Fox News' Peter Doocy corners Karoline Leavitt on Pam Bondi's broken Epstein ‘client list' promise
'So what happened to the Epstein client list that the attorney general said she had on her desk?' Doocy wondered during Monday's White House press briefing.
Bondi, who has faced the brunt of conservatives' wrath for failing to deliver on her past promises of releasing a 'truckload' of bombshell FBI documents on Epstein, told Fox News in late February that she literally had possession of the convicted sex offender's supposed black book of prominent figures who engaged in illegal sexual activities.
'It's sitting on my desk right now to review,' the attorney general told Fox News anchor John Roberts at the time. 'That's been a directive by President Trump.'
Following a much-maligned photo-op where she handed MAGA influencers binders full of already-public documents about the Epstein case, Bondi attempted to save face in an early March appearance on Sean Hannity's primetime Fox News show. Suggesting a 'deep state' coverup was to blame for the earlier botched release, Bondi then insisted that the FBI had just given her and FBI Director Kash Patel a treasure trove of never-before-seen information.
'A truckload of evidence arrived. It's now in the possession of the FBI,' she breathlessly told Hannity. 'Kash is going to get me and himself, really, a detailed report as to why all these documents and evidence had been withheld.'
This week, however, the Department of Justice and FBI released a two-page unsigned memo concluding that the agencies had found no evidence that Epstein was murdered in his jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019. Additionally, they were unable to find any list of powerful clients that Epstein was attempting to blackmail for having sex with underage girls.
In the end, despite Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino being frequent purveyors of Epstein conspiracy theories as right-wing media figures, the DOJ and FBI stated that no one else involved with the Epstein case would be charged.
Naturally, the FBI leaders and Bondi have come under fire from the MAGA media ecosystem over their handling of the Epstein probe – which carried over to Monday's White House presser.
Responding to a Newsmax reporter asking what she would tell Trump supporters who say they want anyone involved in Epstein's alleged crimes to be held accountable, Leavitt claimed that the administration was 'committed to truth' and had investigated the matter thoroughly.
'They committed to an exhaustive investigation, that's what they did, and they provided the results of that. That's transparency,' the White House press secretary noted.
Doocy, however, followed up by bringing up Bondi's past declarations about being in possession of specific evidence in the federal Epstein case, and wondered why the attorney general now claims these documents do not exist.
'The FBI looked at the circumstances surrounding the death of Jeffrey Epstein,' the Fox News correspondent stated. 'According to the report, this systematic review revealed no incriminating client list. So what happened to the Epstein client list that the attorney general said she had on her desk?'
After Leavitt attempted to reframe what Bondi had said during her Fox News interview, Doocy cut her off and confronted her with the attorney general's exact quotes.
'John Roberts said, 'DOJ may be releasing a list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients, will that really happen?' And she said, 'It's sitting on my desk right now to review,'' Doocy flatly said.
'She was saying the entirety of all of the paperwork and relation to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes, that's what the attorney general was referring to and I will let her speak for that,' Leavitt deflected, adding: 'But when it comes to the FBI and the Department of Justice, they are more than committed to ensuring that bad people are put behind bars.'
Since the release of the memo, Bondi has been ripped by a number of MAGA loyalists who are incensed about her overhyping the release of the Epstein documents while failing to prosecute influential figures, calling for her to resign or be fired. On top of that, former 'first buddy' Elon Musk has said the DOJ memo is the 'final straw,' as he now vows to start a new political party after reigniting his public feud with Trump.
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