(NewsNation) — The U.S. Department of Justice released hundreds of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday to a small group of conservative influencers, but Attorney General Pam Bondi says there’s still more to be uncovered.
In a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel, Bondi demanded the release of the bureau’s “full and complete Epstein files” by 8 a.m. ET Friday.
While the declassification of the records brought some support from lawmakers who had been pushing for their release for years, others were not pleased with what little new information they contained.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., posted on social media, saying, “This is not what we or the American people asked for. Get us the information we asked for instead of leaking old info to press.”
Epstein, a defamed financier and convicted sex offender, was indicted on federal charges related to the sex trafficking of young girls in 2019. He died by suicide in his cell one month after his arrest.
The more than 300 pages of newly declassified documents contained information such as Epstein’s personal contact list, flight logs for his private plane and a list of victims’ names and phone numbers.
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Jeffrey Epstein on March 28, 2017. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File) -
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend a benefit concert at Cipriani Wall Street on March 15, 2005, in New York City. (Photo by Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) -
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
The DOJ said the records largely contain information that had already been leaked in the past but hadn’t been formally released by the U.S. government.
In the letter to Patel, Bondi called for an “immediate investigation” into the FBI’s alleged withholding of some files and ordered a report on the investigation’s findings within two weeks.
Patel took to social media Thursday evening, promising a “new era” for the FBI and “no cover-ups” or “missing documents.”
He also said that “if records have been hidden,” the bureau “will uncover them.”
It’s unclear what this could mean for other famous investigations President Donald Trump has ordered to be declassified, including files on the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Sr. and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
