Top Trump Aide Criticizes Attorney General Bondi’s Handling of Epstein Files

In a pointed critique from within Donald Trump’s inner circle, his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, has publicly condemned Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of files related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Wiles asserted that Bondi “completely whiffed” on the matter and provided misleading information to the public.

The remarks were part of an extensive Vanity Fair feature compiling interviews with 11 figures from the Trump administration. According to Wiles, Bondi’s approach was flawed from the start. “First, she gave them binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list, or the client list, was on her desk,” Wiles stated. “There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasn’t on her desk.”

Wiles also addressed the former president’s connection to the documents, acknowledging his name does appear in the files but clarifying the context. She noted that Trump is “not in the file doing anything awful.” In the same interview, Wiles directly contradicted a claim made by Trump regarding former President Bill Clinton. “The president was wrong about that,” she said, refuting the idea that the files contained incriminating information about Clinton.

These internal criticisms surface amid a broader political firestorm surrounding the Epstein case and a concerted push for transparency. The Department of Justice is under a December 19 deadline to release all related documents as mandated by federal law.

The pressure campaign intensified last week when House Oversight Committee Democrats released a curated selection of 19 previously unseen photographs from Epstein’s personal collection, which is reported to contain over 95,000 images in total. The release is intended to compel the Department of Justice to fully comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law enacted earlier this year. The act mandates the publication of government documents tied to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and it also created a pathway for unsealing grand jury materials while protecting the identities of survivors.

The newly public images feature prominent individuals alongside Epstein, including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Woody Allen, Steve Bannon, and Larry Summers. Some photographs show guests aboard Epstein’s private jet, which was nicknamed the “Lolita Express,” while others were taken at social events. Democratic lawmakers have described the visuals as “disturbing” and part of a necessary effort to reveal the extent of Epstein’s elite network.

In response, Republican lawmakers argue that the small, curated selection of photos is being used to create a “cherry-picked” and misleading narrative. They maintain that none of the images released so far demonstrate any criminal conduct by the individuals pictured.

This photo release follows other document disclosures from recent months. In November, Democrats made public a 2011 text message exchange between Epstein and Maxwell. In it, Epstein mentioned that an alleged victim had “spent hours at my house” with Trump, whom he described as “the dog that hasn’t barked.” Maxwell replied, “I have been thinking about that …” The names of any alleged victims in the exchange were redacted.

Another document, from a December 2015 email exchange, shows author Michael Wolff informing Epstein he heard that CNN might question Trump about their relationship. Epstein asked for advice, writing, “If we were to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?” Wolff suggested that Trump should answer the question publicly and risk “hanging himself,” noting that doing so could generate “PR and political currency” for Epstein.

A separate email from January 2019 shows Epstein appearing to contest reports that Trump had barred him from the Mar-a-Lago resort. “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever,” Epstein wrote. “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.” The full context surrounding this email remains unclear.

The ongoing release of documents and the internal political friction highlighted by Wiles’ comments underscore the complex and sensitive nature of the Epstein case, as lawmakers and the public continue to seek a full accounting of his actions and associations.