Trump defends US Attorney General Pam Bondi over Epstein files

US President Donald Trump has defended Pam Bondi, America's highest-ranking prosecutor, amid calls from the president's supporters for her to resign.

In a lengthy social media post, Trump hit out at complaints from critics who have accused Attorney General Bondi of withholding more information about the death of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his so-called client list.

The attacks from critics come after a memo released by Bondi's justice department last week failed to deliver what many had hoped would be major revelations in the Epstein case.

"Let Pam Bondi do her job," Trump wrote in all caps, encouraging his supporters to "not waste time and energy" on Epstein.

The memo sent out last Monday, jointly released with the FBI, said there was "no incriminating client list" or evidence to suggest Epstein had blackmailed high-profile figures.

The government's findings were made, according to the memo, after reviewing more than 300 gigabytes of data.

Bondi's critics include far-right commentator Laura Loomer, a close ally of Trump, and Elon Musk, who was Trump's biggest campaign donor.

At a conservative conference this weekend, hosted by Turning Point USA and its founder Charlie Kirk, some speakers criticised the administration.

"I don't think they're telling us the truth about Epstein," podcaster Brandon Tatum told the crowd of thousands in Tampa, Florida.

Conservative media personality Megyn Kelly told the crowd: "She [Bondi] has never missed an opportunity to go on television and dangle sweet nothings that might be coming your way, try to lead you to believe that she's got it.

She added: "Pam Bondi was either telling the truth then, or she's telling the truth now, but both cannot be true."

Robby Starbuck, another longtime Trump supporter, criticised the president for trying to downplay the Epstein case.

"President Trump rarely loses touch with what's happening among the base but he's missing the pulse on this one," Starbuck posted on X on Saturday.

Retired Lt Gen Mike Flynn, who was US national security adviser in Trump's first administration, warned the Epstein scandal was not going away.

He posted on X on Saturday: "If the administration doesn't address the massive number of unanswered questions about Epstein, especially the ABUSE OF CHILDREN BY ELITES (it is very clear that abuse occurred), then moving forward on so many other monumental challenges our nation is facing becomes much harder."

Bondi's statement that there was no client list follows repeated pledges from her to reveal potentially damaging evidence related to Epstein, including "a lot of names" and "a lot of flight logs".

Many of Bondi's past claims relating to the Epstein files, and the possibility of hidden evidence, had been echoed by FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino.

After the memo was released, frustrations from Bongino led to a contentious meeting between him and Bondi in the White House on Wednesday, according to the BBC's media partner CBS News.

The feud highlighted what some have described as a growing division between the FBI and the justice department over the Epstein case.

On Friday, Loomer posted on X that she had been told Bongino was "seriously thinking about resigning".

Bongino did not show up to work on Friday, according to CBS News sources.

Loomer was back on X on Saturday warning that what she called a lack of transparency at the justice department would have a political cost at the next election.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," she wrote.

Epstein's sudden death aged 66 in a jail cell inside New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center in 2019 has spawned conspiracy theories ever since.

The FBI and justice department's memo confirmed that Epstein died by suicide, which many people in Trump's orbit had questioned.

Bondi suggested to Fox News in February that Epstein's client list was "sitting on my desk right now to review".

However, she sought to clarify those remarks in the White House on Tuesday, telling reporters that she had been commenting on the entire Epstein "file" and other files.

The president's frustrations with the ongoing public interest in Epstein were on display last week in the White House, when he responded to a reporter's question with: "Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?"

Debate about the Epstein case broke out again last month - amid a public spat with the president - tech tycoon Musk suggested that Trump appeared in unreleased government files linked to the late sex offender.

The White House rubbished the claim, and the post was deleted by Musk.

In remarks last week Trump expressed disappointment that, with other major news happening, people were "still talking about [Epstein] this guy, this creep?"

"That is unbelievable," he added.