Victims of the well-connected sex offender say that Bondi showed ‘she does not care’ about their plight
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Sexual abuse survivors of Jeffrey Epsteincelebrated President Donald Trump’s dismissal of Attorney General Pam BondiThursday, even as they worried about who might replace her.
Jess Michaels,a survivor of the convicted sex trafficker, toldThe Independentthat she had two immediate reactions to Bondi’s dismissal.
“My instant reaction is good riddance and veryglad that she was fired,” Michaels said. “My second reaction is, is this just another delay tactic?”
Bondi came under sharp criticism last year after she had initially saidthat she had files on Epstein friends and associates ready to be made public.
“It’s sitting on my desk right now to review,” she said at the time. But months later, the Department of Justice and the FBIreleased a two-page memosaying that the sex offender — who killed himself in a federal jail in New York City — had no “client list.”
“That was the reason why we showed up in September,” Lisa Phillips toldThe Independent. “We believed her, you know, we were waiting for her to do that, to do the right thing by us, and she didn't.”
That prompted survivors to come to Capitol Hill to push for the release of those so-called Epstein files. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) received enough signatures for a discharge petition toforce a vote on the legislation. But even though the law mandated that the files be released by Dec. 19, 2025, the full files have not been fully released.
“You have to remember, we're over 100 days past the deadline for of Dec. 19,” Michaels said but wondered, “Just firing Pam Bondi, is it performative?”
Haley Robson,another survivor of Epstein who publicly disavowed her previous support for Trumpandcalled for the president’s impeachment, also celebrated Bondi’s sacking.
“I never thought I would see this day, but I'm a little intrigued on why he is choosing now to fire her when she has done so many things in the past, like six months to a year that have been deserving of resignation,” Robson toldThe Independent.
