Dem
47
GOP
53
The reviews are now in and Pam Bondi got awful, horrible reviews from conservative media and media figures for her over-the-top performance before the House Judiciary Committee last week. What they didn't like was her avoiding answering questions about the Epstein files and her role in handling them. For example, Erick Erickson tweeted: "When the Attorney General of the United States is asked why she has prosecuted no one related to Jeffrey Epstein and this is her answer, she should be fired or resign." The tweet included a video clip of Bondi answering the question of why no one has been prosecuted by saying how great the stock market is doing. Right-wing influencer Tim Pool said: "I think they've miserably handled the Epstein files." Fox News host Lisa Kennedy said Bondi came off "like a shrieking Karen."
Bondi hasn't been popular with the right ever since she announced that she had the Epstein client list on her desk and then, when people demanded that she publish it, said there was no client list. At the time, Megyn Kelly blasted Bondi for this, for first saying there was a list, letting right-wing pundits brag about it, and then leaving them out to dry when she later said there was never a list.
Some far-right figures have cranked their antagonism to Bondi up to 10. Christian nationalist and antisemite Nick Fuentes said: "Pam Bondi needs to be impeached." White supremacist Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two people at a racial justice protest in 2020, tweeted: "Pam Bondi needs to resign. Harmeet Dhillon for AG." Does he not realize that Assistant AG Dhillon is an immigrant from India with brown skin?
Bondi may even have lost podcaster Joe Rogan. He said the Epstein files scare the sh** out of him and are definitely not a hoax. He added: "Literally demonic human beings that are running the world and don't give a fu** about human lives."
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), the coauthor of the law that ordered Bondi to release all the files, with only the victim's names blacked out, was furious with Bondi. She has released only half the files and has redacted large amounts of what was released to protect the perpetrators rather than the victims. Massie told reporters: "The recourse, and I keep reminding the folks at DoJ of this, is that the next attorney general can bring charges against them for breaking the law." He said Bondi's defense for breaking the law is that the DoJ is incompetent. Massie isn't buying that. Bondi called Massie "a failed politician." He replied: "This cover-up spans decades and you are responsible for this portion of it."
On Sunday, Massie went on ABC's "This Week" and said he had no confidence in Bondi and that Merrick Garland performed much better before the committee.
So far, the only Epstein confederate in prison is his procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell, and she is in a Club Fed-type prison in Texas after having had a chat with Deputy AG Todd Blanche. She must have told Blanche something he liked to get sent there. None of the other Americans close to Epstein have suffered anything other than a bit of embarrassment. Over two dozen high-profile people are named in the files released so far, but much of the content of the messages naming them has been blacked out to protect them. So Massie is basically correct that Bondi is protecting Epstein's clients rather than the victims.
Now there is a new wrinkle in the story. Members of Congress may view the unredacted Epstein files in the DoJ headquarters by appointment. A number of them have done that. Now it turns out that Bondi is tracking which member saw which file and has compiled a database. House members Robert Garcia (D-CA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) have sent Bondi a letter demanding that she immediately stop tracking members who are looking at the files. Bondi had a printout of Jayapal's search history with her at the hearing last Wednesday.
The members also want a better system for systematically examining the unredacted files. Even Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has condemned Bondi's spying on the members. Bondi has not responded to the letter. (V)