Democrats and Republicans are calling for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, while Attorney General Pam Bondi continues to dodge questions over the case. CBS News' Scott MacFarlane has the latest.

Washington

Lawmakers from both major parties are increasing pressure on Attorney General Pam Bondi to release files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. At a recent news conference, Bondi refused to answer questions about the files, instead focusing on unrelated issues.

The calls for transparency have brought together both supporters and opponents of former President Trump, all demanding that the Epstein documents be made public. Meanwhile, Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, who reportedly had a heated exchange with Bondi over the issue, has returned to work but remains publicly silent. Bondi has also declined to comment on Bongino's status.

Lawmakers pressure Bondi to release Jeffrey Epstein files

Now the controversy over the White House's decision to not release the Epstein files, it is growing. You've got members of both parties now calling for more information to be released. At a news conference yesterday, Attorney General Pam Bonnie refused to answer questions about the case. I appreciate your question, but this today is about fentanyl overdoses throughout our country and people who have lost loved ones to fentanyl. That's the message that we're here to send today. Nothing about Epstein. We're not going to talk about Epstein. CBS News Justice Correspondent Scott McFarlane is at the Justice Department and joins us with more. Good morning to you, Scott. You know, you've got lawmakers from both parties now pressing for answers on this. The Attorney General doesn't want to talk about it. What are Congress people saying? What a rare moment, Errol, where you have Trump supporters and Trump opponents saying the same thing. Both calling for more information to be released, both calling for more transparency on this Epstein matter. Take a listen to what was said in just the past 24 hours. I don't know that she was specific about a list or whatever, but she needs to come forward and explain that to everybody. I think all this stuff ought to be public. I mean, I think all of the, all the documents should all be public. I think it all ought to be out in the open. Where is that client list? What is Attorney General Pam Bondi hiding? She needs to release Epstein files as soon as possible. We need to have those files released. And we had, we had a chance to speak to Pam Bondi here yesterday to ask about what's going to happen next with this Epstein matter. And she begged off the question saying that she wanted to focus on other issues. But that door that they're trying to close on the Epstein matter, Errol, remains lodged open and there's no indication it's going to move today. Is there any update on the status of Dan Bongino? The deputy director of the FBI, Dan Bongino, had some form of a heated exchange last week with the attorney general over this issue, over what to do or what not to do about the Epstein files. Bongino did not show up to work on Friday, did return to work this week, but he has been uncharacteristically silent ever since last week. He's a man with millions of social media followers, a legend of talk radio and podcasts. So for him being silent is noticeable, but he is back on the job. And the attorney general, when we asked about Dan Bongino yesterday, also declined to talk about him. Yeah, and he's getting a lot of heat from his own listeners and followers who have listened to him for so long. Scott, outside the DOJ. Thank you.

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