Deputy FBI Director Bongino has told people he is considering resigning amid Epstein files fallout, sources say

CNN

By Kristen Holmes, Kaitlan Collins, Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez, CNN

(CNN) — Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino has told people he is considering resigning amid a major clash between the FBI and Justice Department over the continued fallout from the release of the Jeffrey Epstein memo, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

This comes after a heated confrontation with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the handling of the case earlier this week.

The infighting over the case came to a head during a Wednesday meeting, which included Bongino, Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, the sources said. Bongino and Patel were confronted about whether they were behind a story that said the FBI wanted more information released but was ultimately stymied by the Department of Justice, they said.

Bongino denied leaking that notion to NewsNation, which published the story, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, though he did not sign on to a statement defending the review included in that article.

CNN has reached out to Bongino and the FBI for comment. The sources cautioned that Bongino had not made up his mind, and it was possible he would stay in his position. Axios first reported some of the details of Bongino’s confrontation at the White House.

The episode comes as many of President Donald Trump’s close advisers, both inside and outside of the White House, have grown increasingly frustrated with Bondi’s handling of the so-called Epstein files, following days of intense criticism from some of the president’s most devoted supporters.

Multiple sources said Bongino did not come to work Friday, fueling speculation he had quit over the issue. One of those sources said that as of Friday afternoon he had not left his position.

“The whole thing has been a complete mess and no one is happy,” a source briefed on the matter told CNN.

Epstein is a disgraced financier and convicted sex offender whose criminal case has long captured significant public attention, in part because of his ties to wealthy and high-profile people. In August 2019, while he was awaiting trial in a federal criminal case, Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His death was ruled a suicide.

The death, though, was heavily scrutinized, and during his 2024 campaign, Trump said that he would consider releasing additional government files on the case. Many of the president’s supporters hoped that release would implicate other high-profile figures, or undercut the notion that Epstein killed himself. But the Justice Department announced in a memo Monday that there was no evidence he kept a “client list” or was murdered, fueling rage and suspicion among many in MAGA world.

FBI and Justice officials had been at odds for months about the handling of the Epstein files review. But the tension spilled out publicly on Friday, when far-right provocateur Laura Loomer, who is close with people in the administration, wrote on social media that Bongino and Patel were “LIVID” with Bondi over the Epstein case. She wrote Bongino was “taking the day off today from his job as Deputy Director of the FBI, and there’s now speculation on whether or not he will return to his job.”

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche denied a rift between Justice Department and FBI leadership in a post on X Friday, saying that “the suggestion by anyone that there was any daylight between the FBI and DOJ leadership on this memo’s composition and release is patently false.”

White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said Trump has “assembled a highly qualified and experienced law and order team dedicated to protecting Americans, holding criminals accountable, and delivering justice to victims.”

“This work is being carried out seamlessly and with unity,” Fields said. “Any attempt to sow division within this team is baseless and distracts from the real progress being made in restoring public safety and pursuing justice for all.”

Bondi orchestrated an event at the White House in February with pro-Trump social media influencers to present binders of Epstein-related documents, though she later faced criticism when the MAGA influencers realized most of the documents had been public for years. Patel had minimal involvement in that event. More recently, Bongino repeated promises that the files would be released, even as he tried to downplay their contents.

At least one of Bongino’s frustrations relates to a 10-hour surveillance video taken outside of Epstein’s Manhattan jail cell the day he died, a person familiar with the situation told CNN.

As the investigators spent weeks combing through records related to the Epstein investigation, Bongino discovered the video, the person said. The deputy director was elated by the discovery, and he said it was definitive evidence that Epstein had not been murdered, they said.

But after the video was released, members of the public and press observed that the video jumped forward, cutting out 60 seconds.

Bondi has publicly said the outdated recording system that produced the video resets every day at midnight and the same minute is skipped every evening. Still, theories about what happened in that minute exploded online, and Bongino was blamed internally for the oversight.

Patel and Bongino have privately expressed frustration for months over the DOJ’s handling of the case, stemming in part from an early interview where Bondi implied the FBI was still reviewing the case, while it had already been turned over to the Department of Justice, sources familiar with the matter said.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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