Jeffrey Epstein’s victims have torched Attorney General Pam Bondi over her handling of the Epstein files, accusing the justice department of unlawfully keeping the public in the dark over the sex trafficker and his powerful networks.
Days after the department only partially released the information it holds on Epstein and what the government did to stop his heinous crimes, a group of 19 women abused by him have hit out at the department for botching the issue and violating the law.
In a joint statement released on Monday, the women pointed to the litany of missteps they say Bondi and her department have made, from failing to release all the files by Friday’s deadline, to putting out swathes of documents that were entirely blacked out while leaving some victims’ names un-redacted.
“We are told that there are hundreds and thousands of pages of documents still unreleased. These are clear-cut violations of an unambiguous law,” their statement says.
“There has been no communication with survivors or our representatives as to what was withheld from release or why hundreds of thousands of documents have not been disclosed by the legal deadline, or how the DOJ will ensure that no more victims are wrongly disclosed.
“While clearer communication would not change the fact that a law was broken, its absence suggests an ongoing intent to keep survivors and the public in the dark as much as possible and as long as possible.”
The statement came as the political fallout from the Epstein files continued, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer moving a resolution on Monday morning demanding that the chamber sue the department for breaching the Epstein Transparency Act.
The act was reluctantly signed by Donald Trump last month, mandating full disclosure with limited exemptions.
In the House, Democrat Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie - the two lawmakers who spearheaded the legislation - have also threatened contempt sanctions against Bondi, and have not ruled out the possibility of impeachment action in the new year.
While Schumer’s resolution is unlikely to get very far in the GOP-controlled chamber, it is nonetheless the latest sign that the firestorm Trump and Bondi have faced all year is not likely to disappear any time soon.
The president was a longtime associate of the disgraced financier, and is in a number of the documents released so far, although the references to him remain limited.
One document was related to an earlier court case against Ghislaine Maxwell, in which a victim testified that she was 14 when Epstein took her to Mar-a-Lago.
The document says: “Epstein elbowed Trump playfully asking him, referring to [Jane] Doe, ‘This is a good one, right?’ Trump smiled and nodded in agreement. They both chuckled and Doe felt uncomfortable, but, at the time, was too young to understand why.”
Trump also was seen in a photograph with Epstein that the justice department quietly removed with no explanation on Saturday, sparking outrage and claims of cover-up.
Then, on Sunday afternoon, the department announced that it had reposted the photo “without any alteration or redaction.”
“The Southern District of New York flagged an image of President Trump for potential further action to protect victims,” said the department’s X post, which included a link to the photo.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the Department of Justice temporarily removed the image for further review. After the review, it was determined there is no evidence that any Epstein victims are depicted in the photograph, and it has been reposted without any alteration or redaction.”
Survivors who signed the statement included Jess Michaels, who was raped by Epstein when she was 19; Maria Farmer, who filed one of the first complaints against Epstein in the 1990s; Amanda and Sky Roberts, representing Sky’s late sister Virginia Giuffre; and two Jane Does.
Their statement also calls for the Congressional oversight of the release of the files, “to ensure that the Justice Department fulfills its legal obligations.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the department for comment. On Sunday, deputy attorney general Todd Blanche insisted the administration had “nothing to hide” and that the department was complying with its obligations.
Bondi also wrote on X that her department was committed to bringing charges against “anyone involved in the trafficking and exploitation of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims” and urged victims to come forward with any information.
But this in itself prompted a furious response, with many observers pointing out that the administration has had the files all year, with Bondi even telling Fox News in February that she had Epstein’s client list “sitting on my desk right now”.
