Senator Dick Durbin says Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the FBI to dig through Jeffrey Epstein’s records—not to expose the truth, but to protect Donald Trump.
Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, made the explosive claim in a series of letters sent Friday to Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy Director Dan Bongino. He says Bondi directed roughly 1,000 FBI employees to work around the clock reviewing 100,000 Epstein-related documents, specifically to flag anything that mentioned Trump.
“FBI personnel were instructed to ‘flag’ any records in which President Trump was mentioned,” Durbin wrote.
Durbin says this directive came from “information my office received” and accused Bondi of forcing the FBI’s Information Management Division into an intense review on a rushed timeline.
The senator questioned why the FBI was given this order, who made the decision, and what happened to the documents that mentioned Trump. He demanded a list of all flagged records and asked that it be sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Office of Inspector General.
Durbin also brought up Trump’s past connections to Epstein, including a 2002 quote where Trump said Epstein was a “terrific guy” and “a lot of fun to be with.”
He cited a Wall Street Journal report that said Trump sent Epstein’s partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, a letter in 2003 for a birthday album. The letter, according to the report, was typed over the outline of a naked woman, hand-drawn in marker, with Trump’s signature placed under the figure’s waist.
Durbin asked if Bondi, Patel, or Bongino had personally reviewed all DOJ files related to Epstein. He also wants to know whether the FBI is hiding other documents that weren’t included in the Justice Department’s public release.
The letter takes aim at Bondi’s public claims too. In February, during a Fox News interview, Bondi said: “A list of Epstein’s clients is sitting on my desk right now to review.”
But that statement clashes with a Justice Department memo released earlier this month, which claims a “systematic review” of Epstein records turned up no incriminating client list.
Durbin wasn’t buying it.
“The claim in the memo that no list exists contradicts public statements that Ms. Bondi repeatedly made,” he wrote.
He also pointed to Bondi’s other public claim—that a whistleblower told her the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York was sitting on thousands of Epstein documents. Durbin now wants to know what those documents are, when Bondi got that information, and whether it was ever shared with Congress or the DOJ inspector general.
Durbin is also questioning the decision to assign nearly 1,000 FBI employees to work nonstop on the Epstein files back in March. He’s demanding answers about who authorized that level of manpower and why so many agents were pulled from the FBI’s New York office for the job.
The Illinois Senator also cast doubt on the DOJ’s recent claim that Epstein died by suicide, citing the July 7 memo that claimed “fully raw” video footage backed the conclusion. But Durbin says the metadata in the footage suggests it was likely altered.
“Public skepticism of the government’s transparency in this matter has been needlessly increased due to your release of surveillance video from outside of Jeffrey Epstein’s cell,” Durbin wrote. “In fact, the footage was likely modified, according to the metadata embedded in the video.”
He’s now demanding a full list of any edits made to the footage and wants answers from Bondi, Patel, and Bongino no later than August 1.
“Prompt attention to this important matter is crucial to understanding the truth and preventing this administration’s actions from causing greater harm,” he wrote.
With new questions about political interference, altered evidence, and withheld documents, Durbin’s demands have put Pam Bondi directly in the center of a deepening scandal.
