Attorney General Pam Bondi's efforts to manage the Jeffrey Epstein files crisis have proven to be disastrous as public scrutiny and outrage has only intensified with each new revelation, a Republican congressman said Tuesday.
Last week, Bondi attempted to blow off concerns about the Epstein files by snapping at House Judiciary Committee lawmakers on both sides of the aisle while furiously insisting time would be better spent applauding stock market gains under the president. Then over the weekend, the Department of Justice released a comprehensive list of names found in the Epstein documents that did nothing to shed light on any possible investigation and only ramped up more criticism.
According to Politico reporter Meredith Lee Hill, Rep. Tom Massie (R-KY) assessed Bondi's performance as strategically flawed in a recent interview. Massie characterized Bondi's defensive posture and over-the-top personal attacks as signs her approach has exhausted itself.
Massie noted her unexpected comments about stock market performance as particularly damaging. "Overall I think she looked weak and frustrated when she started talking about the Dow Jones, which has literally nothing to do with her job. I thought that looked bad.
"She kind of had this stack of insults that were pre-prepared—in politics you might call it oppo research—and you could see her shuffling through them to try and find which one matched the person who was trying to ask her a question at the time."
Massie concluded, "I think the public consensus is that she didn't do a great job."
When asked about pursuing court action to enforce compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Massie declined to escalate immediately. "I don't think it's necessary to proverbially pull a knife right now in this argument because we're winning it. When the attorney general is reduced to a stack of pre-prepared insults to deliver, and then the DOJ is responding to my every tweet with additional unredactions, I don't think I'm going to change what I'm doing just yet. We're at a stage right now where we still have steam."
He also warned the GOP that it's likely to get more opposition from inside its ranks.
“On any given day, I would just need one or two of my own co-conspirators to get something done,” he told Politico. “I think you’re going to see more defections.”
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