Thursday present on the saga, and seemingly took Bondi at her phrase that she had been bamboozled by the FBI.
He boiled the previous 24 hours right down to: “Once we started to really feel duped, Pam Bondi launched a letter principally saying I used to be duped too.”
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