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It’s not just prominent MAGA commentators livid with Attorney General Pam Bondi over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case — some of her own Trump administration colleagues are frustrated, too.
Bondi has become a lightning rod for President Donald Trump’s base thanks to an unsigned two-page memo released Sunday night by the Justice Department and FBI. The memo concluded that Epstein didn’t have a “client list,” that the accused sex trafficker died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial, and that a review of his case determined that “no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”
Fury ensued among a cadre of Trump’s staunchest supporters who had hoped the administration would shed more light on Epstein’s death — and the conspiracy theories that have arisen in its wake about the late financier’s connections to prominent figures.
When Bondi said on Fox News in February that a list of Epstein’s clients was “sitting on my desk right now to review,” MAGA’s expectations were raised, only to get dashed on Sunday. And as disillusioned Trump supporters criticized the attorney general, some of her own colleagues agreed that she’d missed the mark.
“The list? There was no list ever on her desk, because there is no list. That was a sensationalized thing. Why did she say that? I don’t know,” one administration official told Semafor. “She’s the one that’s been continuously overpromising for months.”
Bondi sought to clarify her February remarks on Tuesday, telling reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House that she was referring broadly to files waiting for review, and not a specific Epstein “client list.”
“My response was, ‘it’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed,’ meaning the [Epstein] file along with the JFK, MLK files as well,” Bondi said. “That’s what I meant by that.”
But it’s not just the Fox News remark causing problems for her on the right. Trump allies are also befuddled by a February event spearheaded by Bondi in which conservative influencers were invited to the White House and given a binder labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1.”
After cameras set up outside the West Wing captured the MAGA figures leaving with the binders, some of them revealed that they got no new information about Epstein’s case. Several of them are now pushing for Bondi to be held accountable for this week’s memo: “We were all told more was coming,” Jack Posobiec wrote. “It’s time to fire Pam Bondi,” Liz Wheeler declared.
“There was a series of flubs along the way, with the binders that were given out, and just the really clunky, kind of weird lack of an actual process that was at play,” Mike Howell, who currently serves as president of the Oversight Project and works as a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Semafor.
He described Bondi’s DOJ as lacking “clarity in the communications.”
A DOJ spokesperson disputed that Bondi ever intended to suggest the binders handed out in February contained new details about Epstein.
“I think she was very transparent in the room where she said that there were no bombshells in here, but it was a step of transparency,” the spokesperson said.
Rogan O’Handley, another influencer who attended the binder event, wrote that influencers “were told a lot of the info in the binders was not new, but that there was some new info.”
Another person close to the White House argued that Bondi’s claims of transparency didn’t quite hold up.
“She chose to bloviate during Hannity B-blocks instead of being forthright with the American people,” this person told Semafor. “And by the way, when’s she holding a press briefing?”
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The frustration within Trump’s base over the Epstein files is multifaceted: Some are angered by what they see as a case of overpromising and underdelivering. Others believe there’s more to the Epstein story, and think the government is trying to shut the door on a case with too many unanswered questions.
Most believe there’s still more evidence that could be released without endangering Epstein’s many victims; the late financier was accused of trafficking underage girls.
“Our goal has always been, from Day One, transparency,” the DOJ spokesperson said. “If you look at JFK, not a lot of big revelations in those files. But they were released, and that was exciting.”
But frustration among the MAGA faithful with Bondi isn’t limited to the Epstein case, either. Some are looking for more from her DOJ on allegations of “weaponization” of government against conservatives, which congressional Republicans have long been interested in.
“There are very serious people who are upset with Pam Bondi, and it has nothing at all to do with Epstein or chemtrails,” a second person close to Trump told Semafor.
How much the president himself cares about the Epstein flap remains an open question. Some supporters closest to the issue have suggested that he’s unhappy with Bondi.
However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement for this story that Trump “is proud” of Bondi’s “efforts to execute his Make America Safe Again agenda, restore the integrity of the Department of Justice, and bring justice to victims of crime.”
Leavitt called suggestions of division “baseless and unfounded in reality.”
On Tuesday, Trump also scoffed at the idea of Epstein still being a news story.
“Are you guys still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?” Trump asked reporters. “This guy has been talked about for years. We have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things. And are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable.”
Shelby’s view
Trump clearly is ready to be done with Epstein talk — he said as much today. But the reality is that significant portions of his base are deeply engaged in the issue.
And they’re looking to the administration to provide new insight into an accused criminal who socialized with Trump at one point (as Elon Musk has pointed out and reiterated on Tuesday). While the president might prefer to focus on trade deals or geopolitics, his supporters are going to continue to press for more on Epstein.
So if Trump isn’t particularly frustrated at Bondi at the moment, those relentless questions might irk him down the line.
Room for Disagreement
Bondi isn’t the only administration official taking heat from the right for the Sunday night Epstein memo.
FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, both of whom have previously questioned whether Epstein’s death was a suicide, are also facing MAGA backlash of their own.