WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., pressed Justice Department leadership about their handling of files related to the federal investigation into the late Jeffrey Epstein, including reports that FBI personnel were instructed to “flag” any records that mentioned President Donald Trump.
In a series of oversight letters written to Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, Durbin questioned Bondi about “contradictions” in her public statements on the case, Patel about reports that he was “pressured” by Bondi to place 1,000 personnel on 24-hour shifts to mine roughly 100,000 Epstein-related records and Bongino about reported disputes among Trump officials about “the lack of transparency” in their handling of the high-profile case.
In the letters sent Friday, Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked each of the Trump administration officials to respond to information received by his office that suggested FBI personnel were specifically instructed to “flag” any records mentioning Trump.
“My office was told that these personnel were instructed to ‘flag’ any records in which President Trump was mentioned. … Why were personnel told to flag records in which President Trump was mentioned,” Durbin asked Bondi, Patel and Bongino in separate letters. “What happened to the records mentioning President Trump once they were flagged?”
A Durbin aide told NBC News that the senator’s office received that information from a protected FBI whistleblower disclosure.
The FBI declined NBC News’ request for comment on Durbin’s letters.
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The letters mark the latest attempt by Democrats to keep attention on Epstein more than a week after the Justice Department released a memo outlining a decision to cease additional disclosures related to the investigation. The memo roiled Trump’s MAGA base, creating a rare rift among Trump and the far-right base that thrusted him into power — a rift that Democratic lawmakers have aimed to widen.
In the aftermath of the Justice Department memo, Bondi has faced blowback in part because of previous public statements she made pointing to the existence of thousands of pages of additional documents related to Epstein, including a purported “client list.”
Durbin, like many of Trump’s supporters over the past week, asked the attorney general to reconcile her earlier public declarations with her department’s finding that “no further disclosures” are warranted in the case and that a review of records “revealed no incriminating client list.”
“Why did you publicly claim on February 21 that the client list was ‘sitting on my desk right now to review?'” Durbin asked Bondi. “If it was not a client list, what was ‘sitting on your desk’ at that moment?”
Bongino and Patel have also faced backlash online. Both of them previously promoted conspiracy theories that suggested the Epstein case was part of a government cover-up to protect powerful political players involved in a child abuse ring.
Patel, in the only post he’s made to his personal social media account since the Justice Department memo was released, said “the conspiracy theories just aren’t true” and “never have been.” Durbin, aiming to call attention to Patel’s past suggestions of a cover-up, asked the FBI director to detail the conspiracy theories he was referring to in his post.
“What are the conspiracy theories you are referring to in your July 12 tweet that ‘were never true?’ If there are more than one, please explain each in detail,” the senator wrote to Patel.
NBC News previously reported that Bongino was “out of control furious,” skipped a day of work and considered resigning from his post due to the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files, a topic Durbin questioned the former political commentator about.
“What was the nature of the dispute between you and White House and DOJ officials after the release of the July 7 memorandum,” Durbin asked Bongino. “Is this dispute between you and White House and DOJ officials the reason behind your July 11 absence from work?”
Durbin also questioned the Trump officials about reporting from The Wall Street Journal that alleged Trump wrote a letter to Epstein in 2003, accompanied by a drawing of a naked woman, that was included in a leather-bound birthday album gifted to Epstein for his 50th birthday, according to documents reviewed by the Journal.
Trump has denied that he wrote the letter and he filed a lawsuit against the newspaper for publishing the story. NBC News has not independently confirmed the Journal’s reporting.
A spokesperson for Dow Jones, the newspaper’s publisher, said in a statement, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
“Did personnel review any correspondence between President Trump and Mr. Epstein, including a letter in the reported ‘leather-bound album’ as part of this year’s review [of Epstein records]?” Durbin asked.
Hours after the Journal’s reporting, Trump on Thursday directed Bondi to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony” related to Epstein, “subject to Court approval.” Bondi on Friday filed a motion requesting the unsealing of grand jury transcripts related to the Epstein case.
“Given the public interest in the investigative work conducted by the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation into Epstein, the Department of Justice moves the Court to unseal the underlying grand jury transcripts in United States v. Epstein, subject to appropriate redactions of victim-related and other personal identifying information,” the document said.
