Since the US Department of Justice denied the existence of Jeffrey Epstein's infamous client list, questions have followed Attorney General Pam Bondi everywhere.
On Tuesday (July 8), as she attended the cabinet meeting with the other members of the Trump administration, a reporter again asked her about the Epstein files. However, the president came to Bondi's defense, quickly shutting down the reporter.
The Epstein files controversy gained global media attention again after the DOJ released a memo this week saying that no further disclosure in the Epstein probe will be released. The memo confirmed that the so-called Epstein's "black book," containing the list of his clients, does not exist; nor did any blackmail take place over it. However, this did not sit well with many, and Bondi's handling of the case as Attorney General's has faced criticism.
Nonetheless, as Bondi and President Trump faced questions from the reporter at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the 79-year-old shrugged it off, calling it a "waste of time."
"Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?" Trump said. "This guy, we have been talking about for years. You are asking... We have Texas and other issues, and people are still talking about this creep guy that is unbelievable. You are a waste of time. I mean, I can't believe you are asking a question about him and at a time like this, when we are having some of the greatest success and tragedy with what happened in Texas. It seems like a disaggregation."
Why Is Pam Bondi Facing Flak Over Epstein Disclosures?
The root of the DOJ and Attorney General Pam Bondi's controversy over the recent disclosure on the Epstein files can be traced back to a comment Bondi made in a Fox News interview back in February, shortly before she was to take charge as AG.
{{/usCountry}}The root of the DOJ and Attorney General Pam Bondi's controversy over the recent disclosure on the Epstein files can be traced back to a comment Bondi made in a Fox News interview back in February, shortly before she was to take charge as AG.
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She said that the Epstein "client list" was sitting on her table and suggested that its disclosure was imminent. As the DOJ released the latest round of the Epstein file, which included surveillance footage from the night of Epstein's 2018 death in custody, the missing ‘client list' was nowhere to be found.
Responding to the reporter at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Bondi referred to the Fox News interview and said that by "client list," she meant the combined files related to Jeffrey Epstein, John F Kennedy, and Martin Luther King.
“In February, I did an interview on Fox, and it’s been getting a lot of attention because I said — I was asked a question about the client list, and my response was, ‘it’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed,’ meaning the [Epstein] file along with the JFK [and] MLK files as well,” she said.