Bongino and Bondi clash over botched handling of Epstein files



Attorney General Pam Bondi's handling of the Epstein files sparked outrage among conservatives, supporters of President Donald Trump, and even among FBI leadership.

The dramatic Epstein saga has caused a rift between FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Bondi in recent days, one source familiar with the matter confirmed to Blaze News. Other reports indicate that Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel are both threatening to leave the bureau altogether unless Bondi is removed from office.

'Fire Pam Bondi. Keep Dan Bongino.'

RELATED: FBI, DOJ Epstein memo sparks right-wing outrage: 'Nobody is believing this'

  Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

As tensions emerge between the FBI and DOJ leadership, the MAGA base has made clear where its support lies.

"There is no question that the base is behind Bongino," conservative commentator and reporter Julie Kelly said in a post on X. "I respect Pam Bondi and understand the immense challenge at taking the reins of such a systemically corrupt agency. But the self inflicted wounds and unforced errors are consuming attention away from other DOJ/FBI achievements. Time is ticking away and something drastic needs to change immediately."

"It would be a huge loss for the country if we lost Dan Bongino at the FBI," TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk wrote in a post on X.

Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck made a similar appeal to Trump, urging him to put Bongino over Bondi.

"America can't lose Dan Bongino," Beck said in a post on Instagram. "He has so much credibility. Everybody knows him, loves him. Pam Bondi has created so much doubt and chaos in this whole thing. There's no reason for all of this."

"Either it's a massive cover-up, or she's just fouled this up every single time," Beck added. "Please, let's not lose Dan Bongino. If there's a choice — I hope not — but please, fire Pam Bondi. Keep Dan Bongino."

RELATED: Is the FBI salvageable? Here's what bureau insiders have to say

  Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Following Bondi's now-infamous Epstein memo, which the DOJ leaked to the Beltway corporate outlet Axios, the administration has spent days doing damage control. Trump reiterated his support for Patel and Bongino in a Truth Social post on Monday, though he notably refrained from providing Bondi with the same praise.

"The FBI, under the direction of Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, is back to the basics: Locking up criminals, and cleaning up America’s streets." Trump said in the post. "We have the Greatest Law Enforcement professionals in the World, but 'Politics' and Corrupt Leadership often prevented them from doing their job. That is no longer the case, and now, they have been unleashed to do their jobs, and they are doing just that. Keep it up — MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!"

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The Epstein files may be Trump’s biggest liability yet



President Trump snapped at a reporter who asked him about Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday.

Trump is massively misreading his base on this one — and it could cost him the midterms.

President Trump should not underestimate how much goodwill he’s lost among his base due to Pam Bondi’s mishandling of the Epstein files.

People care about the Epstein story, not only because of his sickening crimes against children but because evidence exists of a government cover-up.

Evidence like Epstein’s autopsy showing injuries incongruent with suicide; evidence like Buckingham Palace’s response to ABC’s nuked report on Epstein, Prince Andrew, and President Bill Clinton; evidence like former federal prosecutor Alex Acosta saying he was told to back off because Epstein “belonged to intelligence” and then discovering his Justice Department emails had mysteriously disappeared.

And now, government officials are telling us to ignore the evidence in front of our eyes and believe them — without evidence. Nope. Not happening. We voted for radical transparency and justice. We’re not letting it drop.

The president should not underestimate how much goodwill he’s lost among his base due to Attorney General Pam Bondi’s mishandling of the Epstein files. People are furious. I would know — I was collateral damage in Bondi’s infernal Epstein binder debacle. She should have been fired on the spot.

Country singer John Rich tells a story about eating dinner with Trump, who turned to him and asked — genuinely curious — “Why do people boo at my rallies when I brag about the COVID vaccine?” And then Trump listened to Rich’s answer: People were hurt by that jab.

President Trump should listen to his base about Epstein, too.

We have been hurt by the deep state weaponizing the government against us: calling us terrorists, censoring us when we questioned the outcome of the 2020 election, or the origin of COVID, or rejecting transgender ideology. Trump’s base has been insulted, targeted, subject to violence, arrest, and political persecution for supporting him and our America First agenda.

RELATED: The Epstein case proves one thing: The elites are protected

  Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

Forgive us if we refuse to believe government officials now who are asking us to accept a narrative that contradicts the evidence we can see. We will no longer be subject to gatekeepers. Don’t insult our intelligence. Don’t belittle us.

We voted for President Trump because he promised justice.

Justice isn’t dismissing those crimes and moving on. Justice means arresting the swamp creatures who perpetrated the crimes and dismantling the corrupt institutions that enabled them to do so.

That’s why the Epstein case is foundational. That’s why Trump’s base has a visceral reaction to being told we would get the Epstein files — and now we are told we’re getting nothing.

Bondi didn’t tell us the truth. She seems more interested in being a Fox News star than keeping promises. Something is fishy about the Epstein stuff — his racket, his death, his friends, his alleged intelligence agency connections. Patting us on the head and telling us “nothing to see here” is infuriating. It will not do.

President Trump should not underestimate the significance of this moment. He’s losing goodwill by the day — and Bondi is to blame.

Trump is smart. He cares about his base. He listens. He should listen now, so that it doesn’t cost him the midterms.

The Epstein case proves one thing: The elites are protected



Late Sunday night, the Department of Justice and FBI released a two‑page memo to Axios claiming they found no evidence that Jeffrey Epstein kept a “client list,” blackmailed powerful figures, or was murdered in his cell. The memo clings to the original narrative that Epstein died by suicide in 2019.

To prop up that conclusion, the government published a three-page inventory of items seized from Epstein’s New York property: hard drives, tapes, sex toys, a false passport, and materials labeled with grotesque descriptions.

The Epstein case isn’t over. It is the Rosetta stone of public corruption.

Are we seriously supposed to accept that the case is suddenly closed? Attorney General Pam Bondi once told Fox News a “client list” was literally “sitting on [her] desk.” Now? Crickets. Influencers like Elon Musk are calling it “the final straw,” arguing that the memo is government theater to shield powerful elites.

This newly released list information isn’t just damning — it’s clarifying. No matter what you believe about Epstein’s past, his connections, or the murky circumstances of his death, the physical material collected by law enforcement points to five unavoidable conclusions. Each one raises a deeper and more disturbing question about the integrity of our institutions.

In short, the Epstein narrative is far from closed.

1. Epstein wasn’t a lone predator

The new evidence released from the Justice Department reads like a logistics inventory: dozens of electronic devices, thousands of photos, labeled albums, surveillance tapes, foreign passports, and even blueprints. One man doesn’t accumulate this kind of material — not without help, not without infrastructure.

This wasn’t just one depraved individual hiding a secret life. This was an operation. There were logistics. There was coordination. It was built to function and built to last. It was designed to serve a purpose — and to avoid detection.

2. The digital footprint is too large

Hundreds of hard drives, USBs, CDs, backup servers — some with sick labels such as "girl pics nude book 4.” Employee directories, flight logs, video archives. The kind of data capable of telling a full story — not just of crimes committed, but of the people who enabled them or turned a blind eye.

And yet, the real scandal isn’t just the content of these files. It’s how little the public has been allowed to see. Where is the transparency? Why hasn’t this material been disclosed in full?

3. Intel agency involvement is no longer a fringe theory

An Austrian passport with Epstein’s face. Connections in multiple countries. A global footprint. Honeytrap-style setups. These aren’t signs of a rich playboy — they’re signatures of intelligence tradecraft.

The precision, the longevity, the immunity from exposure for decades — none of it is accidental. None of it should be dismissed. To suggest that this might have had intelligence involvement isn’t conspiratorial. It’s logical.

4. The system’s silence is telling

If any ordinary citizen had even one-tenth of what was found in Epstein’s homes — underage photos, encrypted files, coded file names, international travel records — they would already be serving a life sentence. Yet here, we’re met with silence. No high-profile prosecutions. No public hearings. No accountability.

The lack of consequence is the consequence. The silence of the system is itself a kind of answer — and it’s deafening.

5. Every elite institution is on trial

This is no longer just about Epstein. It’s about what happens when justice is optional, when media chooses complicity over courage, when law enforcement protects the powerful rather than prosecutes them, when truth is buried because its exposure might be inconvenient for people in the right circles.

Until this case is fully exposed, every elite institution in America carries a stench it cannot wash off. Public trust is hemorrhaging, and no press release can stop the bleeding.

RELATED: Liz Wheeler unleashes fury: FIRE Pam Bondi over Epstein cover-up scandal!

  Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

A civic reckoning

To dismiss public concern about Epstein as a “conspiracy theory” is to admit that we no longer believe in basic civic accountability. The demand for answers is not fueled by paranoia — it’s a moral and constitutional obligation. If we shrug off what those files contain, we declare that truth is now negotiable, justice is a luxury reserved for the unimportant, and power is a permanent shield for the perverse.

The Epstein case isn’t over. It is the Rosetta stone of public corruption. And if we don’t get to the bottom of it — if we allow the truth to remain buried — we will never restore what’s already been lost.

FBI, DOJ Epstein memo sparks right-wing outrage: 'Nobody is believing this'



The joint memo from the FBI and Department of Justice was meant to provide transparency and increase trust. Unfortunately for the administration, it drew only rampant criticism and distrust that has spread like a wildfire.

On Sunday, the Trump administration released a memorandum that powerfully explained there was nothing to see or hear about the death of infamous financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The memo claimed that after a full investigation where every nook and cranny was searched, there was no "blackmail list," no sign of co-conspirators, and certainly no evidence of wrongdoing in his death.

This sparked a flurry of negative reactions across social media, with only one prominent conservative backing the administration's fumble.

'Was she lying then or is she lying now?'

On Monday, BlazeTV's Liz Wheeler immediately called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to be fired.

"If I'm President Trump, I would not tolerate this behavior anymore. She has become a LIABILITY to his administration," Wheeler told host Glenn Beck.

Wheeler added that if the Epstein memo is indeed telling it like it is, the attorney general should not have assumed "its veracity and publicize[d] it for clicks."

Missouri Republican Rep. Eric Burlison made a series of similar remarks in which he called for releasing any missing documents.

"The DOJ can't just say 'case closed' on Epstein and expect the American people to move on. Full transparency is not optional. This won't cut it," Burlison wrote on X.

The congressman even boldly claimed the administration could be concealing information.

"Nobody is believing this. Either they’re hiding something, or they’re inept. Or incompetent," he added.

With such harsh criticisms being levied at the Trump administration, there were only a few willing to step in and defend them.

RELATED: The Epstein memo is a joke — and the joke’s on us

— (@)  
 

So far, the Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro is the only prominent conservative to come out in defense of the administration, seemingly taking the facts presented in the memo at face value. Shapiro also insisted that any critics who are dissatisfied with the DOJ and the FBI's findings ought to produce their own evidence supporting their theories on Epstein.

"Does this put to bed all inquiries? Of course not," Shapiro said on his show Monday. "People can continue to speculate as much as they want, and I think there are still open questions here regarding how did Epstein make his money. That's a very serious open question, and the speculation for a long time was he made his money from blackmail."

Shapiro admitted that some major questions remained unanswered, but he also felt that FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino are telling the truth.

"But the DOJ and the FBI, again, run by people like Dan Bongino and Kash Patel and Pam Bondi ... people you elected and put into these positions to get you the truth on this matter are telling you that he was not murdered, he did not keep a client list, and he did not blackmail powerful figures," Shapiro said.

"If you are willing to throw that over and claim they're lying, then I'd like to see you present your evidence that they are in fact lying because I know Dan. I don't think Dan Bongino is lying to me," Shapiro added. "I know Kash Patel a little bit. I don't think Kash Patel is lying to me. I don't think these people are lying to me."

RELATED: Is the FBI salvageable? Here's what bureau insiders have to say

 
— (@)  
 

Despite Shapiro's defense of Bondi, Bongino, and Patel's findings, others have noted that certain discrepancies remain unaddressed.

Critics point to Bondi's previous remarks about the Epstein files being on her "desk" as evidence that the administration is not being as transparent as they claim.

"Sorry but this is unacceptable," investigative reporter Robby Starbuck wrote on his X page. "Was she lying then or is she lying now?" he asked.

Similarly, commentator and actor Russell Brand asked what happened to Trump supporters' aggression toward "deep state obfuscation."

"We were promised the Epstein client list and flight logs — now we're being told they don't even exist," Brand wrote on X.

Political pundits like Tucker Carlson have gone even further, accusing the FBI and the DOJ of fully participating in a cover-up.

"So let's just assess this logically," Carlson said on his show Tuesday. "The current DOJ under Pam Bondi is covering up crimes. Very serious crimes by their own description."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Liz Wheeler unleashes fury: FIRE Pam Bondi over Epstein cover-up scandal!



Yesterday, the Department of Justice and the FBI dropped a bombshell: The Epstein client list – the one promised by President Trump and the one Attorney General Pam Bondi said back in February was sitting on her desk pending review – doesn’t exist. The memo asserted that Epstein did not maintain a "client list" for trafficking underage girls and concluded their investigation with no further disclosures planned.

The MAGA outrage was swift. No client list means no accountability for the elites who were complicit in Epstein’s exploitation of young girls.

Many people smell a cover-up, including BlazeTV’s Liz Wheeler. On a recent episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Liz told Glenn she believes it’s time for President Trump to fire Pam Bondi.

— (@)  
 

“People care deeply about the Epstein files because there was a grisly crime that we know for a fact was committed. Epstein was convicted of that,” says Wheeler, adding that it’s no conspiracy theory to say that “there’s evidence of a cover-up.”

Back in February, Liz was among a handful of conservative influencers invited to the White House for the release of what was dubbed “The Epstein Files: Phase 1,” which was presented in official-looking binders that, to many people’s disappointment, contained mostly public documents.

At the event, “Pam Bondi bragged to us about making that cover sheet on the binder – the one that read ‘The most transparent administration in history,’” Wheeler scoffs, noting that Bondi also told her that “she had not seen the SDNY documents” and was anticipating their delivery.

Wheeler claims she’s “tried every way to Sunday to square that behavior with the announcement we got last night from the Department of Justice,” but the only thing that makes sense is duplicity.

“Contextualizing all of this, suddenly this seems like unforgivable behavior,” she says. “How could she give the American people those Phase 1 binders that contained nothing while at the same time bragging about the cover sheet ... and tell us that the SDNY had the real goods, that the binder was just proof of a deep-state cover-up ... only now to say, ‘Sorry, there’s actually nothing’?”

What’s the truth then?

Wheeler says “it’s possible, maybe even probable" that Bondi was “set up by some deep state FBI career officials trying to make a fool of her.”

“But here’s the thing,” she says, “if you are smart, if you are savvy, if you are sharp enough to be the attorney general of the United States, you verify such information; you don’t assume its veracity and publicize it for clicks, and that’s what she did.”

If this is true, then Bondi’s judgment must be called into question, Wheeler argues, asking, “Is she just click-thirsty? Is she wanting to be a Fox News star?”

“I say this somewhat sorrowfully: If I’m President Trump, I would not tolerate this behavior anymore,” she says. “[Bondi] has become a liability to his administration. ... It’s time to move on.”

To hear more, watch the clip above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

The Epstein memo is a joke — and the joke’s on us



Late Sunday evening, the Department of Justice and the FBI quietly dropped a two-page memo on Axios — a pathetic attempt to bury the Jeffrey Epstein scandal once and for all.

Instead, they lit a fire.

If the goal was to rebuild trust, this failed spectacularly.

Even longtime Trump supporters are furious. The memo offers nothing new. It doesn’t present fresh evidence. It doesn’t announce new investigations. It simply reviews old files and claims to find nothing of interest.

The first sentence tells the tale: The Justice Department and FBI “conducted an exhaustive review of investigative holdings relating to Jeffrey Epstein.” In plain English: They looked at what they already had. That’s it. No digging. No subpoenas. The Federal Bureau of Investigation simply acted as the Federal Bureau of Review.

They may as well have stamped the two-pager: “Nothing to see here.”

No client list. No blackmail ring. No suspicious circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death. According to the memo, none of it exists — at least not in the files current political leadership received.

So what happened to the promise of transparency? Of real oversight? If reform means letting the same entrenched bureaucrats investigate themselves, then nothing has changed.

The FBI and Justice Department officials have spent years turning a blind eye to crimes committed by the ruling class — crimes that threaten national security and corrupt the very institutions charged with upholding the law. Just ask anyone who remembers the Clinton email scandal, the Alfa Bank hoax, the Biden family’s foreign cash pipeline, or the Uranium One deal swept under the rug.

Now we’re supposed to believe they took Epstein’s crimes seriously?

Shifting the blame — with vague suggestions that “Epstein belonged to the intelligence services” — doesn’t cut it. It’s a dodge, not an explanation. Jurisdictional excuses don’t fly when public trust is on the line. Americans want answers from the people who once claimed they would deliver them.

The entire premise of public skepticism surrounding Epstein was that the U.S. government never truly investigated him. He was widely believed to be an asset. If that’s the case, why would the FBI have a smoking-gun confession just lying around in its files?

And even if someone had written down every sordid detail, would we really expect a mid-level bureaucrat to produce it on command?

The memo only accounts for one corner of the federal government. What about the intelligence community? What about foreign actors? What about the rest of the system?

The choice to give this exclusive to Axios is equally baffling. This is the same outlet to which the Trump administration handed the Biden-Hur audio tape — the story co-authored by a reporter who collaborated with Jake Tapper on a book abetting the cover-up of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. That release was botched too: dropped on a Friday evening, selectively edited, and spun to discredit critics.

So why trust Axios with another political bombshell?

Predictably, Axios buried the lead and used its piece to promote a tangential swipe at President Trump, implying — via Elon Musk’s speculation — that Trump might be named in the Epstein files. That’s the kind of media framing the Justice Department and FBI just handed to the American people.

And let’s not forget: This wasn’t just a Justice memo. It was a joint DOJ-FBI release. In Washington, that means one of two things. Either both agencies want credit, or both want cover. This reeks of the latter.

Nothing in the memo aligns with public statements from political leadership.

RELATED: Is the FBI salvageable? Here’s what bureau insiders have to say

  Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi declared that the Epstein client list was “sitting on my desk right now.” That same month, she wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel saying she had Epstein’s contact list and that the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York still hadn’t turned over thousands of documents. Then in March, Bondi said she had a “truckload” of evidence. But now we’re told no such list exists and all of that evidence amounted to nothing?

Patel promised, “I will do everything, if confirmed as FBI director, to make sure the American public knows the full weight of what happened.” A two-page memo? That’s the “full weight”?

Deputy Director Dan Bongino vowed, “I’m not letting it go, ever.” So why does this feel like a shoulder shrug? Are we just supposed to “let it go” now?

It all adds up: grandstanding promises, empty symbolism, pointless stunts — like handing out Epstein binders to influencers at the White House — and now, a slapdash memo dumped just as Bibi Netanyahu sits down with President Trump, which will only fuel speculation that Epstein was connected with Israeli intelligence. If the goal was to rebuild trust, this failed spectacularly.

The Epstein saga isn’t going away. This memo doesn’t answer questions — it raises more. And the longer officials play games, the more the public will suspect they’re hiding something.

Until leaders stop playing defense and start delivering real accountability, don’t expect the American people to move on. They won’t.

Trump DOJ reportedly concludes Epstein had no client list, killed himself

'This systematic review revealed no incriminating 'client list''

Operation Take Back America: Patel’s FBI leads ‘largest’ takedown of Anti-Tren gang members



The FBI, under Kash Patel's leadership, arrested over a dozen members of the "Anti-Tren" gang, a splinter faction of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua, on charges of drug and weapons trafficking.

The Anti-Tren gang members were in the country illegally when they were picked up by FBI Houston, according to a June 30 press release from the Department of Justice.

'Operation Take Back America means going on the offensive against transnational criminal organizations to ensure that they cannot take root in our community and endanger public safety.'

"Two criminal complaints charge 14 Anti-Tren members and associates with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine," the DOJ stated. "According to the allegations, two groups of individuals agreed to transport kilogram quantities of cocaine in exchange for $15,000 for each load with each group accepting half as payment in advance."

The 14 suspects are facing up to life in prison and up to a $10 million fine.

Five individuals could face an additional 15 years in prison for alleged possession and sale of firearms.

RELATED: Trump's DOJ 'devastates' Tren de Aragua empire with first RICO charges against 27 gang-linked thugs

  Photo by El Salvador Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

According to the criminal complaint, Jose Miguel Briceno, a 25-year-old Venezuelan national, was previously involved in a mass shooting at a Houston bar that resulted in injuries to six people. Briceno is facing separate charges for alleged unlawful possession of ammunition by an alien, which could result in up to 15 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Houston Police Department, and the Harris County Sheriff's Office assisted the FBI with its investigation.

The agency's arrests were part of a nationwide initiative, dubbed Operation Take Back America, to "repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime."

RELATED: Kristi Noem enrages liberals with 2-word response to dismissal of deportation case

  Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images

U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei stated, "The Southern District's twin priorities are securing our border and the eradication of violent crime. This case implicates both."

"Operation Take Back America means going on the offensive against transnational criminal organizations to ensure that they cannot take root in our community and endanger public safety," Ganjei continued. "SDTX is going to be unapologetic in carrying out that mission."

Douglas Williams, the special agent in charge of the FBI Houston Field Office, referred to the arrests as "the largest takedown of suspected Anti-Tren members and associates by the FBI."

"These individuals are accused of engaging in a turf war with TDA members and carrying out numerous violent crimes throughout our city, including a mass shooting at a local sports bar that left six people wounded. Fortunately, for the good and safety of our community, these individuals are now in federal custody facing U.S. justice," Williams said.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

FBI ‘Suppressed Intelligence’ On Chinese Meddling In 2020 To Cover For Christopher Wray: Documents

Grassley's office says that the evidence was never investigated further, despite signs of credibility, because of a 'sudden and "abnormal"' decision to stop further proceedings and 'bury the IIR's existence,' because, as the FBI put it, 'the reporting will contradict Director Wray's testimony.'