Epstein files drop sparks bipartisan backlash against Trump administration
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle voiced complaints about the latest release of files from the Jeffrey Epstein case.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., demanded that Attorney General Pam Bondi immediately leave her post for releasing an entirely redacted grand jury document in the Epstein files document dump.
"Now the coverup is out in the open,” Ocasio-Cortez said on X. "This is far from over. Everyone involved will have to answer for this. Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, whole admin.”
“Protecting a bunch of rapists and pedophiles because they have money, power, and connections,” she continued. “Bondi should resign tonight.”
The 119-page document in question is one of many that is heavily redacted within the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) dump on Friday night, which has drawn heavy criticism from congressional Democrats and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., the main antagonist in pushing Bondi and the DOJ to release all documents and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Several lawmakers, including Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., have threatened consequences against the DOJ for not complying with the law, specifically for not providing explanations for redactions.
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Jeffrey Epstein cast himself as a political insider after Trump’s first election, recently released House Oversight emails show, offering foreign leaders "insight" into the new president and boasting that he’d already briefed a top Russian diplomat on how to handle him.
The trove of emails, spanning from 2016 to 2018 and made public by the House Oversight Committee last month, reveals Epstein trying to reestablish himself on the world stage by courting heads of state, billionaires and diplomats.
Epstein, the emails show, positioned himself as a man with rare access and understanding of Trump, offering his analysis to global figures eager to make sense of the new administration.
In one 2018 exchange, former Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland thanked Epstein for a "lovely evening" and said he would meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s assistant.
Epstein replied that Jagland should tell Russian President Vladimir Putin that Lavrov "can get insight on talking to me," adding that "Vitaly Churkin was great — he understood Trump after our conversations."
This is an excerpt from Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, faced increased scrutiny in November after the release of leaked emails provided new insight into the embattled royal's ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Emails included in newly released files referenced Andrew in connection with Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexually abusing her on three separate occasions in 2001 when she was a teenager after she was trafficked by Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Andrew, who was recently stripped of his royal titles, has consistently denied Giuffre's allegations and claimed he has no memory of meeting her. However, several emails included in the documents and obtained by the Telegraph and Sky News appeared to cast doubt on Andrew's denials, including statements that he made during a 2019 interview on BBC's "Newsnight."
In one email that Epstein sent to a journalist, he seemed to contradict a suggestion made by Andrew during the interview that a now-infamous photo showing the former prince with an underage Giuffre was fake.
The image, which allegedly showed Andrew with his arm around Giuffre's waist and Maxwell in the background, was first made public in February 2011 and became key to the controversy surrounding the royal.
In the correspondence, which was sent in July 2011, Epstein appeared to confirm the image's authenticity and claimed "many" of his employees also took photos with Andrew.
This is an excerpt from a story by Ashley Hume.
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