The Epstein Rerun
After Attorney General Pam Bondi’s appearance on Jesse Watters Primetime last night, it looked like that the DOJ was set to release new information related to Jeffrey Epstein: more information about the victims, more information on potential co-conspirators, etc.
Instead, there was a release of a 200 page binder of old materials – mainly flight logs and Epstein’s contacts, and a completely redacted list of Epstein’s masseuses. The highly anticipated “Phase 1” is a rerun. Even the DOJ admits “the first phase of declassified files largely contains documents that have been previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity by the U.S. Government.” Some of it is more redacted than what is already in the public domain. Courtesy of David J. Reilly, here’s an example:
I wouldn’t recommend taking a look if you want new information. But, if you’re curious, you can read them here.
According to a letter from AG Bondi to FBI Director Kash Patel, she requested the agency’s “full and complete” Epstein file before he came into office. The FBI responded with these 200 pages of documents and assured her that they had produced everything.
That turned out to be false. Late yesterday (probably after her appearance on Watters’ show), she “learned from a source that the FBI Field Office in New York was in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein.” She further stated “the FBI never disclosed the existence of these files.”
Read the letter in full:
We’re a little surprised that AG Bondi didn’t look at the FBI’s initial production of 200 pages with skepticism. Even the casual observer would see the red flags.
After all, the DOJ was prosecuting a criminal case against Epstein before committed suicide (allegedly). It prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell. Both these cases had volumes of records – thousands and thousands of pages. And it opened up a grandy jury investigation into other Epstein co-conspirators – which was ongoing while Maxwell was being prosecuted. Of course the New York FBI Field Office has “thousands and thousands of pages of documents.”
Not that the point of this is to blame Bondi. At least she is demanding production from the FBI. We’re confident Director Kash Patel will do his part. But we suspect those assisting Bondi with compiling these records is, to put it bluntly, is unfamiliar with the Epstein cases and isn’t well versed on both the DOJ and FBI’s history with Epstein. We reported on Epstein’s 2002 interview regarding financial fraud with the FBI back in May 2023 (we posted it on Twitter today) – it wasn’t in the binder. Maybe part of the issue is the persistence of her staff.
In any event, Bondi can’t stop with the FBI. She must also look within the DOJ.
In 2018, we named the officials at Main Justice in Washington, DC who oversaw and approved the Epstein plea deal. What about their communications and emails? Their memos and letters?
What do DOJ records say about DC dragging its feet in approving an Epstein grand jury?
What do the DOJ records say about the plea deal negotiations – how and why did Main Justice approve the deal, which included all Epstein co-conspirators?
Or, what about the records from Main Justice concerning an Assistant Attorney General stopping notification letters going to Epstein’s victims before the plea deal? If Epstein Attorney Kenneth Starr is to believed, these were stopped by Assistant Attorney General Alice Fischer.
We can go on, but we hope the point has been made. AG Bondi’s priority needs to be to look in the right places, both at the FBI and in the DOJ.