Attorney General Pam Bondi said the FBI is reviewing “tens of thousands of videos of [Jeffrey] Epstein with children or child porn” and there are “hundreds of victims” as she addressed concerns about the delay to the full release of the case files.
“The FBI is diligently going through that,” Bondi told reporters on Wednesday morning, and the volume of evidence explained why more files had not been released so far.
Why It Matters
Epstein is the disgraced pedophile financier who took his own life in a New York prison in 2019 as he awaited trial for sex trafficking charges. His wealth and philanthropy made him a well-connected figure across politics, academia, and finance.
But the full extent of his offending is still not publicly known, including whether he had any further accomplices than his jailed associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and the incoming Trump Administration pledged full transparency of the Epstein files.
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What To Know
Republican House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer said he feared key Epstein documents would have been shredded before the Trump administration took office.
“The president ordered them released, the attorney general ordered them released, we all know they have not been released,” Comer told The Benny Show.
Comer is part of the House Oversight Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, led by Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, which is working on the Epstein files.
This slower-than-expected release of documents has come under scrutiny from other Republicans and conservative influencers, who have questioned the hold-up.
An initial “Phase I” release of some of the Epstein files in early March faced criticism when it became clear that most of the information they contained was already known.
The Epstein story took another tragic turn in April when one of his victims, Virginia Giuffre, died by suicide after years of mental health problems. The 41-year-old had three children.
“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors,” her family said in a statement. “Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.”
What People Are Saying
Comer on The Benny Show: “The concern I’ve always had about the Epstein files: Was the government involved? Did the government know? Was the government using Epstein and the videos to blackmail the most influential people around the world?”
What Happens Next
The Trump administration is still promising further releases of Epstein files, but there is no clear timeline as the FBI continues to review the extensive pile of evidence.
Update 5/7/25, 1:16 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
