Pam Bondi
Pam Bondi served as Florida’s Attorney General from 2011 to 2019. In 2013, she was considering joining a multistate investigation into the 2008 Epstein plea deal.
Around the same time2013Epstein’s foundation donated ,000 to a Bondi political nonrofit (Bondi’s political fund). Shortly after, Bondi announced Florida would not join the multistate investigation.
Bondi’s supporters say the donation and the decision were unrelated. Critics see a direct correlation. No formal finding of impropriety was issued. Bondi went on to serve as a senior Trump administration official.
Ken Starr
Ken Starr is most famous as Independent Counsel who investigated President Clinton in the 1990s and produced the Starr Report. Despite his political identity as a Republican establishment figure, Starr was retained as part of Epstein’s defense team for the 2008 negotiations.
Starr’s participation in the Epstein team illustrated how Epstein could deploy high-profile attorneys across the political spectrum.
The Bi-Partisan Pattern
Epstein’s political connections spanned both partiesClinton foundations, Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Republican attorneys, Democratic prosecutors. The pattern suggests strategic rather than ideological political engagement: Epstein purchased access and protection from whoever could provide it, regardless of party.
Why This Matters
The bi-partisan nature of Epstein’s protection network is one argument made for why the case was not aggressively pursued for so longno single political interest had exclusive incentive to break the pattern.