The reported meeting at JD Vance’s residence about the notorious Epstein files was actually about silencing a key FBI official, according to a former insider.
Former Trump associate Lev Parnas, who says he used to be “deep inside the Trump machine” and now reports from the outside, earlier flagged an example of Donald Trump “saying the quiet part out loud.”
After that, Parnas filed a report ahead of the weekend called, “Trump’s Team Scrambles to muzzle Dan Bongino.” In the essay, he argues, “It wasn’t just about Epstein. It was about stopping Bongino from going rogue.”
“As I sit here watching the media circle the story about the dinner that was supposed to happen—every network now catching up to the leak we dropped days ago—I can’t help but notice what they’re all missing,” Parnas wrote on Friday. “They talk about the dinner. They talk about the people who were supposed to be there. They talk about what was likely discussed. But not a single outlet, not one reporter, is talking about the name that wasn’t there. The name that matters most. Dan Bongino.”
According to Parnas, “Because what I’m telling you now, is that this dinner—this meeting Todd Blanche was supposed to lead at J.D. Vance’s residence—was never just about Epstein. It was about Dan. About bringing him to heel. About getting him in line. And when that dinner got exposed and canceled, the conversation didn’t go away. It just moved behind closed doors.”
He then continued:
“According to my sources, that conversation happened yesterday at the White House. Kash Patel sat down with Pam Bondi in private. The topic? Bongino. The rift. The refusal. The threat. Because since July 6th—when Bondi’s now-infamous memo claimed there was no Epstein ‘client list,’ and that no further prosecutions would take place—Bongino hasn’t been on board. He’s stayed quiet. No statements. No tweets. No Fox hits. Just silence.”
Parnas went on to criticize the handling of the purported cover-up.
“What they’ve done is try to paper over the cracks. Just like Trump always does. He put a band-aid on it. He called Bongino. We don’t know if he begged him, threatened him, promised him something—but whatever he said, Bongino stayed. Physically. On paper. But not in spirit. Not on the train,” he added. “And this is what I warned about. Weeks ago I told you this was another volcano waiting to erupt. This was the next weak link in the chain they’re using to bind the Epstein narrative. And they knew it. That’s why the meeting was so important. That’s why it was supposed to include everyone but him. Because Dan Bongino is a problem they can’t control.”
Parnas further notes, “[H]e’s dangerous to them now.”