ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi instructed Tuesday that she has no plans to step down as she dodged questions on Jeffrey Epstein and her conflict with a high FBI official, searching for to press forward with a business-as-usual method within the face of right-wing turmoil.
Pressed by reporters throughout an announcement touting drug seizures, Bondi sidestepped questions concerning the fallout of the Trump administration’s determination to not launch extra information associated to the rich financier’s intercourse trafficking investigation. With some excessive profile-members of President Donald Trump’s base calling for her resignation, Bondi made clear she intends to stay lawyer common.
“I’m going to be right here for so long as the president needs me right here,” Bondi mentioned. “And I consider he’s made that crystal clear.”
The announcement on the Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters represents an effort by Bondi to show the web page on the Epstein controversy and present that the Justice Division is forging forward after days of mounting conservative criticism over the administration’s failure to ship long-sought authorities secrets and techniques about Epstein. Bondi highlighted current operations that led to the seizure of methamphetamine and fentanyl, together with medicine that had been hidden in a cargo of cucumbers throughout the Mexican border.
However her refusal to handle the turmoil might solely additional frustrate conservative influencers who’ve been calling for transparency and accountability over the rich financier’s case.
“This as we speak is about fentanyl overdoses all through our nation and individuals who have misplaced family members to fentanyl,” Bondi mentioned in response to a query from a reporter concerning the Epstein information. “That’s the message that we’re right here to ship as we speak. I’m not going to speak about Epstein.”
Trump has been searching for to tamp down criticism of his lawyer common and defended her once more earlier Tuesday, saying she dealt with the matter “very nicely.” Trump mentioned it’s as much as her whether or not to launch any extra information, including that “no matter she thinks is credible, she ought to launch.”
Requested about Trump’s remark, Bondi mentioned the Justice Division memo launched final week asserting that no extra proof would change into public “speaks for itself and we’ll get again to you on the rest.”
The turmoil over the division’s dealing with of the Epstein matter spilled into public view final week with stories of a inside conflict between Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. A part of the dispute centered on a narrative from the information group NewsNation that cited a “supply near the White Home” as saying the FBI would have launched the Epstein information months in the past if it may have performed so by itself. The story included statements from Bondi, Deputy Legal professional Normal Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel refuting the premise, however not Bongino.
Requested Tuesday whether or not she believes Bongino ought to stay in his position, Bondi mentioned solely that she wouldn’t focus on personnel issues. Bondi harassed that she had spent the morning with Patel, including that: “I feel all of us are dedicated to working collectively now to make America protected once more and that’s what we’re doing.”
Bondi had already been underneath scrutiny after an earlier doc launch in February that she hyped and handed out in binders to conservative influencers on the White Home lacked any new revelations. When that first launch flopped, Bondi accused officers of withholding information from her and claimed that the FBI later turned over a “truckload” of proof with 1000’s of pages of extra paperwork.
Regardless of guarantees that extra information had been on their method to the general public, nonetheless, the Justice Division decided after a months lengthy assessment that no “additional disclosure can be acceptable or warranted,” based on the memo launched final week.
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