Attorney General Pam Bondi’s attempt to quell the angry mob over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal backfired when she brought dead mid-20th-century celebrities into the mix.
The backlash came after the Department of Justice sent a six-page letter to Congress listing 130 names of “all government officials and politically exposed persons” mentioned in the Epstein files—an effort some critics are slamming as “obstruction.”
The letter included names for a wide range of reasons, from people Epstein corresponded with frequently to those he merely mentioned in conversation and never met. Among them were Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and Janis Joplin. Monroe died in 1962, when the disgraced financier was 9.
The list does contain those already known to be associated with Epstein, including President Donald Trump, Les Wexner, and Steve Bannon. It also name-drops several of Trump’s most loathed foes, including former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Democratic donor and actor George Clooney, and lawmakers Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, who are spearheading the release of the Epstein files.
Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche then said the DOJ had fulfilled its requirements under the Epstein Files Transparency Act and considered the matter of Epstein and his powerful associates resolved—something people across the political spectrum are taking issue with.
“Bondi needs to be arrested for obstruction,” one X user wrote Sunday morning.
Lauren Greene, the daughter of former congresswoman and Trump ally-turned-foe Marjorie Taylor Greene, also chimed in Sunday morning.
“Dear Pam Bondi, DOJ and the MAGA cult…..Why is former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s name spelled WRONG?” she wrote on X.
“Bondi announced that the DOJ released all Epstein files under the Transparency Act. She says no redactions were made for ‘embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity’ to any official, public figure, or foreign dignitary,” right-wing commentator Mario Nawfal shared with his 3 million X followers on Sunday.
“From the number of files I’ve read with weird redactions, I can confidently say: this is BS,” he added.
Another person questioned where Bondi’s loyalities lied.
“The alphabetical list strategy is the oldest trick in the book to protect the powerful. When you mix names of people mentioned in passing with those who were active participants, the shock value dilutes the actual evidence,” one X user wrote. “The DOJ is essentially hiding the needle in a haystack of irrelevant names.”
Democrat Rep. Khanna slammed Bondi’s DOJ for “muddying the waters” with its letter.
“The DOJ is once again purposefully muddying the waters on who was a predator and who was mentioned in an email,” Khanna wrote on X.
“To have Janis Joplin, who died when Epstein was 17, in the same list as Larry Nassar, who went to prison for the sexual abuse of hundreds of young women and child pornography, with no clarification of how either was mentioned in the files, is absurd.”
“Release the full files,” Khanna continued. “Stop protecting predators. Redact only the survivors’ names.”
The letter comes days after Bondi was grilled at a House committee hearing about her handling of the release of the files. In a fiery show of Trump loyalty, Bondi defended the department’s actions and sparred with Judiciary members while several of Epstein’s victims looked on.
Bondi has faced searing criticism over the DOJ’s handling of the disclosures. Earlier this month, the department was forced to take down thousands of Epstein-related documents that may have identified victims, acknowledging that “technical or human error” had compromised the release.
On Jan. 30, the DOJ released more than 3.5 million Epstein-related documents—an action Blanche said marked the end of the department’s review of the files after the Transparency Act. It was signed into law by Trump in November and required the DOJ to report to Congress all categories of information released and withheld, a summary of redactions, and a list of all those named in the files.
But the release—which occurred 42 days after the department was legally required to make all relevant Epstein records public—represented only about half of the roughly 6 million documents the DOJ reviewed, fueling renewed concerns of a cover-up. The law allows redactions only to protect victims’ identities. However, the DOJ’s process has, in fact, revealed the names of many victims while protecting the names of the perpetrators.
This was a point Massie raised to Bondi on Wednesday. She branded him a “failed politician” and “hypocrite” for his efforts.
The documents include uncorroborated FBI tips accusing Trump of sexual assault, fresh references tying him to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, and emails between Epstein and associates that mention the president.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.
