As the fallout over the Trump administration’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein continues, Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly confronted FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino in what The New York Times reported was an “angry face-to-face confrontation.”
“It erupted into an angry face-to-face confrontation at the White House on Wednesday, when an irate Ms. Bondi accused Mr. Bongino of leaking information to the news media in the presence of the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, the White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and one of her deputies, Taylor Budowich,” wrote New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush on Friday.
Bondi, Bongino and Patel all signed off on a recent report that concluded Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide, and that no evidence existed that he maintained a client list of powerful individuals for blackmail purposes. The report was contrary to many theories around the disgraced financier, including those pushed by Bondi, Bongino and Patel themselves, as well as by others in Trump’s cabinet, including Vice President JD Vance.
The blowback to the report has been swift, particularly among Trump’s most loyal supporters, many of them directing their anger directly at Bondi, though Bongino and Patel have not been spared from MAGA scorn either.
Bongino reportedly took the day off Friday out of growing frustrations over how the Epstein case was handled, and is even considering quitting over the matter, CNN reported. And now, those growing inter-agency tensions include multiple heated confrontations between top leaders at the Justice Department and the DOJ.
“Mr. Bongino, during another confrontation within the past week, told Ms. Bondi she had overhyped the likelihood that a review of the case undertaken by the Justice Department and FBI this year would reveal a list of Mr. Epstein’s sex-trafficking clients, and possibly raise questions about his 2019 death by hanging in custody, which was ruled a suicide,” Thrush wrote.