Epstein case fallout reaches fevered pitch with reports FBI's Dan Bongino could resign
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, the second-highest official at the bureau, didn't come into work on July 11, various news outlets reported. What's more, the former Secret Service agent and Fox News show host is weighing leaving the bureau altogether, less than four months after joining it, according to CNN and Semafor, which each cited sources familiar with the situation.
The FBI didn't immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.
The developments come after the Justice Department and FBI released a memo July 7 stating that a "systematic review" of evidence failed to reveal any incriminating client list associated with Jeffrey Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died in his jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges.
"Perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein serves neither" to combat child exploitation nor bring justice to victims, the memo said. "No further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted."
Many loyalists of President Donald Trump have been incensed by the memo, which followed years of suggestions by Trump associates that the government was hiding a list of Epstein clients who may have been involved in sex trafficking and that Epstein may have been murdered to prevent those names from becoming public.
New York's chief medical examiner ruled in 2019 that Epstein died by suicide, and the Justice Department's memo backs up that finding.
More: Trump's team promised transparency on Epstein. Here's what they delivered.
The memo threw a range of conservative commentators into an uproar.
"I'm going to go throw up, actually," right-wing radio show host Alex Jones said in a July 7 video post on X, as his eyes teared up. "I just really need the Trump administration to succeed ... and then for them to do something like this – tears my guts out."
Bongino in 2023: 'Washington swamp' not telling truth on Epstein
Bongino himself sounded alarm bells well before he took on a top role in Trump's FBI.
"There are a lot of people who are knee-deep in the Washington swamp who are not telling you the truth about serious allegations out there that Epstein may have had video and audio of people out there doing things they shouldn't have been doing," Bongino said on his "The Dan Bongino Show" on May 1, 2023.
"Jeffrey Epstein isn't with us anymore, and nobody seems to want to talk about it outside of a few entrepreneurial media outlets saying, 'Hey, this is a big deal,'" Bongino added.
Attorney General Pam Bondi recently fanned the flames of those espousing a government cover-up about the Epstein evidence. Bondi characterized the Biden administration's effort on the case as lackluster, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity on March 3 that she had instructed the FBI to review a "truckload" of Epstein files that were delivered as a result of an order she issued in February.
"It's infuriating that these people (the Biden administration) thought that they could sit on this information, but they can't. It's a new day, and we believe in transparency, and it's going to come out," Bondi said.
However, Bondi largely seemed to close the door on future revelations at a July 8 cabinet meeting following the memo's release. She said various videos within the review turned out to be child sexual abuse materials, but said her department was looking for some further videos it hoped to release in connection with Epstein's jail facility.
"And that's it on Epstein," Bondi said.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the second-highest official at the Justice Department after Bondi, said in a July 11 post on X that he'd worked closely with Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel on the polarizing memo and they'd mutually signed off on its contents and conclusions.
"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," Blanche said.
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