Trump comes to Bondi’s defense amid uproar from his base over Jeffrey Epstein files flop

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON AP President Donald Trump leapt to the defense of Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday in the face of mounting criticism from far-right influencers and conservative internet personalities over the Justice Department s abrupt refusal to release additional documents from the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking inspection When a reporter attempted to ask Bondi about Epstein at a White House Cabinet meeting Trump headed off the questions and scolded the journalist Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein This guy s been talked about for years At a time like this he added where we re having selected of the greatest success and also tragedy with what happened in Texas it just seems like a desecration The comments appeared to signal continued job guard for Bondi and amounted to a striking rebuke of members of Trump s base who have called for her resignation and mocked her for what they believe to be her failed commitment to release incriminating files from the Epstein scrutiny A supposed Epstein client list that Bondi once intimated was sitting on her desk for review does not exist the Justice Department acknowledged in a two-page memo Monday that further riled conservative critics who d been hoping for proof of a governing body cover-up Related Articles Trump says he s not happy with Putin and blames him for killing a lot of people in Ukraine Supreme Court clears the way for Trump s plans to downsize the federal workforce Trump administration pulls back on plans to rewrite Biden-era asbestos ban Foreigners deported from US to Salvadoran prison remain under US control Salvadoran authorities tell UN Debate erupts over role job cuts played in weather forecasts ahead of deadly Texas floods The pressure is on Bondi Bondi has faced pressure after a first document dump she hyped failed to deliver revelations Far-right influencers were invited to the White House in February and provided with binders marked The Epstein Files Phase and Declassified that contained documents that had largely already been in the masses domain After the first release fell flat Bondi explained bureaucrats were poring over a truckload of previously withheld evidence she noted had been handed over by the FBI and raised expectations of forthcoming releases But after a months-long review of evidence in the ruling body s possession the Justice Department commented in Monday s memo that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted The department noted that much of the material was placed under seal by a court to protect casualties and only a fraction of it would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial The only evidence disclosed as part of the memo was a video meant to definitively prove that the wealthy financier had taken his own life in jail in but even that disclosure did little to quiet conspiracy theorists who believe he was killed It s not a happy maturation for online detectives The department s client list revelation was especially dismaying for conservative influencers and online sleuths given that Bondi in a Fox News interview in February had intimated that such a document was sitting on my desk for review Bondi insisted Tuesday that she had been referring to the Epstein occurrence file as being on her desk as opposed to a specific client list That s what I meant by that she reported She also defended her earlier society statements suggesting that the FBI was reviewing tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn The Associated Press published a story last week about the unanswered questions surrounding those videos and the Justice Department s refusal to provide clarity The memo Monday did not suggest that the videos in the governing body s possession depicted Epstein with children instead referring to images of Epstein as well as more than downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography They turned out to be child porn downloaded by that disgusting Jeffrey Epstein she mentioned But she did not explain why the department could not release other files from the truckload of evidence she reported was delivered to the agency months ago