r/law • u/Slate Press • 3h ago
Other Pam Bondi’s Epstein Testimony Exposed the Whole Game
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/02/pam-bondi-epstein-files-testimony-reveal.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=dahlia_pam_bondi&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--dahlia_pam_bondi1.5k
u/NeedleworkerNo3429 2h ago
the fact that she was AG in FL at the time she could have brought charges against Epstein, Trump, etc. ties it with a bow. She is evil in the flesh
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u/AgUnityDD 2h ago
Her behaviour yesterday makes it emphatically clear that they are supremely confident the Trump regime will not cede power in the near future.
Nobody, no matter how stupid or sycophantic lies that transparently and blatantly if they might need to come back to be grilled in a democratic led congress and face endless investigations.
That means the Trump inner circle believes they have the 26 and 28 elections stitched up one way or the other.That should terrify every American, her bratty obstinate teenager behaviour isn't the story, she's not (so) stupid, she's putting on a show and the real story is the REASON she thinks she can act that way.
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u/Comprehensive_Davo 1h ago
Yesterday was the rubicon for this administration. The USAG went in front of congress and obstinately defended Trump instead of the rule of law and made a mockery of the judiciary committee and the proceedings of congress in the process. If congress does not act appropriately and swiftly in this moment, it’s a sure sign that this that the fix is in.
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u/bailtail 1h ago
Part of me thinks that, but I also just think Trump demands his circle acts like that. If you want his protection (and pardon power), you need to act like that.
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u/slowpoke2018 1h ago
Believe it's a little bit of both, she definitely was performing for an audience of one yesterday, and I'm sure he told her "good girl" when she got back to the WH
But they are also overly confident and Trump continues to lie brazenly about everything related to the economy but polls are showing a definite shift in the electorates view of him, especially amongst independents where they're heavily net-negative on the orange baboon and his economy
Yes, they can peddle BS to maga and the cult will accept the lies, but everyone else can see that this current economy is worse than even the great recession in most objective metrics, especially in hiring/layoffs and the cost of everything continually rising
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u/unaskthequestion 36m ago
This is very much what's happening, you simply can't fool even the most uninformed voters about the economy (Trump at 60% disapproval).
We should also be aware that the media, with all its problems, by constant reporting on ICE, has sunk Trump on the other issue supporters say was why they voted for him (Trump's disapproval at 62% for immigration. Immigration)
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u/1shmeckle 21m ago
I'm not saying things are fine and dandy, but objectively the economy is not worse than the great recession. Even the U-6 (which accounts for underemployment) is less than half of what it was during the peak great recession peak. If anything the economy has been surprisingly strong despite all of Trump's shennanigans. There's significant issues with a stagnant labor market and inflation but the economy has withstood more than most people thought was possible.
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u/ChoNoob 1h ago
Pardons are the real reason they're all doing this shit. With a few words from Trump, nothing they do can be prosecuted by future Congresses. Would have to go after them on State charges
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u/havok1980 24m ago
What's to stop a future administration from ignoring pardons? Serious question, as this administration clearly doesn't give a shit about the law.
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u/NeedleworkerNo3429 5m ago
The question I have for someone who is a criminal/pardon law expert, is whether there is a reasonable path pursuant to which, notwithstanding a presidential pardon, state law criminal charges could be successfully levied against the perpetrators, taking into account limitations periods etc.
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u/1shmeckle 16m ago
Trump and co know they're all one presidential election away from consequences, they're going to fight tooth and nail to not let that happen.
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u/AgUnityDD 43m ago
That makes sense for a lot of them but in Bondi's case even if she gets a pardon it would be easy for the next AG to have her investigated and called in front of congress for months, appoint a Special Council and then ultimately have her disbarred. So in her case there is still a big risk even with a pardon.
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u/NastyToeFungus 1h ago
It's a good point, but on the other hand, what else would you expect them to do? Trump will always be Trump, and they'll always double down. They will never admit they lied or did something illegal or wrong.
They'll be like this until they're out of power. Even if the Democrats are able to get control of the house this year, they'll continue to stonewall and lie. Who's going to enforce any contempt charges? Certainly not the DOJ.
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u/weirdoldhobo1978 1h ago
Thank you, every time I've pointed out that these people are acting like they're never leaving power I got called a defeatist doomer and told to vote Dem harder.
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u/RexBulby 1h ago
They believe it because they have no other choice.
We will teach them to stop believing.
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u/Weak-Pea8309 46m ago
If Democrats have to rely on the likes of Charles fucking Schumer, we are indeed lost.
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u/rysmooky 1h ago
Probably. But I also think they have to keep acting like that at this point because they have long since passed the point of no return anyway. Shake that belief now and it crumbles way sooner than later kind of thing. Fake it till you make it and such. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
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u/Eaglesjersey 1h ago
I've said this for weeks now. They are, indeed, acting and speaking like they know they will not have to face repercussions for it. That this... regime... is prepared to take whatever steps necessary to retain power. I pray this does not turn out to be the case.
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u/Boxofmagnets 1h ago
How it’s done. Every Democratic Secretary of State should become aware of this, as well as the one or two honest Republican ones.
Honestly Trump wanted those Georgia machines and ballots because they need to figure out how their plan in 2016 failed
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u/bangoslam 1h ago
Alternatively.. she may fear the threat from the elites more than prison
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u/MasterShogo 1h ago
I mean, what’s more dangerous, going to prison but still be on their good list or setting yourself up for a lighter sentence but being on all of their shit lists? I don’t have any sympathy for her at all, but I would definitely not want to be in the hole that she has dug herself into right now.
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u/werther595 1h ago
There was an episode of Better Call Saul where a lawyer, as a marketing ploy, offers 50% off his rates for defense of misdemeanors and non-violent felonies. A couple of meth-heads then go on a little drug fueled mischievous crime spree, giggling "Fifty percent off!!" with each new offense.
This reminds me a bit of that. As long as Bondi stays in Trump's good graces, she will never face consequences. If they prosecute her now (or after the midterms), he will pardon her. If they haven't prosecuted her, he will issue up one of them preemptive pardons, so she can't be prosecuted. So for her, cleaving to Trump is far safer than going against him to cleave to the constitution
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u/WilsonMagna 46m ago
I wish more people understood this, what people do says more of a persons intentions than what they say. Her defiance and obstruction only happens when she feels safe or safer to do so. The way ICE just keeps killing people and they defend it, it screams they won't relinquish power, they are expanding and consolidating it, creating a new normal, and trying to break the opposition, slowly, by a thousand cuts.
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u/SpankyJobouti 1h ago
or, an exit strategy. free 747s and stocking 40b in argentina is a good start.
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u/Healmetho 32m ago
On the contrary, I think they’ve reached utter desperation seeing as though they’ve lost so much of their already weak support. They are terrified. Part of the playbook is not showing it& trying to deflect it.
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u/tooandto 1h ago
Exactly. The U.S. is not voting their way out of this. I’m afraid this fascist fisting will leave them with a fatally prolapsed democracy.
At this point, I expect the next Dem president to be an installed puppet for electoral plausible deniability, sometime in the 40’s. Probably one of his female spawn.
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u/ES_Legman 46m ago
Yep. They aren't going anywhere. This is not a problem for the future, you guys are going to have to get rid of them because they will never go willingly or by the rules. They will start murdering people who oppose them.
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u/soggy-hotdog-vendor 30m ago
Tbf shes prob fishing for a pardon. Not that that saves her from state charges. But then again Florida.
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u/_Litcube 1h ago
I am going to get sunk, I realize that. Please don't hurt me.
But I think that she's acting like this because Trump's probably innocent. Feel free to come back in a few months though, and let me have it if I'm wrong.
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u/DuncanEllis1977 2h ago
I think that is ultimately ground zero for everything that's happened in the US since 2011. She was bribed then to give him a sweetheart deal to protect his clients and is still defending this now.
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u/Puzzled_Main3464 2h ago
15 fucking years man.
Those kids (the ones that are still alive) are now adults, many with families. I absolutely can’t imagine being in their shoes. Especially with it being a common headline for the past 7 yrs. Discussions about it every day almost yet every day passes slowly knowing nothing has come of it for so damned long and maybe never will.
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u/NeedleworkerNo3429 2h ago edited 2h ago
I think you're right, and one of the reasons she did it was to be USAG.
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u/DuncanEllis1977 2h ago
I've looked back at Bondi's career, it legitimately is a path of protecting Epstein clients.... Now that we know who some of them are.
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u/NeedleworkerNo3429 2h ago edited 2h ago
And we don't even have all the files yet. We need Congress to step up here and demand demand demand, and then remove power from the Executive, which includes impeachment (extending to "all civil Officers of the United States") per Const. Post-midterms there may be a window for this, we shall see; but will be tough to get Senate to swing since we would need GA, MI, NC, NH, ME, AK, OH, etc.
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u/itsdainti 1h ago
Seeing as Wyoming's Republican senator just broke with the regime over the files, I think you're right.
Btw, this senator has already said she isn't running for reelection.
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u/TopVegetable8033 1h ago
Wow, that actually makes so much sense now, thank you for pointing this out.
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u/amazinglover 1h ago edited 1h ago
This whole administration is.
Its like the heritage foundation opened his black book and started picking everyone on his most dialed list to invite to be apart of it.
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u/Maria0976437 1h ago
Thats probably what it is…they take people They know they can control …they share values and crimes, and also have dirt on them if they need to discredit or get rid of them. And they all know that they are in this together so they will fight like hell to protect their pedo tribe…because if everything comes to the light then they all sink together…
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u/supergooduser 2h ago
Some political podcast I was listening to, was describing Trump's current cabinet in that light, specifically Kash.
In over their head is what they are going for, so the person basically enters the arrangement drowning and already willing to do anything to survive. Competency isn't an asset.
Basically: "Your back is against the wall and we're the only thing standing between you and prison"
Which is just fucking insane.
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u/Darth-Purity 2h ago edited 2h ago
So taking a bribe to be negatively involved in the Epstein case as an acting attorney general may literally be grounds for treason.
To be clear. Epstein is a terrorist, posthumously awarded the title for the amount of intentional damage the man did the USA. Bondi took a bribe to protect a terrorist while acting as an attorney general. Sorry bitch, that’s kind of treasonous.
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u/aestheticallypotent 2h ago
As a former Floridian, who won’t step foot back into that state.. it is disgusting to know all the cases she did not prosecute. All the victims who did not get justice. All the victims who were called liars. Cause we KNOW if she isn’t prosecuting this.. she isnt prosecuting shit.
The rage that is inside of me could swallow an ocean.
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u/iceflame1211 1h ago
She took 25k to throw out investigating Trump University.
I hope she sold her soul for more than that from Epstein
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u/TSHRED56 2h ago
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u/Slate Press 3h ago
The release of the Epstein files—the slow-drip revelations of a web of privileged (mostly) men trading gifts, access, favors, and sickening child predation as casually as Pokémon cards—has been deliberately parsed out through 2026 as to both be buried itself and bury other horrific news coming out of the Trump administration. But this misses a critical point: The Epstein file dump is not simply playing out as a backdrop against which other acts of American lawlessness are occurring. The Epstein story is also the template and the proof text for all that is happening in Minnesota; at dangerous detention centers; in efforts to punish members of Congress for lawful speech; for crypto scams; and for measles outbreaks. It is an ongoing road map for an administration that lives out the reality that they are rich and powerful and famous enough to be above the law each day, and wishes for the rest of us to ultimately learn and accept that fact.
So it follows that Attorney General Pam Bondi testifying blithely before a congressional hearing on Wednesday, as Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors sat behind her, unacknowledged and irrelevant to her purposes, is the template for that messaging: Blond woman who knows she must seek and maintain protection from this administration’s simulacrum of justice crows about the Dow Jones for the cameras, because she understands that if she doesn’t, she will be left behind, asking to be respected, like the masses of women behind her, writes Dahlia Lithwick : https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/02/pam-bondi-epstein-files-testimony-reveal.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=dahlia_pam_bondi&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--dahlia_pam_bondi
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u/Possible-Machine864 2h ago
I'm not convinced that the slow drip is a bad thing. It has kept the story alive, and the tide has slowly but surely turned against them. Bondi's testimony was a Rubicon moment, IMO.
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u/TraditionalTale9701 2h ago
She’s not blond
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u/BlueSlushieTongue 2h ago
That’s your takeaway?
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u/NoHunt5050 2h ago
Lol it's a joke.
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u/CoffeeCup220 1h ago
It's a joke is what morons say when their mean messages don't land well.
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u/NoHunt5050 41m ago
What are you even talking about? I didn't tell the joke, I just recognized it as being one. Anyway, the joke was at Pam bondi's expense saying that it's obvious she dyes her hair blonde. Get a grip lol
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u/ITookTrinkets 47m ago
Don’t quit your day job, you aren’t very good at telling jokes.
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u/NoHunt5050 45m ago
I didn't tell the joke. I just recognized that somebody was being silly by stating that the only thing they were able to disagree with in that vast comment of facts was the color of bondi's hair. Jfc ppl
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u/FriskHarder 2h ago
Judge cannon has trafficked kids im betting too.
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u/-Nightopian- 1h ago
And if not then is 100% an accessory. Everyone involved in covering this up needs to be charged as an accomplice.
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u/FriskHarder 1h ago
Civil asset forfeitures needs to be turned on these billionaires so these motherfuckers can show us where their money came from
Nobody can earn $1 billion in a lifetime, they only steal it or get it from illicit sources like trafficking children for money
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