After much fanfare, the U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi released what is being deemed “phase one” of the so-called “Epstein Files” on Thursday – more than 100 pages of documents that included flight logs, a redacted contact book and masseuse list, and evidence list.
While there were hopes the dump would reveal new information about the troubled life and mysterious death of Jeffrey Epstein, there was virtually nothing new to report and the release is now under scrutiny. On Friday’s show, Megyn was joined by Emily Jashinsky, host of Undercurrents on UnHerd, to discuss the botched rollout and why it may have “ripple effects” for the Trump administration moving forward.
What Happened
Donald Trump campaigned on the promise to increase transparency by declassifying and releasing documents in a range of high-profile cases, including the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., and, yes, Epstein.
A portion of the “Epstein Files” marked the administration’s first release, and it was believed it would shed light on previously unknown details of his life and death. Instead, there were previously published pilot logs, a heavily redacted photocopy of Epstein’s purported “black book,” a blacked-out list of masseuses, and an evidence list showing entries for more than 150 items, including nude images, massage tables, sex toys, and other items.
The rollout of the documents involved conservative influencers being invited to the White House and photographed with binders that read “The Epstein Files: Phase I.” The DOJ made the files public hours later, along with a note downplaying their significance. “The first phase of declassified files largely contains documents that have been previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity by the U.S. Government,” it read.
Bondi, who had built anticipation over the reveal during a Fox News interview earlier in the week, suggested in a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday that more records were recently discovered and needed to be handed over to her by Friday morning. She also directed Patel to “conduct an immediate investigation” into why her order to the FBI to turn over all documents was not followed.
Bad Optics
Megyn did not mince words when discussing the fallout from the situation. “I’m a big Pam Bondi fan. I love that she is running DOJ… but the Epstein File thing was a disaster,” she said. “They embarrassed themselves, and it seems like a totally unnecessary thing. They stepped on a rake for no apparent reason.”
The situation also embarrassed the influencers who Megyn believes went to the White House in good faith. “I don’t think it was designed to make any of the right-wing influencers look dumb, but they were not well-served by the DOJ yesterday,” she noted. “The DOJ should have been more careful before they did that to some of the most ardent allies to the Trump administration. It was kind of bullsh-t. I was pissed on their behalf.”
In Jashinsky’s view, the Trump administration was trying to have it both ways. “On the one hand, they were saying, ‘This was a big document dump; the first step towards total transparency; they are about to purge the Deep State and expose names,'” she explained. “And that is basically what Pam Bondi said on Jesse Watters’ show the other night.”
But in the wake of the maligned drop, Jashinsky said they are also trying to place blame. “Then, they want to have it the other way too, which is, ‘Well, we always knew this was going to be underwhelming because we were being thwarted by… the Southern District of New York,'” she continued. “So, it doesn’t make sense that they actually went public and said, ‘This is a huge step towards transparency’ and then, at the same time, also said, ‘Actually, it’s nothing because we’re being thwarted by the Deep State.'”
Those two things, she said, can’t be true at the same time. While she believes the mismanagement of expectations was the result of the Trump administration rushing to follow through on a campaign promise, she said it is a misstep that is going to put them under more intense scrutiny to eventually deliver a smoking gun.
“I’ve sensed the White House is really upset with the Department of Justice over this… they feel this was a huge error because the optics were so bad,” she concluded. “It may seem like a silly sideshow thing, but I actually think it was a pretty significant blunder that is going to have ripple effects.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Jashinsky by tuning in to episode 1,016 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.