FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly had a heated exchange this week over how the administration has dealt with the Jeffrey Epstein probe.
The disagreement included the alleged assessment of the deceased pedophile’s supposed “client list” that Justice Department authorities say never existed.
The argument reportedly caused Mr. Bongino to take Friday off and consider resigning from the post after less than four months on the job, according to a source close to the story.
“He is miserable. He is alone. His staff is sabotaging him,” commented another source, who expressed concern that if Mr. Bongino exits the bureau, it will leave Director Kash Patel without a friendly buffer and allow FBI management to suggest a replacement of their choosing.
The Washington Times reached out to the Justice Department and the FBI for comment.
The Justice Department and FBI faced criticism after the DOJ concluded its investigation into the situation related to Epstein’s death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York on Aug. 10, 2019, weeks after being charged with sex trafficking girls — several as young as 14 years old.
However, Ms. Bondi’s department released a two-page memo Monday saying that a “systematic review” of evidence said that the 66-year-old financier died by suicide after affecting “over one thousand victims” and there was “no incriminating ’client list.’”
“There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions,” the memo said. “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”
Ms. Bondi, during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, also said she had “no knowledge” of Epstein being an intelligence asset. She made the comment when asked if that was a possible reason for Epstein getting a slap-on-the-wrist plea deal in 2008 following earlier sex charges involving minors.
When asked to square how the so-called “client list” did not exist when she appeared to talk about it during an interview on Fox News, Ms. Bondi said, “I was asked a question about the client list, and my response was, ’it’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed,’ meaning the [Epstein] file along with the JFK and MLK files as well.”
