The Epstein mess inside Trump World is spinning out of control — and now Attorney General Pam Bondi is pointing fingers at the FBI.
According to sources inside the administration, Bondi has privately accused senior FBI officials of orchestrating leaks to the press in an effort to smear her over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. “They’re trying to destroy me,” she allegedly ranted to colleagues, furious that damaging details about internal disputes were finding their way into headlines.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the eruption of behind-the-scenes infighting, describing “disagreements, finger-pointing, disorganization and unforced errors” at the top levels of the Trump administration — all stemming from how the Epstein case has been managed. And it’s now devolved into a full-blown internal feud, with Bondi claiming the FBI is deliberately leaking to undermine her.
The tension boiled over after DOJ and FBI leadership blindsided Trump allies in early July by announcing that no further evidence in the Epstein investigation would be released — directly contradicting months of build-up from key MAGA influencers and officials promising bombshell revelations.
“It was like a bomb went off after that statement went out,” recalled one senior White House official.
FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino — both of whom had publicly embraced Epstein-related conspiracy theories before entering government — were reportedly furious over the sudden reversal. Bondi, for her part, had previously teased big disclosures to conservative media and Trump supporters, adding to the frustration.
When DOJ labeled the announcement as an “FBI memo,” insiders say it set off a wave of backstabbing. Many at the Bureau saw it as Bondi’s camp trying to deflect responsibility. Tensions escalated so badly that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles had to step in to manage the fallout.
But the attempt to calm things only made matters worse.
In one particularly heated moment, Bongino threatened to resign during a shouting match with Bondi inside the West Wing and then disappeared from Washington for several days. The atmosphere, according to multiple sources, became “toxic.”
Publicly, Bondi is trying to play it straight.
“Our only priority is to continue working together with the FBI to make America safer by ensuring murderers and violent criminals face the most severe justice,” she told the Journal, adding that she and Patel have “worked tirelessly with my agencies and state partners.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed the message, insisting that Bondi, Patel, and others were “working together to advance the Trump administration’s goals, mainly putting bad people behind bars.”
But that unified front doesn’t match what’s happening behind closed doors.
Ty Cobb — the former Trump White House lawyer who managed the response to the Mueller investigation — didn’t sugarcoat the dysfunction.
“This is the worst-managed PR event in history,” Cobb said. “You’ve got multiple mouthpieces, and they’re all covering their own a– now.”
That remark hit a nerve. White House spokesperson Steven Cheung fired back immediately, accusing Cobb of having a “debilitating diagnosis of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Still, the broader issue remains: Epstein’s name hasn’t gone away — and neither has the political damage. Instead of clarity, there’s chaos. And with Bondi now turning her fire on the FBI, the internal war may be just getting started.
