A look at how the Epstein files dogged Pam Bondi’s time as attorney general

Attorney General Pam Bondi listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) 2026-04-03T04:02:00Z NEW YORK (AP) — After Pam Bondi became U.S. attorney general last year, conservative influencers, online sleuths and others who wanted the government to disclose all it knew about Jeffrey Epstein thought they might have a champion in the Department of Justice.

So did Jess Michaels, one of the legions of women who have said they were sexually assaulted by the late financier and convicted sex offender with a roster of powerful friends in business, politics and beyond. “I thought, ‘Well, maybe a woman stepping into this role will finally, finally get the truth,’” Michaels recalled Thursday, after President Donald Trump announced Bondi was out of the nation’s top law enforcement job. “She had this opportunity to be a hero and to really do right by survivors of sexual violence and trafficking,” Michaels said, “and she chose not to.” The furor over the “Epstein files,” as the trove of investigative records came to be known, wasn’t the only controversy of Bondi’s tenure.

But the arc — first raising expectations for a big reveal, then declaring there was nothing to see, and ultimately a forced, flawed document dump — was a stubbornly problematic storyline that ran through her time as attorney general.

Bondi rejected criticism of her handling of the matter, and Trump on Thursday praised her as “a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend.” Michaels and other Epstein victims watched it all with shaken trust that Bondi’s departure alone won’t likely rebuild.

Read More “This is not about a single person,” accuser Annie Farmer said Thursday. “It is about a government and judicial system that has repeatedly failed Epstein survivors.” Here’s a glance at Bondi’s part in the Epstein saga: February 2025: The binders Freshly confirmed as attorney general for a president who had suggested on the campaign trail that he’d open more government documents on Epstein, Bondi whetted appetites by declaring on Fox News that “you’re going to see some Epstein information released.” And when a host asked about “releasing “the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients” — a long-rumored, never-seen sex trafficking roster — she replied that it was “sitting on my desk right now.” A day later, conservative commentators and content creators were brought to the White House to get DOJ binders emblazoned with “The Epstein Files: Phase 1”

原文链接: AP News