Carlson: Bondi 'made up a bunch of ludicrous' Epstein files claims

Political commentator and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said he blames Attorney General Pam Bondi for the intense scrutiny the Trump administration has faced over its handling of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In an NBC News interview published Monday, Carlson said he doesn't believe the Department of Justice (DOJ) has "much relevant information about Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes" that would satisfy those who have long called for the release of "Epstein files."

"Rather than just admit that, Pam Bondi made a bunch of ludicrous claims on cable news shows that she couldn’t back up, and this current outrage is the result," Carlson told the outlet.

Bondi has faced intense backlash after acknowledging last week there was no client list connected to Epstein's alleged sex trafficking of minors and no evidence to suggest his death by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting sex trafficking charges was actually the result of foul play.

President Trump has repeatedly defended Bondi and urged his supporters to move on from the Epstein case, but pressure has continued to mount among the president's base to fire the former Florida attorney general.

Bondi said in a Fox News interview in February that an Epstein client list was on her desk to be reviewed and alleged the DOJ had obtained hours of video related to the case. The White House in March invited 15 far-right influencers to an event, where they received white binders labeled "The Epstein Files: Phase 1," but the display drew immediate backlash because the documents provided were already publicly available.

Bondi later claimed in another TV interview that she was duped into thinking she had all the files related to the government's Epstein investigations and was seeking additional documents after hearing from an alleged "whistleblower."

Bondi said last week that she was initially referring to other documents — not a specific "client list" — related to the Epstein case being on her desk, and the footage she had mentioned was child sex abuse material that would not be released to the public. She said there was nothing else to be released from the case.

Trump posted on Truth Social over the weekend that Bondi is doing a "FANTASTIC JOB!"

"We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening," he wrote. "We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and ‘selfish people’ are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein."