In February, US attorney-general Pam Bondi declared in an interview with Fox News that the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein’s client list was “sitting” on her desk. But the announcement, originally seen as fulfilling Donald Trump’s campaign promise to release files on Epstein’s death, has now come back to haunt Bondi — and the president. 

Since the Department of Justice and FBI last week published a memo saying there was no “client list” and no “credible evidence” that Epstein “blackmailed prominent individuals”, the affair has threatened to consume a woman regarded as one of the most powerful — and loyal — members of Trump’s cabinet.

The U-turn has incensed the president’s base, which has long been in thrall to conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death. Maga activists have called for Bondi’s departure, while the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, a staunch Trump ally, has called on the attorney-general to “come forward and explain?.?.?. to everybody”.