The MAGA blowup over Pam Bondi has been a long time coming
The Jeffrey Epstein kerfuffle is the culmination of deep-seated skepticism from the far right about the attorney general.
By Kyle Cheney, Josh Gerstein and Hailey Fuchs
Pam Bondi’s political crisis over the Jeffrey Epstein saga is the latest, most acute expression of a persistent problem she has with the MAGA base.
The attorney general has long tried to establish herself as one of Donald Trump’s most faithful allies: She was part of his defense team during his first impeachment, she helped him challenge his 2020 election loss and she stood by his side during his New York hush money trial.
But many of Trump’s very online MAGA supporters have always distrusted Bondi. Far-right influencers haven’t forgotten that she did not vocally defend the people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. They view her career in Florida politics as tainted by her links to the GOP establishment, especially the state’s former governor, Jeb Bush. As a private lawyer, she even represented Pfizer, a company that some elements of Trump’s base view with suspicion due to its Covid-19 vaccine.
Now, the simmering tension has come to a full boil as the Trump administration takes friendly fire from MAGA allies furious over the Justice Department and FBI’s decision to withhold files related to Epstein, the disgraced mega-financier who pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution and was facing a slew of federal sex-trafficking charges when he killed himself in jail in 2019.
“She’s been in Florida … Do you think she really gets MAGA? I don’t think so,” said Megyn Kelly, a former Fox News star who has become an influential pro-Trump podcaster, at a recent conference of young Trump supporters. “She wouldn’t behave this way if she did.”
For now, Bondi’s job appears to be safe. Over the weekend, the president publicly supported the embattled attorney general, telling his “‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals’” to go easier on her. And on Tuesday, he said she’s “really done a very good job.”
But it’s unclear if Trump’s assurances can mollify his base, which has spent years propagating conspiracy theories about Washington power brokers being implicated in Epstein’s crimes. The irony, of course, is that Bondi — not to mention Trump himself — helped stoke those theories.
Now that she’s attorney general, Bondi’s handling of the issue has been widely seen as a flub. In February, she released binders of documents and boasted that she was “lifting the veil on the disgusting actions of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators.” But MAGA influencers quickly realized that most of the documents were already public.
Bondi also claimed in February that an Epstein “client list” was sitting on her desk.
But last week, in an unsigned memo, the Justice Department and the FBI said no further records would be released, rumors about a list of Epstein’s elite clientele were false and theories that he was murdered in jail were wrong.
During a press conference Tuesday on efforts to crack down on fentanyl, Bondi indicated she had no plans to leave her post despite those calling for a change. “I’m going to be here for as long as the president wants me here, and I believe he’s made that crystal clear: It’s four years,” she said.
Bondi initially tried to deflect reporters’ questions about Epstein. “I’m not going to talk about Epstein,” she said.
However, pressed further, the attorney general had little to add to a suggestion Tuesday from Trump that more Epstein-related documents could be made public.
“Today our memo speaks for itself. We’ll get back to you on anything else,” Bondi said.
A second-choice pick, viewed with suspicion
Bondi, who served eight years as Florida’s attorney general, was not Trump’s first choice to lead the Justice Department in his second term. He initially wanted former Rep. Matt Gaetz, a MAGA favorite, but settled on Bondi when Gaetz’ nomination quickly collapsed.
Some vocal Trump allies were immediately skeptical of her. Even though Bondi had supported Trump in sowing doubts about the 2020 election, she was silent about the Jan. 6 riot. That silence spoke volumes for MAGA world, where support for Jan. 6 defendants is a virtual litmus test.
In her six months as attorney general, Bondi has presided over a breathtaking revamp of the Justice Department. The department has taken increasingly aggressive positions in court to implement Trump’s agenda. It has targeted blue states and cities. It has purged prosecutors who are seen as not sufficiently pro-Trump.
But many of Trump’s conservative allies are clamoring for more. They want a more thorough evisceration of Biden-era holdovers at DOJ, and they want more investigations — and prosecutions — of Democratic politicians as well as Trump’s adversaries and investigators.
Throughout Bondi’s tenure, pro-Trump influencer Laura Loomer has criticized Bondi. Loomer cited Bondi’s ties to former Florida governor Jeb Bush, as well as her lobbying for Qatar prior to joining the Trump administration. Now, Loomer — whose counsel Trump has repeatedly sought — is leading the drive to push Bondi out over the Epstein kerfuffle.
“Some White House staff literally called me begging me to stop attacking her back in February and March. But, I’m not getting any calls to stop this week. Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?” Loomer wondered in a recent post.
Other prominent figures in MAGA world are sharpening their knives, too. Trump’s former national security adviser Mike Flynn admonished Trump that the fallout of the Epstein saga would not go away anytime soon. Like Loomer and Kelly, pro-Trump commentator Glenn Beck suggested Bondi’s standing is on the ropes with Trump’s base and that she might have to go.
“Pam Bondi has created so much DOUBT and CHAOS in this whole thing. There’s no reason for all of this. either it’s a MASSIVE COVER-UP or she’s just FOULED IT UP,” he said in a video posted on social media.
Trump comes to Bondi’s defense
Privately, people close to Trump are irritated by the anti-Bondi crowd, even though some of the most prominent critics have long been key characters in Trump’s movement. Trump’s inner circle sees the attacks as ankle-biting by online influencers who have spent years capitalizing on the Epstein saga, and the White House believes the anger over the issue will blow over, according to a person close to the White House who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.
Trump’s repeated endorsements of Bondi in recent days have been accompanied by a round of wagon-circling by DOJ brass, who pooh-poohed reports that FBI leaders Kash Patel and Dan Bongino were furious at Bondi over her handling of the Epstein files. On Monday, the White House downplayed the drama, describing Bondi, Patel and Bongino as “heroes of our law enforcement community” who “are dedicated to executing President Trump’s agenda.”
“This work will continue in lockstep and with unprecedented success,” said White House spokesperson Harrison Fields.
Bondi said Tuesday that officials “are committed to working together now to make America safe again,” seemingly acknowledging internal tensions while seeking to move past them. She said she was working closely with Patel, but she declined to address Bongino’s future. “I’m not going to talk about personnel matters,” she said.
Trump’s Capitol Hill allies treaded carefully around the fight, suggesting they want answers about the Epstein saga but deferring to Trump on Bondi’s future.
“The president seems happy with her. He’s the one who ultimately has to make that decision,” Senate GOP Leader John Thune told POLITICO. “My assumption is she’s making the best out of a situation that has been hanging around for a long time.”
“I think more information needs to be released,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. “I think more information needs to come out … but I’m not criticizing [Bondi].”
House Speaker Mike Johnson also called for further information to be released and suggested that, despite Trump’s attempt to move on, he does not consider the issue closed.
“I’m for transparency,” Johnson said Tuesday. “We should put everything out there and let the people decide. Pam Bondi needs to come forward and explain it to the American people. Let’s get this thing resolved.”
Asked whether Bondi should continue in her role, Sen. John Kennedy quipped: “That’s a killer question, but it’ll probably be ruled a suicide.”
“I think the Justice Department is going to have to provide more information,” he added.
There were other signs of a detente emerging. Charlie Kirk, head of the pro-Trump Turning Point USA, said Monday he was not going to continue piling on the administration despite his concerns about the handling of the Epstein case.
“I’m gonna trust my friends Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, my friend Pam Bondi,” he said.
Notably, neither Patel nor Bongino has spoken publicly about Bondi or the Epstein episode since it erupted, and a series of reports have described Bongino, in particular, as irate over the episode. The deputy FBI director, who once promoted fringe theories about Epstein’s death, angered some far-right allies in May when he told Fox News that Epstein took his own life. But Trump voices in conservative media began reporting Monday that Bongino had returned to work and seemed more upbeat than he did right after the Epstein saga erupted.
Bondi tries to save face
Bondi, meanwhile, has launched a conspicuous raft of MAGA-friendly maneuvers that seem aimed at shoring up her standing with the base. First, she announced the dismissal of charges against a doctor accused of destroying Covid vaccines — making sure to heap praise on Greene, a favorite of Trump’s base, for her advocacy. News stories over the weekend suggested DOJ had launched an investigation into some of Trump’s adversaries involved in investigating his links to Russia during the 2016 election. On Monday, she continued by announcing guidance to enforce Trump’s executive order declaring English the official language of the United States.
She also joined Trump at a FIFA Club World Cup championship game in New Jersey. Even a thumbs up Trump flashed at Bondi was deemed worthy of note.
In recent days, some figures seen as surrogates for the administration began offering more detailed defenses of Bondi, Patel and Bongino than they have offered publicly. Former Senate Judiciary Committee lawyer Mike Davis released a point-by-point description of legal hurdles and fairness considerations that could justify withholding further Epstein documents.
Epstein-related litigation continues
As Bondi fights off MAGA critiques, her Justice Department won’t escape Epstein any time soon. Litigation related to the saga continues to make its way through the courts.
The conservative group Judicial Watch sued in federal court in Washington last week seeking to force the FBI to release its records on Virginia Giuffre, an outspoken Epstein victim who died by suicide in April. The records at issue in that case likely encompass only a portion of the full universe of Epstein-related files held by the U.S. government.
The celebrity and entertainment news website Radar Online sued under the Freedom of Information Act in 2017 seeking the FBI’s files on its investigation of Epstein up to that point. More than 11,000 pages of records were processed in that case, but most of the information was withheld on various grounds, primarily the ongoing criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s onetime girlfriend.
In 2021, a federal jury in Manhattan found Maxwell guilty on five of six felony charges related to Epstein’s sexual exploitation of young girls. A judge tossed out two of those counts but sentenced Maxwell to 20 years in prison.
Last year, U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe, a George W. Bush appointee, upheld the FBI’s denial of access to the bulk of the records. The judge’s ruling rested largely on a formal declaration from a federal prosecutor deeply involved in the Epstein and Maxwell prosecutions: Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. She argued that disclosure of the investigative records was likely to interfere with the appeal in Maxwell’s case.
Radar Online appealed to the 2nd Circuit, which put the appeal on hold for about six months at both sides’ request because of Maxwell’s pending appeal in her criminal case, which the 2nd Circuit denied in September. Additional briefs in the freedom-of-information appeal are due later this year. The appeals court has not yet scheduled an argument.