The former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has lashed out at Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino as MAGA’s civil war over the “Epstein files” boils over.
Bondi and Bongino sparred this week after a leaked memo from the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that the agencies had put the case to rest and that no “client list” existed for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
“It’s some form of Shakespearean absurdist tragedy,” former FBI Chief Andrew McCabe told CNN. “Anyone in the FBI, you’re watching this circus take place at the absolute highest levels of the organization, and you’re asking yourself, like, ‘These are our leaders?’”
McCabe’s comments come amid reports that Bongino didn’t show up to work on Friday and is considering resigning after locking horns with Attorney General Pam Bondi over her handling of the Epstein case.
Bondi had said in no uncertain terms that she had Epstein’s incriminating “client list”—a pet MAGA cospiracy, as is the claim that Epstein was in fact murdered to cover up his connections to the rich and powerful—“sitting on my desk right now” during a sitdown with Fox in February, and after the much-hyped release of “Phase One” findings from her department’s investigation turned out to comprise information already in the public domain.
A conspiracy theorist and former podcaster, Bongino’s failure to turn up for work on Friday reportedly follows hot on the heels of an explosive screaming match with Bondi at the White House on Wednesday—which unfolded in front of FBI Director Kash Patel, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich—during which Bongino blasted the attorney general for overpromising and underdelivering on the case.
Former bureau chief McCabe told CNN that this “manufactured conflict about people who are angry about a conspiracy theory that didn’t work out the way they had liked” has left FBI personnel wondering how they are “supposed to protect America and uphold the Constitution.”
“Even if [Bongino] comes back, this is going to very negatively impact his credibility with the workforce, which was already under threat,” he added. “He’s going to have a hard time proving to the men and women of the FBI that he’s willing to work as hard as he needs to make them work.”
The Bondi-Bongio spat is emblematic of the deepening civil war that has engulfed Trump’s MAGA base over the Epstein files.
Some of the more fervent voices calling for Bondi to be fired over the latest developments include one the president’s favourite far-right influencers, Laura Loomer, who’s blasted the top prosecutor for spending “more time on Fox News auditioning to be another Fox News Barbie than she does actually doing her job as attorney general.”
Loomer’s not alone in her dissatisfaction over the Trump administration’s perceived failure to deliver on one of its key campaign promises of lifting the lid on Epstein.
During a MAGA rally in Florida on Friday, Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked the crowds whether they were satisfied with the DOJ and FBI’s latest findings, sparking resounding boos from the audience.
In the meantime, Elon Musk, the former chief of the Trump administration’s cost-cutting initiative at the Department of Government Efficiency, has continued to fan the flames from the sidelines, reposting memes that lament a lack of arrests in the Epstein case and suggesting the DOJ is run by “clowns.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and the DOJ for comment.
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