Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the FBI was caught withholding some files.
New FBI Director Kash Patel vowed for full transparency on Thursday amid criticism of the law enforcement bureau over how it handled turning over files on infamous child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
A letter was sent by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to Patel in which she said that an official told her on Wednesday that she hadn’t received all the Epstein files despite assurances that all of them were sent to her office.
It came after a small batch of documents included copies of flight logs from Epstein’s private plane, which have long been available in multiple court cases, and a heavily redacted photocopy of an address book purportedly compiled by Epstein and his longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell, which has been cited in media accounts for many years.
The Justice Department also released a blacked-out list of masseuses and an evidence list showing entries for more than 150 items, including nude images, massage tables, and other items. There was no indication as to whether the list was from Epstein’s case, Maxwell’s case, or some other investigation.
On Thursday evening, Patel appeared to respond to Bondi’s letter and criticism about how the agency is handling the files, although he did not make specific reference to Epstein files. Instead, he said that there will be “no cover-ups” or “missing documents.”
“The FBI is entering a new era—one that will be defined by integrity, accountability, and the unwavering pursuit of justice. There will be no cover-ups, no missing documents, and no stone left unturned—and anyone from the prior or current Bureau who undermines this will be swiftly pursued,” he wrote on X.
“If there are gaps, we will find them. If records have been hidden, we will uncover them. And we will bring everything we find to the DOJ to be fully assessed and transparently disseminated to the American people as it should be. The oath we take is to the Constitution, and under my leadership, that promise will be upheld without compromise.”
The Epoch Times contacted the FBI for comment on Friday.
Bondi wrote in her Thursday letter to Patel that more records were recently discovered. She ordered the FBI to hand over “the full and complete Epstein files” to her by Friday morning, and directed Patel to “conduct an immediate investigation” into why her order to the FBI to turn over all documents was not followed.
President Donald Trump, who was in office when Epstein was arrested and later found dead in a jail cell in 2019, suggested while campaigning last year that he’d seek to open up the government’s files.
Epstein was accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls in the early 2000s but wound up serving just 13 months in jail after he was found dead in his cell. He was indicted on federal charges in New York in 2019, more than a decade after he secretly struck a deal with federal prosecutors in Florida to dispose of similar charges of sex trafficking.
His case has drawn significant online and media attention due to his relationships with high-profile celebrities, business officials, politicians, and other luminaries.
Earlier Thursday, a handful of conservative influencers were seen with alleged copies of the Epstein files in photos posted on social media. Among those seen holding the binders was commentator Rogan O’Handley, known as DC Draino online, as well as commentators Mike Cernovich, Jack Posobiec, Liz Wheeler, Libs of TikTok, and others.
Some conservative commentators expressed disappointment with the release of the files on Thursday. For example, Raheem Kassam, an editor with the National Pulse, wrote that “it is embarrassing for the White House, the vast majority of which is unlikely to have had any eyes on the documents handed to social media influencers who believed they were attending a simple series of policy briefings today.”
Among elected officials, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) wrote on X that the rollout of the files was insufficient.
“GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR!” Luna wrote in a post Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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