Attorney General Pam Bondi didn't give the White House a heads up before her event handing out "Epstein Files" binders to far-right influencers, reported ABC News on Tuesday.
"Attorney General Pam Bondi and her team did not inform White House officials in advance that she planned to distribute the binders, which contained almost no new information regarding convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein — and now the move has ruffled feathers among those closest to President Donald Trump, including his senior White House staff, sources tell ABC News," reported Will Steakin, Katherine Faulders, and Alexander Mallin. "White House staff moved quickly to try and contain the fallout, privately reaching out to influencers who were critical of Bondi and the move online, according to sources."
Bondi had reportedly believed that it would be a pleasant surprise for the Trump administration that she had done this, according to the report — but ultimately, not only was that not the case, the move even divided far-right influencers themselves, many of whom accused Bondi of arranging the whole thing as a public relations stunt and withholding the information they really wanted about the case.
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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt disputes this account of events, telling ABC, "Everyone is working together as one unified team at the direction of President Trump. Any notion to the contrary is completely false."
And Trump, for his part, had ordered any undisclosed information on the Epstein case to be released weeks prior.
One person who was thoroughly unconvinced by this whole event was Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), who after the release took to X to proclaim, "I nor the task force were given or reviewed the Epstein documents being released today… A NY Post story just revealed that the documents will simply be Epstein's phonebook. THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR and a complete disappointment. GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR!"
Epstein, whose sex trafficking parties were suspected for years, was originally prosecuted in the late 2000s but managed to get a controversial plea deal that absolved him of most trouble. He was later prosecuted for the full extent of his crimes a decade later, but was found dead of suicide in his Manhattan cell before he could face trial. This has for years spawned conspiracy theories, with some people convinced, despite no evidence, that Epstein was murdered to cover for other rich and powerful people who were in on the scheme with him.
