The FBI is reviewing “tens of thousands of videos” related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual crimes against young girls before releasing any of the information to the public, Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
Ms. Bondi denied claims from frustrated GOP lawmakers that the files have been destroyed or have gone missing.
FBI agents, she said, are scouring the evidence to protect the victims of Epstein’s sex crimes.
“There are tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn, and there are hundreds of victims,” Ms. Bondi told reporters Tuesday. “And no one victim will ever get released.”
The Justice Department released hundreds of files related to the convicted sex offender in February, but it was determined that the documents contained no new information.
The high-profile names that have turned up in the Epstein files include former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew, who deny any wrongdoing.
Republican lawmakers fear the “deep state” eliminated the remaining evidence.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer told podcaster Benny Johnson he’s concerned the remaining Epstein files and sex tapes were destroyed, perhaps before President Joe Biden left office, to cover up the government’s culpability in the case.
Mr. Comer theorized that the Justice Department was aware of Mr. Epstein’s crimes as they were taking place, but didn’t intervene in order to acquire evidence to blackmail powerful people from around the world.
“My concern is the government may have known a lot more and may have been an active participant, maybe with the intention of intelligence gathering,” the Kentucky Republican said.
Ms. Bondi denied that the evidence has gone missing.
The delay in making the rest of it public, she said, is due to “the volume” of information the FBI needs to review to protect the victims.
She hadn’t heard about Mr. Comer’s claim.
“I’ll call him later and find out,” she said.
Court documents from a settled lawsuit that were released last year included names of luminaries who were previously revealed in flight logs kept for the disgraced financier’s private jet, dubbed the “Lolita Express.”
One female witness said she was told by Epstein that Mr. Clinton “likes them young, referring to girls.”
But convicted Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell had testified that Mr. Clinton never visited Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where some of the sex abuse took place.
At least one victim implicated President Trump, but there is no evidence he participated in Epstein’s sex crimes. Mr. Trump said he was “not a fan” of Epstein and banned him from his Mar-a-Lago club prior to 2008, when, according to a book about the president, Epstein hit on the teenage daughter of another club member.
Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre settled a lawsuit with Prince Andrew for a reported $16 million. She claimed Maxwell forced her to have sex with the British royal when she was 17 years old. He denied her charges.
She committed suicide in April.
