FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly had a heated exchange this week over how the administration is dealing with the Jeffrey Epstein probe.
The disagreement included the alleged assessment of the deceased pedophile’s supposed client list that Justice Department authorities say never existed.
The argument reportedly caused Mr. Bongino to take Friday off and consider resigning from his post after less than four months on the job, according to a source close to the situation.
“He is miserable. He is alone. His staff is sabotaging him,” commented another source, who expressed concern that if Mr. Bongino exits the bureau, it will leave Director Kash Patel without a friendly buffer and let FBI management suggest a replacement.
The Washington Times reached out to the Justice Department and the FBI for comment.
President Trump expressed frustration Saturday in a long social media post about the debate among his MAGA supporters and stated his support for Ms. Bondi.
“What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’” Mr. Trump posed. “They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening.”
“LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB — SHE’S GREAT! The 2020 Election was Rigged and Stolen, and they tried to do the same thing in 2024 — That’s what she is looking into as AG, and much more. One year ago, our Country was DEAD, now it’s the ’HOTTEST’ Country anywhere in the World. Let’s keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about,” the president wrote.
The Justice Department and FBI faced criticism after the DOJ concluded its investigation into Epstein’s death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York on Aug. 10, 2019, weeks after he was charged with sex-trafficking girls — several as young as 14 years old.
However, Ms. Bondi’s department released a two-page memo Monday saying that a “systematic review” of evidence showed that the 66-year-old financier died by suicide after affecting “over one thousand victims” and there was “no incriminating ‘client list.’”
“There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions,” the memo said. “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”
During a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Ms. Bondi also said she had “no knowledge” of Epstein being an intelligence asset. She made the comment when asked if that was a possible reason for Epstein getting a slap-on-the-wrist plea deal in 2008 following earlier sex charges involving minors.
When asked to square how the so-called client list didn’t exist when she said it was “sitting on my desk right now” in a Feb. 21 interview on Fox News, Ms. Bondi said, “I was asked a question about the client list, and my response was, ‘It’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed,’ meaning the [Epstein] file along with the JFK and MLK files as well.”
But Ms. Bondi and Mr. Bongino had a contentious exchange Thursday at the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation.
A good portion of the disagreement focused on a story from the news outlet NewsNation that referenced a “source close to the White House” as saying the FBI would have released the Epstein files months ago if it could have done so on its own.
The story included statements from Ms. Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Mr. Patel disputing this, except for Mr. Bongino.
The news outlet Axios first reported the conversation.
Mr. Blanche attempted to smooth over the eruption Friday, posting on social media that he said he worked with Mr. Patel and Mr. Bongino on the Epstein issue and the joint memo.
“All of us signed off on the contents of the memo and the conclusions stated in the memo. The suggestion by anyone that there was any daylight between the FBI and DOJ leadership on this memo’s composition and release is patently false,” he wrote on X.
• This article was based in part on wire service reports.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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