Days after Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice announced that Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide and that there was no client list, many Republican voters and supporters online are alleging a cover-up. Thursday, a Democratic senator introduced an amendment in the Senate Appropriations Committee to "retain, preserve and compile" any records related to the disgraced financier.
The amendment, which passed unanimously, is an effort by Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from the state of Maryland, to try and preserve some of those documents related to the Epstein investigation.
Now, Attorney General Pam Bondi has come under fire from some on the left and on the right in the past week or so after she originally claimed that it was a possible client list that they'd be investigating.
Elon Musk also said in a now-deleted post on social media that he believed that President Trump was on that client list.
Sen. Van Hollen has seized an opportunity amid the conflicting stories to insert an amendment into the annual government funding bill to try and preserve any records related to Epstein.
"The goal is transparency," Sen. Van Hollen told Scripps News on Thursday. "I think all of us, and I think the public, have an interest in knowing exactly how this case has been handled over the years. So that amendment does two things. It requires that all the documents be preserved. And second, it requires that they present a detailed report."
"I just want to get the facts," Sen. Van Hollen said, when asked if he was concerned about the possibility of a cover-up. "My view is that we should just have all the facts laid out so the public can have confidence."
RELATED STORY | Epstein investigation turned up no 'incriminating client list,' FBI says
Despite its unanimous approval, it is not yet clear whether the amendment will make it into the final funding bill for passage, or be signed into law by President Donald Trump if it does.
