Pam Bondi’s office forced into embarrassing apology after top official caught in honeypot sting
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office has been forced into a frantic defense after one of her senior officials was secretly recorded claiming that the Epstein files would be altered to shield Republicans.
Joseph Schnitt, serving as an Acting Deputy Chief in the Department of Justice, was unknowingly caught on tape during a date with a woman he met on the Hinge app. The woman was in fact an undercover operative working for the O’Keefe Media Group.
In the video, released Thursday, Schnitt is heard telling her that the department planned to “redact every Republican or conservative person in those files, leave all the liberal, Democratic people in those files, and have a very slanted version of it come out.” He also suggested that Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer to a lower-security prison — despite her being a convicted sex offender — was arranged because “they’re offering her something to keep her mouth shut.”
Schnitt went further, describing internal battles between Bondi and FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, who had reportedly been pushing back on efforts to keep the files sealed. “Second-in-command [Dan Bongino] at the FBI has been causing problems, because he’s like, ‘No, these [Epstein Files] have to be released… Bondi wants whatever Trump wants. Internally there’s a lot of conflict,” Schnitt said.
The covert recording was posted online by activist James O’Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas and head of the O’Keefe Media Group. While it is still unclear why Schnitt was targeted or when the sting took place, the release forced the DOJ into unusual and chaotic damage control.
https://t.co/N5BGMBZRTe pic.twitter.com/CFIly8IoHV
— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) September 4, 2025
A screenshot circulated online showed a message Schnitt had apparently sent to his superiors describing the encounter. “I met a woman named Skylar on Hinge, a dating app, in July 2025, her profile is no longer findable,” the note began. He continued: “We had two dates, August 4 and August 16. She claimed to be an au pair in Georgetown. She gave no clues that she was a reporter or recording our date. Had I a clue, the first date would have immediately ended and there would never have been a second one.” Schnitt added: “The comments I’ve made were my own personal comments on what I’ve learned in the media and not from anything I’ve done at or via work.”
The department’s spokesperson later issued a separate statement online insisting the claims “have absolutely zero bearing with reality and reflect a total lack of knowledge of the DOJ’s review process.” The post added: “The DOJ is committed to transparency and is in compliance with the House Oversight Committee’s request for documents.”
The Epstein case has long been politically explosive. Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges involving minors, had close ties to many high-profile figures, including Donald Trump. Maxwell, his longtime associate, was later sentenced to 20 years for sex trafficking and conspiracy.
Bondi has been under increasing scrutiny over her handling of the case, even from within MAGA circles, as frustrations mount over what critics see as a cover-up. Earlier this year, the Department announced there was no further information to disclose, despite Trump’s repeated pledges of full transparency. Republicans on the House Oversight Committee attempted to put pressure on critics by releasing more than 33,000 DOJ documents, including logs, emails, and court records. But much of the material had already been available publicly, fueling accusations of stonewalling.
The controversy reached new intensity as survivors of Epstein gathered in Washington this week to recount their experiences and demand accountability. Their calls were met with fresh outrage after Trump himself lashed out at the ongoing focus on Epstein. “We’re having the most successful eight months of any president ever, and that’s what I want to talk about and should be talking about. Not the Epstein hoax,” he said.
