The Pam Bondi and Dan Bongino schism threatens Trump's DOJ

President Donald Trump this week is scrambling to contain fallout from perhaps the biggest intra-administration rift of his second term: an increasingly public fight between FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi. The squabble is over the handling of a White House investigation into sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, his alleged list of high-profile clients and jailhouse suicide in 2019. Friction between the two officials came to a head last week during an explosive White House meeting in which Bondi, who last week downplayed the more salacious rumors surrounding Epstein that she once promoted, accused Bongino of planting negative news stories about her oversight of the investigation.

A 'political crisis' that could 'splinter' the MAGA base

"What's going on with my 'boys' and, in some cases, 'gals?'" Trump said in a rambling post on Truth Social that called for his supporters to "LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB." Trump's "full-throated defense" of Bondi has shocked the MAGA faithful, Fox News said. Many of the president's most staunch supporters insisted the scandal "will not simply dissipate," given how many Trump insiders ("including Bondi, Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel") had previously vowed to "expose the corruption surrounding Epstein."

The renewed furor over Epstein and his administration's investigation thereof is a "political crisis" for Trump that has threatened to "splinter his far-right political base," said The New York Times. The "blowback" has "raged unabated for nearly a week" since the DOJ and FBI closed their investigation by "affirming previous findings that Epstein's death had been a suicide." MAGA backers both "inside and outside government" have gone "completely bananas," said Charles Pierce at Esquire, and the "upper echelons of the FBI might come tumbling down" as a result. Bongino reportedly considered leaving the administration entirely over the scandal, but is "in good shape," Trump said to reporters after talking to the deputy director over the weekend.

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Despite his all-caps exhortation and expressions of equanimity, it's "not clear" whether Trump's post will be enough to "quell the furor," said NBC News. "I support Pam as AG but think a Special Counsel has to be named to take the Epstein case over," said longtime Trump ally and former White House strategist Steve Bannon in a statement to the network. But "audience sentiment" at a recent event hosted by the conservative group Turning Point USA was "running 100% against Bondi remaining as AG."

Defying the 'patterns of previous Trump controversies'

The White House has worked to "minimize any tensions" stemming from the growing friction between Bondi, Bongino and their respective bases, said The Associated Press. Attempts to "sow division" within Trump's Justice Department are "baseless," said spokesman Harrison Fields to the wire service. Trump throwing his support behind Bondi suggests a "dramatic shake-up" at the attorney general's office is "not imminent," said Steve Benin at MSNBC.

Nevertheless, the intra-DOJ discord has "defied the patterns of previous Trump controversies," said the Times, thanks to an increasing willingness among some MAGA adherents to "cast doubt on Trump's actions and motives." Bongino's threat to leave the FBI has "infuriated Trump," CNN said, while Vice President J.D. Vance has spent the past few days "attempting to mediate" between the various parties. Bongino's relationship with the White House has nevertheless become "basically untenable," sources said to CNN. Even if Bongino remains for now, "some inside the administration believe he will not stay in the job long-term."