US Deputy Attorney General Pam Bondi has accused the FBI of holding back “thousands of pages” of documents in the context of the investigations against the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a letter to the newly appointed FBI Director Kash Patel, Bondi demanded the immediate release of all relevant files.
Earlier, the Justice Department had released a series of documents with the title “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” to a select group of conservative influencers, including social media personalities like Chaya Raichik of “Libs of TikTok”, journalist Jack Posobiec, commentator Liz Wheeler and conservative commentator Mike Cernovich. These documents, however, were heavily redacted and mostly contained already known information.
Cernovich, in a post on X, wrote that the FBI was holding the real information and that General Attorney Bondi had instructed Kash Patel to “spread arse around”. He also mentioned that the documents they received were not significant and that the FBI was hiding the real information.
In another post, Cernovich confirmed that Bondi had published what she had in her possession “in the interest of transparency” and that the real information was still being held back.
In the letter to Patel, dated Thursday, Bondi claims that despite the assurances of her predecessors at the FBI that her office had received the complete set of Epstein documents, a tip from an insider revealed the existence of additional, not yet published files. The original stack of documents provided to Bondi’s office, reportedly around 200 pages, included flight records, contact information and the identities of the victims, which, according to Bondi, was already enough to “make someone sick”.
“‘By tomorrow, February 28, at 8:00 a.m., the FBI will turn over to my office the complete Epstein files, including all recordings, documents, audio and video recordings and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein and his clients, regardless of how the information was obtained. There will be no holding back or restrictions on my or your access'”, Bondi wrote in her letter to Patel.
The limited release of Epstein files was criticized by Representative Anna Paulina Luna from Florida, who heads the task force set up by President Donald Trump to release information. “This is not what we or the American people asked for. Get us the information we asked for, instead of giving old information to the press”, Luna wrote on X.
Shortly after taking office, Trump signed an order to release the Epstein files, as well as secret documents related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The Epstein case has garnered international attention due to his extensive network of high-profile partners, including former US President Bill Clinton, British Prince Andrew, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and numerous other prominent figures in politics, media and business.
Trump knew Epstein personally, but denied ever visiting his private island and claims to have cut ties with him in the 1990s – years before his first arrest in 2006 for procuring a minor for prostitution. Trump has promised to release all files on the Epstein case.
Representative Andy Ogles from Tennessee is concerned about the possible destruction of sensitive documents and has introduced a bill aimed at preserving all non-public records on Epstein. In a letter to Bondi, Ogles announced his intention to introduce the Preventing Epstein Documentation Obliteration Act, or PEDO Act, after “it was reported that certain FBI agents allegedly tried to destroy important documents”.
Epstein, a financier who socialized with the rich and famous for years, is believed to have introduced numerous young women – many of whom were minors – to his powerful acquaintances and flown them to his private Caribbean island on his jet, the “Lolita Express”. He was arrested in 2019 and later died in the same year in a Manhattan jail cell, with the official cause of death being suicide, although there are significant doubts about this version of events.