Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi stated that the FBI was caught withholding some recordsdata.
New FBI Director Kash Patel vowed for full transparency on Thursday amid criticism of the regulation enforcement bureau over the way it dealt with turning over recordsdata on notorious baby intercourse trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
A letter was despatched by U.S. Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi to Patel during which she stated that an official informed her on Wednesday that she hadn’t obtained all of the Epstein recordsdata regardless of assurances that each one of them have been despatched to her workplace.
It got here after a small batch of paperwork included copies of flight logs from Epstein’s non-public aircraft, which have lengthy been accessible in a number of court docket circumstances, and a closely redacted photocopy of an handle guide purportedly compiled by Epstein and his longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell, which has been cited in media accounts for a few years.
The Justice Division additionally launched a blacked-out checklist of masseuses and an proof checklist displaying entries for greater than 150 objects, together with nude photos, therapeutic massage tables, and different objects. There was no indication as as to whether the checklist was from Epstein’s case, Maxwell’s case, or another investigation.
On Thursday night, Patel appeared to answer Bondi’s letter and criticism about how the company is dealing with the recordsdata, though he didn’t make particular reference to Epstein recordsdata. As a substitute, he stated that there can be “no cover-ups” or “lacking paperwork.”
“The FBI is coming into a brand new period—one which can be outlined by integrity, accountability, and the unwavering pursuit of justice. There can be no cover-ups, no lacking paperwork, and no stone left unturned—and anybody from the prior or present Bureau who undermines this can be swiftly pursued,” he wrote on X.
“If there are gaps, we’ll discover them. If data have been hidden, we’ll uncover them. And we’ll carry all the pieces we discover to the DOJ to be totally assessed and transparently disseminated to the American folks correctly. The oath we take is to the Structure, and underneath my management, that promise can be upheld with out compromise.”
The Epoch Occasions contacted the FBI for touch upon Friday.
Bondi wrote in her Thursday letter to Patel that extra data have been just lately found. She ordered the FBI at hand over “the complete and full Epstein recordsdata” to her by Friday morning, and directed Patel to “conduct a direct investigation” into why her order to the FBI to show over all paperwork was not adopted.
President Donald Trump, who was in workplace when Epstein was arrested and later discovered useless in a jail cell in 2019, steered whereas campaigning final yr that he’d search to open up the federal government’s recordsdata.
Epstein was accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage ladies within the early 2000s however wound up serving simply 13 months in jail after he was discovered useless in his cell. He was indicted on federal prices in New York in 2019, greater than a decade after he secretly struck a cope with federal prosecutors in Florida to dispose of comparable prices of intercourse trafficking.
His case has drawn vital on-line and media consideration attributable to his relationships with high-profile celebrities, enterprise officers, politicians, and different luminaries.
Earlier Thursday, a handful of conservative influencers have been seen with alleged copies of the Epstein recordsdata in images posted on social media. Amongst these seen holding the binders was commentator Rogan O’Handley, often known as DC Draino on-line, in addition to commentators Mike Cernovich, Jack Posobiec, Liz Wheeler, Libs of TikTok, and others.
Some conservative commentators expressed disappointment with the discharge of the recordsdata on Thursday. For instance, Raheem Kassam, an editor with the Nationwide Pulse, wrote that “it’s embarrassing for the White Home, the overwhelming majority of which is unlikely to have had any eyes on the paperwork handed to social media influencers who believed they have been attending a easy sequence of coverage briefings at present.”
Amongst elected officers, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) wrote on X that the rollout of the recordsdata was inadequate.
“GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR!” Luna wrote in a submit Thursday.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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