Trump defends Bondi amid backlash over Epstein files
Trump said "nobody cares about" Epstein, and that more time or energy must not be wasted on his case, as he tried to unite his base of supporters in a nearly 400-word post on Truth Social.
"What's going on with my "boys" and, in some cases, "gals?" They're all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We're on one Team, MAGA, and I don't like what's happening," Trump said.
In a joint memo released on Monday, the FBI and Justice Department said there was no evidence to support a number of long-held conspiracy theories about Epstein's death in federal custody in 2019 and his alleged clientele.
Conservative influencers from Laura Loomer to Elon Musk have criticized Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel for their findings, which came months after Bondi pledged to reveal major revelations about Epstein, including "a lot of names" and "a lot of flight logs."
U.S. media, including Fox News and NBC News, have reported that FBI deputy director Dan Bongino has clashed with Bondi over the issue and is considering stepping down.
Patel and Bongino, a former conservative podcaster, both previously made statements before working at the FBI about a so-called client list and often suggested that the government was hiding information about Epstein from the American public.
Monday's memo on Epstein concluded that after reviewing more than 300 gigabytes of data, there was "no incriminating client list" nor was there any evidence that Epstein may have blackmailed prominent people.
The memo also confirmed prior findings by the FBI which concluded that Epstein died by suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial, and not as a result of a criminal act such as murder.
Epstein's death while imprisoned in New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center has ignited controversy for years.
Expectations for key revelations in his case grew when, in February, Fox News asked Bondi whether the Justice Department would be releasing Epstein's client list, and she said, "It's sitting on my desk right now to review."
On Tuesday at the White House, Bondi walked that comment back, telling reporters that she was referring to the entire Epstein "file" along with other files pertaining to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. "That's what I meant by that," she said.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa, Editing by Franklin Paul)
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