上周，当十几名MAGA支持者和社交媒体影响者聚集在白宫时，他们不知道自己即将成为手工活页夹标题为“爱泼斯坦文件:第一阶段”-也没有组织这次活动的白宫高级官员，根据熟悉这次活动的多个来源。
司法部长帕姆·邦迪和她的团队没有提前通知白宫官员，她计划分发这些活页夹，其中几乎没有关于被定罪的性犯罪者和金融家的新信息杰弗里·爱泼斯坦消息人士告诉ABC新闻，现在这一举动引起了唐纳德·特朗普总统最亲近的人的不满，包括他的白宫高级职员。
此举遭到了广泛的批评，不仅来自民主党人，也来自一些总统最忠实的支持者。
据消息人士称，白宫工作人员迅速采取行动，试图控制后果，私下接触了对邦迪和网上行动持批评态度的影响者。
白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·莱维特(Karoline Leavitt)在回应美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)的置评请求时表示，“在特朗普总统的指导下，每个人都在作为一个统一的团队一起工作。任何相反的想法都是完全错误的。”
司法部官员没有回应置评请求。
爱泼斯坦自杀身亡2019年面临联邦儿童性交易指控。这位人脉广泛的金融家在美属维尔京群岛拥有一处私人岛屿地产，长期以来一直有传言称他保留了一份名人和政治家的“客户名单”，右翼影响人士指责当局隐瞒了这份名单。熟悉针对爱泼斯坦的民事和刑事案件的多个消息来源称，没有发现这样的名单。
上周事件的前一天晚上，邦迪告诉福克斯新闻频道，司法部计划公布“大量飞行日志”和“大量与爱泼斯坦有关的名字”。然而，这些活页夹大部分是以前通过围绕爱泼斯坦和他的长期合作伙伴的刑事或民事诉讼公开的信息吉斯莱恩·麦克斯韦，导致白宫高级职员质疑为什么邦迪甚至在第一时间取笑新信息的发布。
消息人士称，在司法部公开发布之前，邦迪指示她的员工将这些材料汇编成册，分发给活动中的影响者。据多个消息来源称，她还指示她的团队不要将该计划告知白宫官员，显然是认为这个惊喜会在白宫西翼受到欢迎。
白宫一周前组织了这次活动，以吸引有影响力的亲特朗普声音，总统认为这些声音有助于他的2024年竞选。据多个消息来源称，该议程从未包括分发与爱泼斯坦相关的材料。
在罗斯福厅的聚会上，有影响的人包括Liz Wheeler，Rogan O'Handley和抖音图书馆的创始人Chaya Raichik，会见了莱维特副总统杰狄.万斯。然后，邦迪和美国联邦调查局主任卡什·帕特尔走进房间，分发了标签为“爱泼斯坦档案:第一阶段”的文件夹，上面写着“根据司法部长帕姆·邦迪的命令”&美国联邦调查局主任卡什·帕特尔”印在封面上，顶部盖有“解密”字样——尽管这些文件没有包含任何官方的政府解密标记。
当为报道英国首相凯尔·斯塔默的访问而设置的新闻摄像机捕捉到离开白宫西翼的影响者时，这些信息尚未在司法部网站上发布。有人看到一些人微笑着拿着MAGA帽子和活页夹，给人的印象是它们包含了现代史上最臭名昭著的性交易罪犯的新发现。
这些照片迅速传播开来，在政界引发了各种猜测、困惑和愤怒。
民主党众议员贾里德·莫斯科维茨(Jared Moskowitz)在美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)上说:“如果你看看网上关于爱泼斯坦发布的流量，我从未见过左翼和右翼在一个崩溃的时刻走到一起。”
多个消息来源告诉美国广播公司新闻，在幕后，特朗普白宫官员将矛头指向邦迪，他们说邦迪在没有通知高级职员的情况下悄悄安排了释放。
佛罗里达州共和党众议员安娜·保利娜·卢娜(Anna Paulina Luna)领导着一个监督爱泼斯坦相关文件发布的国会特别工作组，她谴责了X的这一举动，称其“完全令人失望”，并表示她没有被告知该计划。
极右翼活动人士劳拉·卢默(Laura Loomer)是特朗普最直言不讳的支持者之一，她也抨击了对释放的处理，在X上写道:“爱泼斯坦的文件是以不专业的方式发布的，受薪的党派社交媒体影响者为我们策划了他们的活页夹。我不能相信活页夹里的任何东西。你也不应该。”
邦迪开始对后果做出反应，指责美国联邦调查局的纽约办公室隐瞒了有关爱泼斯坦调查的信息，但没有具体说明她认为该办公室隐瞒了什么材料。她要求办公室在上周五上午8点前“交出所有与爱泼斯坦有关的记录”。
上周公布的爱泼斯坦材料包含了此前公布的飞行员日志，包括检察官为保护潜在受害者的身份而对该案进行的编辑，以及爱泼斯坦此前公布的所谓“黑皮书”。
一份从未见过的文件是司法部所谓的“证据清单”，一份三页的材料目录，显然是通过搜索爱泼斯坦在纽约和美属维尔京群岛的财产获得的。
邦迪在周一晚上接受福克斯电视台肖恩·哈尼蒂采访时声称，她已经收到了美国联邦调查局筛选的“数千页文件”，但没有详细说明到底移交了什么。
周一，纽约美国联邦调查局的负责人、纽约执法界备受尊敬的领袖詹姆斯·丹尼希(James Dennehy)告诉办公室，他被迫于周五提交辞呈，辞去负责美国联邦调查局最引人注目的职位之一的助理局长一职。Dennehy说他没有被告知这个决定的原因。
AG Bondi faces heat from White House, Trump allies over Epstein files release
When more than a dozen MAGA-aligned activists and social media influencers gathered at the White House last week, they had no idea they were about to behanded binderstitled "Epstein Files: Phase 1"-- and neither did senior White House officials who organized the event, according to multiple sources familiar with the event.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and her team did not inform White House officials in advance that she planned to distribute the binders, which contained almost no new information regarding convicted sex offender and financierJeffrey Epstein-- and now the move has ruffled feathers among those closest to President Donald Trump, including his senior White House staff, sources tell ABC News.
The move faced widespread criticism, not only from Democrats but also from some of the president's most loyal supporters.
White House staff moved quickly to try and contain the fallout, privately reaching out to influencers who were critical of Bondi and the move online, according to sources.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, responding to a request for comment from ABC News, said, "Everyone is working together as one unified team at the direction of President Trump. Any notion to the contrary is completely false."
Officials with the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Epsteindied by suicidein 2019 while facing federal child sex trafficking charges. The well-connected financier, who owned a private island estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands, has long been rumored to have kept a "client list" of celebrities and politicians, which right-wing influencers have accused authorities of hiding. Multiple sources familiar with both civil and criminal cases against Epstein say no such list has been discovered.
The night before last week's event, Bondi told Fox News that the Justice Department planned to publish "a lot of flight logs" and "a lot of names" related to Epstein. However, the binders largely consisted of information previously made public through criminal or civil litigation surrounding Epstein and his longtime associateGhislaine Maxwell, leading senior White House staffers to question why Bondi was even teasing the release of new information in the first place.
Ahead of the Justice Department's public release, Bondi directed her staff to compile binders of the materials to distribute to the influencers at the event, sources said. She also instructed her team not to inform White House officials of the plan, according to multiple sources, apparently thinking the surprise would be well received inside the West Wing.
The White House had organized the event a week earlier to engage influential pro-Trump voices who the president credits with aiding his 2024 campaign. According to multiple sources, the agenda never included distributing Epstein-related materials.
During the gathering in the Roosevelt Room, influencers including Liz Wheeler, Rogan O'Handley and Chaya Raichik, the creator of Libs of TikTok,met with Leavittand Vice President JD Vance. Then, Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel entered the room and handed out binders labeled "The Epstein Files: Phase 1" with the words "By Order of Attorney General Pam Bondi& FBI Director Kash Patel" printed on the cover and the word "Declassified" stamped across the top -- though the documents did not contain any official government declassification markings.
The information had not yet been posted on the Justice Department website when press cameras, set up to cover British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit, captured influencers leaving the West Wing. Some were seen smiling while holding MAGA hats and the binders -- giving the impression they contained new revelations about one of the most infamous sex trafficking criminals in modern history.
The images quickly went viral, generating a mix of speculation, confusion and outrage across the political spectrum.
"If you look at the traffic online over the Epstein release, I have never seen the Left and the Right come together in a moment on a debacle," Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz said on CNN.
Behind the scenes, Trump White House officials pointed the finger at Bondi, who they say quietly arranged the release without notifying senior staff, multiple sources told ABC News.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Republican of Florida, who leads a congressional task force overseeing the release of Epstein-related documents, condemned the move on X, calling it a "complete disappointment" and saying she had not been informed of the plan.
Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and one of Trump's most vocal supporters, also blasted the handling of the release, writing on X: "The Epstein files were released in an unprofessional manner with paid, partisan social media influencers to curate their binders for us. I can't trust anything in the binder. Neither should you."
Bondi proceeded to react to the fallout by accusing the FBI's New York office of withholding information about the Epstein investigation, but did not specify what material she believed the office to be withholding. She demanded that the office "hand over all records in its possession relating to Epstein" by 8 a.m. last Friday.
The Epstein material released last week contained previously published pilots' logs and included redactions performed by prosecutors on the case to protect the identities of potential victims, as well as Epstein's so-called "black book" that has previously been made public.
One document never before seen is what the Justice Department is calling "Evidence List," a three-page catalog of material apparently obtained through searches of Epstein's properties in New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Bondi claimed in an interview Monday night with Fox's Sean Hannity that she has since received "thousands of pages of documents" that she has the FBI sifting through, but did not detail what exactly had been turned over.
On Monday, James Dennehy, the head of the FBI in New York and a well-regarded leader in the New York law enforcement community, told the office he was forced to submit his resignation on Friday as assistant director-in-charge of one of the FBI's most visible posts. Dennehy said he was not given a reason for the decision.
