EJ Haust, a digital marketing expert and official guest host of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, said she believes U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has the ability to recover following Thursday’s disastrous rollout of declassified files related to the late billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
On Thursday, Bondi’s office, in coordination with the FBI, released “phase one” of files related to Epstein, however, the rollout of the files were heavily criticized for being largely redacted and not containing any new information than what has been reported.
In addition, Bondi was criticized for distributing binders of the files to a group of conservative “influencers” – who were seen outside of the White House posing with the materials for the press – hours before publicly releasing the files.
Bondi said that while she requested all materials related to Epstein, her office only received approximately 200 pages of documents and was later informed that thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein that were not previously disclosed.
“The Attorney General has requested the FBI deliver the remaining documents to the Department by 8:00 AM on February 28 and has tasked FBI Director Kash Patel with investigating why the request for all documents was not followed,” Bondi’s office said.
Haust said that while she understands the frustration with the rollout of the files on Thursday she believes Bondi can recover if justice is brought for the hundreds of victims who were sexually exploited as part of Epstein’s operation.
“Everybody step back a little bit. I get it. We feel like Lucy with the football, right? Remember Charlie Brown, every time Lucy’s holding the football, she pulls it away and he falls flat on his back because he trusts her every single time. We all feel as though we have trusted the government to release documents, release evidence. We keep hearing it over and over again. Here it comes and it never comes,” Haust explained on Friday’s show.
“I get it. I’m mad too. I wanted to see more. I wanted a smoking gun. I wanted to see somebody get arrested. That would have done it, get somebody arrested already,” Haust added.
Haust went on to note, however, that releasing certain information could jeopardize ongoing investigations and jurisdiction.
“Imagine you are an FBI agent who’s been using some of that evidence, some of those videos, those compromising videos, as part of your investigations, as part of blackmail operations. Think about it. This is global in nature, too, so we have to consider there’s probably jurisdiction issues,” Haust said.
“It’s not as simple as releasing all the names. I saw a lot of conservatives on social media yesterday saying, ‘release all the names and they all need to be hanged.’ Yes, I share the sentiment that all guilty parties should absolutely be brought to justice…But doing this in a strategic way that doesn’t compromise future prosecutions is important.,” Haust added.
In all, Haust said the stunt with influencers posing with the binders outside of the White House was “not a good look,” further acknowledging that Bondi “got out over her skis” with Thursday’s release.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
