Bondi used binder stunt to cover-up secretive Epstein Files redaction project, documents reveal

https://www.beltway.news/p/bondi-used-binder-stunt-to-cover

What initially appeared to be a failed political stunt by the Trump administration — gifting far-right influencers binders of material related to Jeffrey Epstein — now appears to have served another purpose entirely: providing cover for a massive redaction effort designed to protect the president.

Internal correspondence between federal agents, published as part of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, outlines exactly how former US Attorney General Pam Bondi used the public stunt to quietly launch the redaction project within the DOJ. In a public letter sent to FBI Director Kash Patel on Feb. 27, Bondi demanded that his bureau “deliver the full and complete Epstein Files to my office” in Washington, DC.

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Patel went to great lengths to help prop up the facade of transparency, loading physical documents into a rented U-Haul so the full files could be transferred simultaneously. The operation, first reported on by ABC News in March 2025, was at the time characterized as a Trump-style media stunt, a cartoonish waste of time and resources meant to satisfy his supporters’ lust for the release of the Epstein Files.

But internal DOJ communications tell a different story. Officials made clear that the case file consolidation was intended to facilitate a massive redaction project that ultimately cost nearly $1 million in overtime pay alone. The process focused on redacting names of high-profile individuals like Donald Trump, while exposing the names and violating the privacy of hundreds of Epstein’s victims.

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