The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee has accused Attorney General Pam Bondi of pressuring the FBI to redirect 1,000 employees to comb through 100,000 documents related to Jeffrey Epstein to flag any mentions of President Donald Trump.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wrote in letters Friday to Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino that "according to information my office received," FBI investigators tasked with reviewing the documents "were instructed to 'flag' any records in which President Trump was mentioned," media outlets reported.
Durbin asserted that it was part of a broader "haphazard" FBI review of documents related to the convicted sex offender that took place in March.
Durbin asked Bondi, Patel, and Bongino why officials were told to flag Trump-related documents, what the bureau did with any documents related to Trump, and for any log that officials created of any materials that mentioned him.
Democrats have tried to seize on the political fallout that erupted since the Department of Justice and FBI last week announced in a memo that after "an exhaustive review of investigative holdings relating to Epstein," it found "no incriminating 'client list,'" no credible evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent people, and no "evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties."
The memo also concluded that Epstein died by suicide in federal custody on Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting trial and was not killed by someone else, as many have speculated.
Trump on Thursday said he asked Bondi to produce any and all pertinent grand jury testimony in the case, subject to court approval.
"Despite tens of thousands of personnel hours reviewing and re-reviewing these Epstein-related records over the course of two weeks in March, it took DOJ more than three additional months to officially find there is no incriminating 'client list,'" Durbin wrote.
"And the memorandum with this finding includes no mention of the whistleblower or additional documents, the existence of which Attorney General Bondi publicly claimed on February 27.
"However, public skepticism of the government's transparency … has been needlessly increased due to the release of surveillance video from outside of Jeffrey Epstein's cell in the hours leading up to his death, which the July 7 memorandum described as 'full raw' footage; in fact, the footage was likely modified, according to the metadata embedded in the video."
Durbin also referenced a Wall Street Journal report alleging Trump sent a letter to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003 — which allegedly included a drawing of a naked woman and Trump referencing Epstein's "secrets"— with Durbin asking whether the FBI reviewed that letter or other correspondence between Trump and Epstein.
Trump on Friday reportedly filed a libel lawsuit against the Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, over the report.
In a post Thursday night on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Journal "refused to show us the letter and conceded they don't even have it in their possession when we asked them to verify the alleged document they're basing their ENTIRE fake story on."
Durbin asked Bondi, Patel, and Bongino to respond to a series of questions about the Epstein case by Aug. 1, including about the documents mentioning Trump; on whether they have reviewed all of the files; and why Bondi said there was a "client list" if the agency later said there wasn't.
The Department of Justice acknowledged in an email to Newsmax on Friday that it received the letter but declined further comment. The FBI declined to comment in an email to Newsmax.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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