The second Pam Bondi’s Justice Division and the FBI quietly dropped a memo on the Fourth of July weekend, trying to attract a line below the Jeffrey Epstein information saga, it was “like a bomb went off” within the White Home, a brand new report reveals.
For President Donald Trump’s administration, the dealing with of the Epstein case has been a chaotic summer season of “disorganization,” high-stakes technique conferences within the State of affairs Room, “finger-pointing,” and a sequence of “unforced errors,” The Wall Road Journal experiences.
Tensions within the Trump administration on how finest to deal with the Epstein scandal — “a disaster of the president’s personal making” — and appease his MAGA base had been simmering since February, when the Lawyer Basic claimed the information had been “sitting on her desk” and haphazardly organized an ill-fated PR stunt with right-wing influencers.
This was the start of a sequence of “errors” by “a number of mouthpieces” and Trump advisers who deeply underestimated the difficulty that continues to canine the administration in the present day, in keeping with the WSJ.
Trump socialized with Epstein within the Nineties and early 2000s earlier than slicing off contact following the pedophile’s first arrest in 2006.
The Trump administration’s dealing with of the Epstein information fallout was a summer season of ‘disorganization,’ high-stakes technique conferences within the State of affairs Room, and a sequence of ‘errors,’ in keeping with a brand new report (Getty)
Now, the president is determined to rid himself of the case, the outlet experiences.
White Home officers reportedly believed the difficulty would blow over and the president “couldn’t perceive why individuals had been so obsessed” with the late intercourse offender.
However the WSJ additionally experiences that the president was “apprehensive a few of his associates is perhaps talked about within the information,” they usually “might need been doctored to harm him,” in keeping with individuals acquainted with Trump’s feedback.
“This can be the worst managed PR occasion in historical past,” lawyer Ty Cobb, who led the primary Trump White Home’s response to a 2017 particular counsel probe into the marketing campaign’s ties to Russia, instructed the WSJ.
When approached by The Impartial for remark, White Home spokesperson Abigail Jackson stated the difficulty was a “useless story.”
“This can be a lazy rewrite of a useless story,” Jackson stated of the report. “It’s not information that Epstein knew Donald Trump, as a result of Donald Trump kicked Epstein out of his membership for being a creep.”
Trump socialized with Epstein within the 90s and early 00s earlier than slicing off contact following the pedophile’s first arrest in 2006 (NBC Information)
“Democrats and the media knew about Epstein and his victims for years and did nothing to assist them whereas President Trump was calling for transparency, and is now delivering on it with hundreds of pages of paperwork,” Jackson added.
In a press release to the WSJ, Bondi stated she is working “tirelessly” alongside FBI Director Kash Patel to make America safer.
“Our solely precedence is to proceed working along with the FBI to make America safer by guaranteeing murderers and violent criminals face essentially the most extreme justice,” Bondi stated.
Right here’s how occasions this 12 months reportedly unfolded
White Home officers given minutes’ discover about Epstein information binders occasion
Bondi had solely been in publish for 3 weeks when she was requested throughout a Fox Information interview whether or not the Justice Division would launch Epstein’s alleged consumer listing.
“It’s sitting on my desk proper now to assessment,” she responded. “That’s been a directive by President Trump. I’m reviewing that.”
This assertion “flummoxed” Trump officers, in keeping with the WSJ. “What doc was Bondi speaking about?” they reportedly questioned.
Jubilant pictures of right-wing influencers holding Epstein binders aloft in an ill-fated PR stunt (Reuters)
FBI officers “pulled an all-nighter” to tug collectively the now notorious “The Epstein Information: Part 1” binders for a publicity occasion on February 27, the place far-right influencers, together with Jack Posobiec and Scott Presler, in addition to the people behind the LibsofTikTok and DC_Draino accounts, got the paperwork.
Jubilant pictures of the group holding the binders aloft had been revealed, however their pleasure rapidly pale after they realized that the content material was already virtually solely within the public area. Some had been outraged and blamed Bondi.
Trump’s communications aides got “only some minutes’ discover” concerning the occasion and “didn’t know Bondi deliberate to speak about Epstein,” in keeping with the WSJ.
It went down like a lead balloon with the White Home. Bondi was reportedly pulled apart and instructed to tone down the difficulty, “not draw consideration to it.”
Trump tells Bondi to ‘buck up’ amid criticism as FBI and DOJ drop bombshell memo
After the binder embarrassment, anger over the Epstein information continued to bubble away for the following few months.
It got here to a head when Elon Musk tossed an Epstein grenade on June 5 following his exit from the White Home as a public feud broke out between the billionaire and Trump.
Amid a feud with the president, Elon Musk posted on X that Trump was ‘within the Epstein information.’ He later deleted the publish (AP)
“Time to drop the actually massive bomb: Donald Trump is within the Epstein information. That’s the actual cause they haven’t been made public.”
Shortly after, he wrote: “Mark this publish for the longer term. The reality will come out.”
Later, maybe as cooler heads prevailed, Musk deleted the publish, however the harm was achieved.
Amid a tidal wave of backlash from MAGA, FBI Director Kash Patel and others on the bureau reportedly wished to launch a press release to elucidate why they had been dropping the Epstein case, the WSJ experiences.
Bondi, in the meantime, had complained to the White Home and the president concerning the scrutiny she was receiving. “Trump inspired her to buck up, and others instructed her to cease taking a look at social media and lashing out at these posting,” individuals with data of the conversations instructed the newspaper.
“She instructed White Home officers that FBI leaders, together with Patel, had been out to get her,” the individuals reportedly stated.
The president instructed Bondi to ‘buck up’ amid a wave of criticism over her dealing with of the information, the WSJ experiences (Reuters)
The Justice Division and the FBI dropped a 600-word memo on July 6, successfully closing the case into the pedophile. It decided that no “additional disclosure could be acceptable or warranted,” a lot was sealed by a courtroom to guard Epstein’s victims, and “solely a fraction of it “would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial.”
Moreover, the memo stated that no additional costs had been anticipated as investigators “didn’t uncover proof that would predicate an investigation towards uncharged third events.”
Additionally launched had been hours of footage, which officers say additional confirms Epstein died by suicide whereas in custody in his jail cell in Manhattan in 2019, quashing the conspiracy principle beforehand pushed by Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, that he was murdered.
“It was like a bomb went off after that assertion went out,” one senior White Home official instructed the WSJ.
Loomer requires Pam ‘Blondi’s’ resignation
MAGA’s Laura Loomer, an influential voice within the motion, was among the many loudest calling for Bondi’s resignation.
After information of the memo broke, Loomer gave the Lawyer Basic the belittling nickname “Blondi” in social media posts on X/Twitter. “Blondi lied,” Loomer posted in July. “She was at all times mendacity.”
MAGA’s Laura Loomer gave Bondi the nickname ‘Blondi’ and known as for her resignation (Getty)
“Who releases a press release concerning the Epstein information on the Sunday evening of 4th of July weekend?” she requested her followers. “Somebody who doesn’t need you paying consideration.”
Afterward, when Trump and his allies reportedly began ringing round MAGA allies to diffuse the scenario, Loomer was contacted by a White Home official who instructed her that “Bondi wanted to be extra cautious, however that Trump had no intention of firing her,” the right-wing influencer recalled to the WSJ.
Susie Wiles convenes Epstein technique conferences within the State of affairs Room
White Home chief of workers Susie Wiles reportedly stated the FBI and Justice Division memo “had been a mistake” because the administration confronted uproar from Trump’s personal base.
Issues had grow to be so fraught that Wiles moved to convene a sequence of Epstein technique conferences within the State of affairs Room — the so-called “conflict room” used to debate responses to extremely delicate international crises.
“[Vice President JD] Vance led the push for extra disclosure, in keeping with officers acquainted with the discussions. Wiles and others argued that they’d by no means have the ability to pacify essentially the most rabid Epstein conspiracy theorists,” the WSJ experiences.
Trump known as Rupert Murdoch from Air Power One in bid to kill WSJ report
Regardless of aides’ finest efforts, the Epstein story was not going away.
Trump made a name to Rupert Murdoch from Air Power One in an try to kill a WSJ report, revealed on July 17, a few fiftieth birthday greeting that the president allegedly despatched Epstein in 2003.
The letter allegedly signed by Trump — which contains a sexually suggestive drawing and a birthday want that claims “could every single day be one other fantastic secret” — was first revealed by the newspaper after which shared with members of Congress by the Epstein property.
A birthday word for Jeffrey Epstein that seems to have been signed by Trump, which he denies (Home Oversight Committee)
Trump has repeatedly denied writing the letter and denied {that a} signature on the doc is his. The president’s $10bn defamation lawsuit claims that “no genuine letter or drawing exists,” and on his Reality Social account, he known as WSJ’s story a “false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ within the ineffective ‘rag’ that’s.”
Attorneys for the newspaper hit again earlier this week and argued the president’s lawsuit “doesn’t embody a single believable allegation” that any of the defendants — which embody right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the newspaper’s guardian corporations — knowingly revealed false statements about him.
“The Article is true,” legal professionals wrote Monday, and the proof is publicly obtainable for anybody to see.
Maxwell given Chick-fil-A breakfast earlier than being questioned by Bondi’s deputy
Attorneys for Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and the one particular person ever charged in reference to the financier’s crimes, reportedly noticed a possibility in late July as rage over the case refused to die down.
Home Speaker Mike Johnson had simply floor the Home of Representatives to a screeching halt in an effort to block laws filed by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to drive the discharge of the Epstein information in 30 days.
Maxwell’s present lawyer, David Oscar Markus, reportedly reached out to Deputy Lawyer Basic Todd Blanche to make a suggestion, in keeping with the WSJ.
Attorneys for Ghislaine Maxwell noticed a possibility in late July as rage over the case continued to die down (Federal Bureau of Prisons)
“Would the Justice Division wish to interview Maxwell and see what she now needed to say?” Markus reportedly provided Blanche, who didn’t request a pardon or preferential remedy for his consumer, the outlet experiences.
They took Markus up on the provide and questioned Maxwell for 2 days. She stated she by no means noticed the president doing something inappropriate or unlawful, transcripts later launched by the Justice Division revealed.
On the second day of questioning, Maxwell was given breakfast from Chick-fil-A, in keeping with the newspaper.
Maxwell is at present serving a 20-year sentence for her function in serving to Epstein recruit, groom and abuse younger ladies. A couple of week after the interview, the 63-year-old British socialite was moved to a minimum-security jail camp in Bryan, Texas.
Khanna and Massie held a press convention on September 3 with Epstein survivors, who known as for the information to be launched of their entirety (Getty Photos)
The rationale behind the transfer was over “considerations for her security,” in keeping with the WSJ.
In the meantime, the White Home debated whether or not to launch the transcripts and audio of Maxwell’s interviews, believing it might lastly finish the drama.
They launched the transcripts on August 22 and high officers had been reportedly “satisfied that the scandal would quickly blow over.”
On September 2, when lawmakers returned from their summer season recess, Massie filed a discharge petition in an try to drive a Home vote on releasing the information. Khanna and Massie held a press convention the next day with Epstein’s survivors, who known as for the information to be launched of their entirety.
Trump is reportedly now scrambling to sway the three Republican congresswomen who signed the petition, now {that a} majority of Home members have signed a measure to drive a full flooring vote.