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 underneath the Jeffrey Epstein recordsdata 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 Scenario Room, “finger-pointing,” and a collection of “unforced errors,” The Wall Road Journal studies.
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 Legal professional Common claimed the recordsdata had been “sitting on her desk” and haphazardly organized an ill-fated PR stunt with right-wing influencers.
This was the start of a collection of “errors” by “a number of mouthpieces” and Trump advisers who deeply underestimated the problem that continues to canine the administration as we speak, based on the WSJ.
Trump socialized with Epstein within the Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s earlier than chopping off contact following the pedophile’s first arrest in 2006.
The Trump administration’s dealing with of the Epstein recordsdata fallout was a summer season of ‘disorganization,’ high-stakes technique conferences within the Scenario Room, and a collection of ‘errors,’ based on a brand new report (Getty)
Now, the president is determined to rid himself of the case, the outlet studies.
White Home officers reportedly believed the problem would blow over and the president “couldn’t perceive why individuals had been so obsessed” with the late intercourse offender.
However the WSJ additionally studies that the president was “anxious a few of his associates may be talked about within the recordsdata,” they usually “may need been doctored to harm him,” based on individuals conversant in 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 Unbiased for remark, White Home spokesperson Abigail Jackson mentioned the problem was a “useless story.”
“It is a lazy rewrite of a useless story,” Jackson mentioned 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 chopping 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 1000’s of pages of paperwork,” Jackson added.
In a press release to the WSJ, Bondi mentioned 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 making certain murderers and violent criminals face essentially the most extreme justice,” Bondi mentioned.
Right here’s how occasions this yr reportedly unfolded
White Home officers given minutes’ discover about Epstein recordsdata binders occasion
Bondi had solely been in publish for 3 weeks when she was requested throughout a Fox Information interview whether or not the DOJ would launch Epstein’s alleged consumer record.
“It’s sitting on my desk proper now to evaluation,” she responded. “That’s been a directive by President Trump. I’m reviewing that.”
This assertion “flummoxed” Trump officers, based on the WSJ. “What doc was Bondi speaking about?” they reportedly puzzled.
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 shortly light after they realized that the content material was already virtually totally 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,” based on the WSJ.
It went down like a lead balloon with the White Home. Bondi was reportedly pulled apart and instructed to tone down the problem, “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 recordsdata continued to bubble away for the subsequent 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 recordsdata.’ He later deleted the publish (AP)
“Time to drop the actually huge bomb: Donald Trump is within the Epstein recordsdata. That’s the actual cause they haven’t been made public.”
Shortly after, he wrote: “Mark this publish for the long run. The reality will come out.”
Later, maybe as cooler heads prevailed, Musk deleted the publish, however the injury was executed.
Amid a tidal wave of backlash from MAGA, FBI Director Kash Patel and others on the bureau reportedly needed to launch a press release to elucidate why they had been dropping the Epstein case, the WSJ studies.
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 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 mentioned.
The president instructed Bondi to ‘buck up’ amid a wave of criticism over her dealing with of the recordsdata, the WSJ studies (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 applicable or warranted,” a lot was sealed by a court docket to guard Epstein’s victims, and “solely a fraction of it “would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial.”
Moreover, the memo mentioned that no additional expenses had been anticipated as investigators “didn’t uncover proof that would predicate an investigation in opposition to 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 Legal professional Common 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 recordsdata on the Sunday evening of 4th of July weekend?” she requested her followers. “Somebody who doesn’t need you paying consideration.”
In a while, 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 Scenario Room
White Home chief of employees Susie Wiles reportedly mentioned the FBI and Justice Division memo “had been a mistake” because the administration confronted uproar from Trump’s personal base.
Issues had turn into so fraught that Wiles moved to convene a collection of Epstein technique conferences within the Scenario Room — the so-called “struggle room” used to debate responses to extremely delicate international crises.
“[Vice President JD] Vance led the push for extra disclosure, based on officers conversant in the discussions. Wiles and others argued that they might by no means have the ability to pacify essentially the most rabid Epstein conspiracy theorists,” the WSJ studies.
Trump known as Rupert Murdoch from Air Power 1 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 couple of fiftieth birthday greeting that the president allegedly despatched Epstein in 2003.
The letter allegedly signed by Trump — which includes a sexually suggestive drawing and a birthday want that claims “might day-after-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 be aware 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 Fact 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 embrace a single believable allegation” that any of the defendants — which embrace right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the newspaper’s father or mother corporations — knowingly revealed false statements about him.
“The Article is true,” attorneys wrote Monday, and the proof is publicly out there for anybody to see.
