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Gavin Newsom has concocted a scathing new nickname for Pam Bondi over her refusal to answer questions about President Donald Trump’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein.
The Democrat called out “Pedophile-protector Pam” after the attorney general declined to answer questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday about whether Epstein, a convicted sex offender, had photos of Trump with “half-naked young women.”
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“So much for the ‘most transparent’ administration,” Newsom’s official press office wrote on X, along with a clip of Bondi being questioned by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. “Pedophile-protector Pam is still refusing to answer questions — and still hiding the Epstein files.”
Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, asked Bondi about “public reporting that Jeffrey Epstein showed people photos of President Trump with half-naked young women,” according to CBS News.
“You know, Sen. Whitehouse? You sit here and make salacious remarks, once again, trying to slander President Trump, left and right, when you’re the one who was taking money from one of Epstein’s closest confidants,” Bondi fired back, referring to tech entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, who has said he regretted his contacts with Epstein, per CBS.
Pam Bondi refused to answer questions about President Trump’s connection with Jeffrey Epstein while testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday (Getty Images)
The Department of Justice did not immediately return a request for comment from The Independent on Wednesday.
Bondi, 59, previously promised to release the so-called Epstein files, including a purported list of powerful people who were on the disgraced financier’s “client list,” which she claimed had been “sitting on her desk.”
However, she has since reversed her stance, now claiming there was never a client list. Earlier this year, the Justice Department and the FBI released a memo stating there would be no more information shared about Epstein, who died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019.
Newsom, 57, an outspoken critic of Trump, previously said he believes Bondi has blocked the release of the Epstein files under Trump’s direction, according to the Daily Beast.
In July, Newsom told reporter Marco Foster, “Pam Bondi doesn’t move without Trump. If she’s fired, she’s the fall person because there’s no question she was directed by Trump to say what she said. Why was she told not to release the files?”
While the Trump administration claims to be the most “transparent,” as Newsom noted, it has made clear efforts to delay the release of the Epstein files, with Bondi’s testimony being the latest example of the administration’s efforts to prevent their release.
Earlier this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson delayed swearing in a recently elected Democratic House member, Arizona Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election to replace her father.
Grijalva would likely be the last crucial vote needed to force a vote on releasing the files, Spectrum News reported.
On Monday, FBI Director Kash Patel wrote, “The transparency I promised is being delivered by this FBI,” but a community note was added that noted the administration had not yet released the Epstein files.
Newsom has also gone full steam ahead with relentlessly trolling the president and his administration – even directing his official social media accounts to mock Trump’s style of writing online.
He has also used similar alliterative quips to go after Trump, including in September, when he mocked Trump’s new rose garden patio on X, calling it the “Predator Patio.”
Most recently, Newsom took to social media to poke at Trump’s claim that an insurrection was unfolding in Portland, Oregon, by sharing photos of the January 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol.
