Democrat demands Trump ‘come clean' on Epstein files as FBI's Bongino and Patel mull quitting after Bondi blowup
The Trump administration faced a storm of backlash this week after a DOJ memo revealed the late sex offender had no secret client list, contradicting Bondi's February claim that it was 'sitting on my desk.'
Bondi also reaffirmed that Epstein's 2019 death was a suicide by strangulation despite conspiracy theories suggesting otherwise. That upset many MAGA Trump supporters who expected major revelations based on earlier official statements.
Jen Psaki, the host of The Briefing on MSNBC, asked Raskin on Friday why he thinks Bondi 'is holding back.'
'[M]any of these people have gestured at the existence of a client list, so this is a vast public perception now without regard to ideological lines,' Raskin said.
'People believe that the client list is out there. And look, this guy was a real child sex offender, and they ran a child sex ring,' Raskin continued.
'So, we know that MAGA took that ball and ran all the way down the field with it, and they're alleging satanic child sex rings and so on. That has done huge damage to America's political and civic culture.'
Raskin also questioned why President Donald Trump hasn't released the list despite demanding transparency, suggesting the president may be implicated, protecting others, or using the information as leverage. He feels it's now best 'for everybody to come clean.'
'I'm gonna be asking Chairman Jordan to call for a hearing where we subpoena the attorney general and Dan Bongino and Kash Patel to come in and tell us everything that we know because this thing is really spinning out of control at this point,' he said.
'And there's one way to put it to rest, which is to come clean, as President Trump promised he would during the campaign.'
Bongino took the day off from work on Friday, Axios reports, and a source close to Bongino said "he ain't coming back."
However, a White House spokesperson called the resignation rumors 'baseless.'
Spokesperson Harrison Fields told The Independent Saturday, 'President Trump has assembled a highly qualified and experienced law and order team dedicated to protecting Americans, holding criminals accountable, and delivering justice to victims. This work is being carried out seamlessly and with unity. Any attempt to sow division within this team is baseless and distracts from the real progress being made in restoring public safety and pursuing justice for all.'
The Independent has contacted representatives for Bongino, Patel, and Bondi for comment.
Also Friday, CNN's Kaitlan Collins told Anderson Cooper on AC360 that the endgame could boil down to who Trump supports more.
'We have heard that Kash Patel is outright threatening to resign. I think he's sympathetic to Dan Bongino, who is his number two, and they work very closely together. There's just a wall that separates their offices,' she said.
Collins added that Trump ally and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer is pushing for Bondi's removal, but said it appears unlikely to happen.
'What it shows, Anderson, is that this is all kind of their own making, because Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, and Pam Bondi were three of the officials who pushed a lot of the information when it came to Jeffrey Epstein,' Collins said.
'And so officials inside the White House are very frustrated because they feel like this news cycle is only getting worse for them. It is not from people that they can easily dismiss or say it's the media or Democrats. It is their own base that is so furious and so angry over how they've handled this. And the question is how they get out of it.'
Earlier this week, Trump dismissed renewed interest in Epstein, criticizing a reporter for asking about the DOJ announcing there is no 'client list.'
'Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years,' Trump said. 'Are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable.'
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