Latest news with #KashPatel
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democrats demand Pam Bondi and Kash Patel be summoned for Epstein hearing
Democratic members of the House judiciary committee on Thursday demanded that Republicans summon the attorney general, Pam Bondi, the FBI director, Kash Patel, and their deputies for a hearing into the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's death and the sex-trafficking case against him. The letter from all 19 Democratic members on the committee to its Republican chair, Jim Jordan, comes amid a rift between Donald Trump and some of his supporters over the justice department's conclusion, announced last week, that Epstein's death in federal custody six years ago was a suicide, and that there is no secret list of his clients to be made public. The US president, who knew Epstein personally, has long claimed that there is more to be made public about his death and involvement in running a sex-trafficking ring for global elites. Last week's report, together with the justice department's announcement that nothing further about his case would be made public, has sparked rare criticism of Trump among the rightwing influencers and commentators who are usually among his most ardent defenders. Related: Republicans move to block Democratic effort to force release of Epstein files In their letter, Democrats argued that the matter can only be settled if Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, along with Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, appear before the judiciary committee. 'The Trump DOJ and FBI's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein matter, and president Trump's suddenly shifting positions, have not restored anyone's trust in the government but have rather raised profound new questions about their own conduct while increasing public paranoia related to the investigation,' the Democratic lawmakers wrote. 'Only a bipartisan public hearing at which administration officials answer direct questions from elected representatives before the eyes of the American people can restore public trust on the matter.' A spokesperson for Jordan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Democrats have sought to capitalize on the questions raised by the justice department's announcement, and earlier on Tuesday, House Republicans blocked an attempt by the minority to force release of documents related to the Epstein case. Last week, most Democrats on the judiciary committee signed a letter to Bondi that accused her of withholding some files related to the financier to protect Trump from any damaging disclosures. It went on to call for the release of any documents in the Epstein files that mention Trump, as well as the second volume of former special counsel Jack Smith's report into Trump's alleged mishandling of classified materials. In this week's letter, Democrats argued that only a congressional hearing would resolve whether there is indeed a cover-up over Epstein's death, or if Trump was just promoting conspiracy theories as he sought an advantage on the campaign trail. 'We must submit to public scrutiny President Trump's and MAGA's longstanding claims about the 'Epstein files,' new questions as to whether President Trump himself has something to hide, whether he is keeping damaging information secret to protect other individuals or to maintain future blackmail leverage over public and private actors,' the lawmakers wrote, 'or, perhaps the simplest explanation, whether President Trump and his Administration magnified and disseminated groundless Epstein conspiracy theories for purposes of political gain which they are now desperately trying to disavow and dispel.' The reignited turmoil over the Epstein case has sparked reports that Bongino, a former podcaster who has long promoted conspiracies about his death, clashed with Bondi and is considering resigning his position at the FBI. Over the weekend, Trump defended Bondi in a post on Truth Social and pleaded with his supporters. '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,' he wrote.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
How the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files became a vehicle for QAnon
The release of the 'Epstein client list' has long been the holy grail for the Maga movement. Supposedly, this list, once released, would incriminate a veritable who's who of liberal elites complicit in Jeffrey Epstein's child sex-trafficking operation and expose the moral rot at the heart of the Democratic establishment. The mystery surrounding the Epstein files also became a vehicle for QAnon conspiracy theorists to push their ideas about a 'deep state' cover-up of a network of global pedophiles into the broader tent of the Maga movement. During his campaign, Donald Trump promised on several occasions to declassify the Epstein files, which would include the 'list'. Before they joined the government, Trump's FBI chief, Kash Patel, and deputy FBI chief, Dan Bongino, spent years on podcasts and TV appearances winking at QAnon and Epstein conspiracy theorists and demanding the files' release, even suggesting that the Biden administration was withholding them to protect its own. Then, on the heels of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, the justice department quietly dropped a bombshell in the form of a memo. A 'systematic review' of the Epstein files by justice department officials 'revealed no incriminating 'client list',' the memo stated, nor did they find evidence that Epstein blackmailed powerful figures. The memo also affirmed that Epstein died by suicide in his Brooklyn jail cell while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in 2019. Since the memo's release, Maga has been in turmoil – and some of Trump's most loyal foot soldiers have been in open revolt against his administration, accusing it of now being part of a cover-up and calling for the resignation of the attorney general, Pam Bondi, over her handling of the Epstein files. On Truth Social, Trump offered a stern rebuke to his detractors, claiming that the Epstein files were actually a hoax, because they were written by 'Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration'. But not everyone's buying it. 'This is the worst response I've ever seen from President Trump,' said the rightwing commentator Benny Johnson. The disgraced former general Michael Flynn, considered a hero by the QAnon movement, wrote: '@realdonaldtrump please understand the EPSTEIN AFFAIR IS NOT GOING AWAY.' The rightwing commentator Matt Walsh called Trump's statement 'extremely obtuse', adding: 'We don't accept obvious bullshit from our political leaders.' Maga's obsession with the Epstein files is an indication of how the core ideas associated with the fringe QAnon conspiracy – that a shadowy cabal of government elites is working to cover up a global child sex-trafficking operation – have taken root in the broader pro-Trump movement. QAnon took a long tradition of antisemitic, 'deep state' and 'satanic panic' conspiracy theories, put them on steroids with a pro-Trump flavor, and assigned the enigmatic Q, supposedly a government official with top secret clearance and a penchant for posting on 8chan, at the helm of the movement. 'The unique thing about QAnon is that you had an anonymous poster on an anonymous chatroom putting out clues for people to try to solve,' said Joseph Uscinski, a political science professor at the University of Miami specializing in the study of conspiracy theories. When QAnon emerged in 2017, allegations against Epstein had been swirling for over a decade. Epstein's arrest in 2019 on federal charges was a boon for QAnon. The movement quickly sought to incorporate information about the case into their propaganda. The case also surfaced a trove of digital media that QAnon sleuths could pore over looking for 'clues' – such as photographs of Epstein with various public figures (including many with Trump), Epstein's flight logs and aerial images of his private island. 'Epstein engaged in crimes, but I think there's a whole fantasy lore surrounding it that goes far beyond any available evidence,' said Uscinski. Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University's program on extremism, told the Guardian that as 'QAnon and Maga have become increasingly intertwined in recent years, we have seen the embrace of increasingly fringe conspiracies and extremist narratives like 'Pizzagate' and 'Save the Children' by mainstream political figures.' These narratives turned out to be useful for Trump and his allies, who harnessed simmering suspicion of establishment figures and cast the former reality star as the only person brave enough to take on 'the deep state'. 'As Trump and other prominent Republican figures amplified QAnon content and used it as a political cudgel against Democratic politicians like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, they were providing legitimacy and approval to the very same conspiracy theorists who are now decrying Pam Bondi and the justice department,' said Lewis. Tensions over the Epstein files have been building since February, when Bondi went on Fox News and said Epstein's client list was sitting on her desk 'right now for review.' A week later, at a press event at the White House, Bondi handed out binders that she promised contained 'declassified' Epstein records to two dozen Maga influencers. The influencers quickly realized there was basically no new information in them. In response to the ensuing backlash, Bondi said that the FBI had failed to disclose a tranche of Epstein files, and that she had ordered Patel to compile them. Months later, in June, Elon Musk – amid the dramatic feud with his former friend Trump – claimed without evidence that the reason the Epstein files hadn't been released in full was because the president was implicated in them. (Musk has since deleted the post.) The scale of the current Maga meltdown 'certainly shows the significance of Epstein conspiracies within the broader QAnon pantheon', said Lewis, and 'should lay bare just how deeply the disease of the QAnon movement has seeped into a Republican party which has welcomed its most conspiratorial, antisemitic, reactionary fringe into Congress and the executive branch with open arms'. The backlash Trump is facing is a leopards-eating-faces moment for the administration. 'This was a conspiracy that Donald Trump, Pam Bondi and these Maga extremists have been fanning the flames of for the last several years, and now the chickens are coming home to roost,' the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, told reporters Monday. Uscinski noted that's 'the interesting thing that happens when you use conspiracy theories to get into power'. 'Because conspiracy theories should be aimed at the people in power, right? They accuse powerful people of doing something wicked behind the scenes,' he added. In Trump's case, he 'spent the last 10 years building a coalition of largely conspiracy-minded people in the US', said Uscinski. 'So in order for him to keep these people engaged and donating and going to his speeches, and voting for him and voting for Republicans, he has to keep pressing the conspiracy theories.' But experts are skeptical that this current Maga meltdown will have any lasting impact. Trump's overall approval rating hasn't fluctuated dramatically over the past week. In fact, it's almost at exactly the same place it was at the same point in his first administration. '[Trump's supporters] are disgruntled, they're upset and they're going to express that on social media. But they're not going to abandon him, because he's the only game in town for them,' said Uscinski. He compared the current moment to the backlash Trump faced back in 2021. After courting favor from anti-vaxxers, Trump was booed when he announced during a live Bill O'Reilly interview that he had received his Covid-19 booster shot and urged Americans to get theirs. Despite the importance of the Epstein files to the Maga and QAnon movements, Lewis thinks that 'it's unlikely this outrage will last'. 'The culture war will move on to its next target … and the rage machine will follow with conspiracies and vitriol,' said Lewis. 'It's much easier to be angry at an immigrant than to wonder whether you've been lied to for the last eight years.'
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Democrats demand Pam Bondi and Kash Patel be summoned for Epstein hearing
Democratic members of the House judiciary committee on Thursday demanded that Republicans summon attorney general Pam Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel and their deputies for a hearing into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's death and the sex trafficking case against him. The letter from all 19 Democratic members on the committee to its Republican chair Jim Jordan comes amid a rift between Donald Trump and some of his supporters over the justice department's conclusion, announced last week, that Esptein's death in federal custody six years ago was a suicide, and that there is no secret list of his clients to be made public. The US president, who knew Epstein personally, has long claimed that there is more to be made public about his death and involvement in running a sex-trafficking ring for global elites. Last week's report, together with the justice department's announcement that nothing further about his case would be made public, has sparked rare criticism of Trump among the rightwing influencers and commentators who are usually among his most ardent defenders. In their letter, Democrats argued that the matter can only be settled if Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, along with Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, appear before the judiciary committee. 'The Trump DOJ and FBI's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein matter, and president Trump's suddenly shifting positions, have not restored anyone's trust in the government but have rather raised profound new questions about their own conduct while increasing public paranoia related to the investigation,' the Democratic lawmakers wrote. 'Only a bipartisan public hearing at which administration officials answer direct questions from elected representatives before the eyes of the American people can restore public trust on the matter.' A spokesperson for Jordan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Democrats have sought to capitalize on the questions raised by the justice department's announcement, and earlier on Tuesday, House Republicans blocked an attempt by the minority to force release of documents related to the Epstein case. Last week, most Democrats on the judiciary committee signed a letter to Bondi that accused her of withholding some files related to the financier to protect Trump from any damaging disclosures. It went on to call for the release of any documents in the Epstein files that mention Trump, as well as the second volume of former special counsel Jack Smith's report into Trump's alleged mishandling of classified materials. In this week's letter, Democrats argued that only a congressional hearing would resolve whether there is indeed a cover-up over Epstein's death, or if Trump was just promoting conspiracy theories as he sought an advantage on the campaign trail. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion 'We must submit to public scrutiny President Trump's and MAGA's longstanding claims about the 'Epstein files,' new questions as to whether President Trump himself has something to hide, whether he is keeping damaging information secret to protect other individuals or to maintain future blackmail leverage over public and private actors,' the lawmakers wrote, 'or, perhaps the simplest explanation, whether President Trump and his Administration magnified and disseminated groundless Epstein conspiracy theories for purposes of political gain which they are now desperately trying to disavow and dispel.' The reignited turmoil over the Epstein case has sparked reports that Bongino, a former podcaster who has long promoted conspiracies about his death, clashed with Bondi and is considering resigning his position at the FBI. Over the weekend, Trump defended Bondi in a post on Truth Social and pleaded with his supporters. '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,' he wrote.
CNN
8 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
AG Bondi says there's no change to her position on Epstein after Trump suggests she could release more files
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that last week's memo declining to release files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein 'speaks for itself,' rejecting questions about making new documents public. 'Today our memo speaks for itself, and we will get back to you about anything else,' Bondi told reporters Tuesday, responding to questions about President Donald Trump's earlier comment that Bondi should release 'whatever she thinks is credible.' Her comments came during a press conference at the Drug Enforcement Agency, highlighting law enforcement seizures of 64,000 pounds of methamphetamines — including those in pill form — in drug busts since January, including several that happened over the July 4th holiday weekend. Though the surge in drugs like meth-laced pills is a national threat — and drug cases are of particular importance to the attorney general — it was not enough to divert attention from the Epstein controversy. That was evident during the event Tuesday, as reporters repeatedly asked about additional disclosures, as well as her relationship with FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino. Bondi repeatedly said she would not answer questions on the matter. Bondi said that she, Patel and Bongino are 'all committed' to 'fighting as a team' to accomplish Trump administration priorities like reducing violent crime. 'I'm going to be here as long as the president wants me here, and I believe he's made that crystal clear it's four years,' Bondi said of the drama and subsequent calls for her resignation. 'Well, three and a half now, right?' she said. This story is breaking and will be updated.
The Guardian
10 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
How the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files led to a Maga meltdown
The release of the 'Epstein client list' has long been the holy grail for the Maga movement. Supposedly, this list, once released, would incriminate a veritable who's who of liberal elites complicit in Jeffrey Epstein's child sex-trafficking operation and expose the moral rot at the heart of the Democrat establishment. The mystery surrounding the Epstein files also became a vehicle for QAnon conspiracy theorists to push their ideas about a 'deep state' cover-up of a network of global pedophiles into the broader tent of the Maga movement. During his campaign, Donald Trump promised on several occasions to declassify the Epstein files, which would include the 'list'. Before they joined the government, Trump's FBI chief Kash Patel and deputy FBI chief Dan Bongino, spent years on podcasts and TV appearances winking at QAnon and Epstein conspiracy theorists and demanding the files' release, even suggesting that the Biden administration was withholding them to protect its own. Then, on the heels of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, the justice department quietly dropped a bombshell in the form of a memo. A 'systematic review' of the Epstein files by justice department officials 'revealed no incriminating 'client list',' the memo stated, nor did they find evidence that Epstein blackmailed powerful figures. The memo also affirmed that Epstein died by suicide in his Brooklyn jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019. Since the memo's release, Maga has been in turmoil – and some of Trump's most loyal foot soldiers have been in open revolt against his administration, accusing it as now being part of a cover-up and calling for attorney general Pam Bondi's resignation over her handling of the Epstein files. On Truth Social, Trump offered a stern rebuke to his detractors, claiming that the Epstein files were actually a hoax, because they were written by 'Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration.' But not everyone's buying it. 'This is the worst response I've ever seen from President Trump,' said rightwing commentator Benny Johnson. Disgraced former general Michael Flynn, considered a hero by the QAnon movement, wrote: '@realdonaldtrump please understand the EPSTEIN AFFAIR IS NOT GOING AWAY.' Rightwing commentator Matt Walsh called Trump's statement 'extremely obtuse', adding: 'We don't accept obvious bullshit from our political leaders.' Maga's obsession with the Epstein files is an indication of how the core ideas associated with the fringe QAnon conspiracy – that a shadowy cabal of government elites working to cover up a global child sex-trafficking operation – have taken root in the broader pro-Trump movement. QAnon took a long tradition of antisemitic, 'deep state' and 'satanic panic' conspiracy theories, put them on steroids with a pro-Trump flavor, and assigned the enigmatic Q, supposedly a government official with top secret clearance and a penchant for posting on 8chan, at the helm of the movement. 'The unique thing about QAnon is that you had an anonymous poster on an anonymous chatroom putting out clues for people to try to solve,' said Joseph Uscinski, a political science professor at the University of Miami specializing in the study of conspiracy theories. When QAnon emerged in 2017, allegations against Epstein had been swirling for over a decade. Epstein's arrest in 2019 on federal charges was a boon for QAnon. The movement quickly sought to incorporate information about the case into their propaganda. The case also surfaced a trove of digital media that QAnon sleuths could pore over looking for 'clues' – such as photographs of Epstein with various public figures (including many with Trump), Epstein's flight logs and aerial images of his private island. 'Epstein engaged in crimes, but I think there's a whole fantasy lore surrounding it that goes far beyond any available evidence,' said Uscinski. Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University's Program on Extremism, told the Guardian that as 'QAnon and Maga have become increasingly intertwined in recent years, we have seen the embrace of increasingly fringe conspiracies and extremist narratives like 'Pizzagate' and 'Save the Children' by mainstream political figures.' These narratives turned out to be useful for Trump and his allies, who harnessed simmering suspicion of establishment figures and cast the former reality star as the only person brave enough to take on 'the deep state'. 'As Trump and other prominent Republican figures amplified QAnon content and used it as a political cudgel against Democratic politicians like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, they were providing legitimacy and approval to the very same conspiracy theorists who are now decrying Pam Bondi and the justice department,' said Lewis. Tensions over the Epstein files have been building since February, when Bondi went on Fox News and said Epstein's client list was sitting on her desk 'right now for review.' A week later, at a press event at the White House, Bondi handed out binders that she promised contained 'declassified' Epstein records to two dozen Maga influencers present. The influencers quickly realized there was basically no new information in them. In response to the ensuing backlash, Bondi said that the FBI had failed to disclose a tranche of Epstein files, and that she'd ordered Patel to compile them. Months later, in June, Elon Musk – amid the dramatic feud with his former friend Trump – claimed without evidence that the reason the Epstein files hadn't been released in full was because the president was implicated in them. (Musk has since deleted the post). The scale of the current Maga meltdown 'certainly shows the significance of Epstein conspiracies within the broader QAnon pantheon', said Lewis, and 'should lay bare just how deeply the disease of the QAnon movement has seeped into a Republican Party which has welcomed its most conspiratorial, antisemitic, reactionary fringe into Congress and the Executive Branch with open arms.' The backlash Trump is facing is a leopards-eating-faces moment for the administration. 'This was a conspiracy that Donald Trump, Pam Bondi and these Maga extremists have been fanning the flames of for the last several years, and now the chickens are coming home to roost,' House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Monday. Uscinski noted that's 'the interesting thing that happens when you use conspiracy theories to get into power'. 'Because conspiracy theories should be aimed at the people in power, right? They accuse powerful people of doing something wicked behind the scenes,' he added. In Trump's case, he 'spent the last 10 years building a coalition of largely conspiracy-minded people in the US', said Uscinski. 'So in order for him to keep these people engaged and donating and going to his speeches, and voting for him and voting for Republicans, he has to keep pressing the conspiracy theories.' But experts are skeptical that this current Maga meltdown will have any lasting impact. Trump's overall approval rating hasn't fluctuated dramatically over the past week. In fact, it's almost at exactly the same place it was at the same point in his first administration. '[Trump's supporters] are disgruntled, they're upset and they're going to express that on social media. But they're not going to abandon him, because he's the only game in town for them,' said Uscinski. He compared the current moment to the backlash Trump faced back in 2021. After courting favor from anti-vaxxers, Trump was booed when he announced during a live Bill O'Reilly interview that he'd received his Covid-19 booster shot and urged Americans to get theirs. Despite the importance of the Epstein files to the Maga and QAnon movements, Lewis thinks that 'it's unlikely this outrage will last'. 'The culture war will move on to its next target … and the rage machine will follow with conspiracies and vitriol' said Lewis. 'It's much easier to be angry at an immigrant than to wonder whether you've been lied to for the last eight years.
