As revelations emerged this week that the U.S. Department of Justice withheld key materials relating to allegations against President Donald Trump in its release of Jeffrey Epstein files, Stetson University College of Law graduates demanded action from the U.S. attorney general’s alma mater.
Pam Bondi earned her law degree from Stetson in 1990 and has become one of the Florida school’s most celebrated alums. In 2013, when she was Florida’s attorney general, Bondi delivered the school’s commencement address.
But Bondi’s conduct in overseeing the Epstein case must be addressed by school officials, according to a letter this week signed by 384 Stetson Law graduates.
“The Florida Bar Oath of Admissions requires lawyers to avoid misleading conduct,” the letter stated. “If our alma mater is to remain true to its values, it cannot remain silent when the conduct of one of its most visible graduates — particularly in the nation’s highest law enforcement office — appears to run counter to those principles.”
Signed by Pinellas Park divorce lawyer Johnny J. Bardine, a 2006 graduate, the letter urged school officials to publicly reaffirm the law school’s ethics policy, express public disapproval of Bondi’s conduct that conflicts with those ethics and support efforts to hold those in positions of legal authority to account.
Among those signing were three retired judges and former Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp, a prominent Democrat. Even though he’s a Democrat who worked on Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, Bardine told the Tampa Bay Times that the letter was not engaging in party politics.
Ever since she took the job as U.S. attorney general under President Donald Trump, Bondi has been under fire for her handling of the release of the Epstein files.
Two weeks after taking office, Bondi told Fox News that an Epstein client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review.” Four months later, a department memo said there was no such list, no evidence that Epstein blackmailed anyone and that no more files would be disclosed.
It wasn’t until Congress passed a measure last year forcing the disclosure of the files that the Department of Justice proceeded to release millions of pages pertaining to Epstein, many of them brimming with details of misconduct at the highest levels of American society.
The release of the files has rankled many because of the numerous redactions of nonvictims and the illegal disclosures of victims’ names. Bondi’s hearing in the U.S. House convinced Bardine that the administration wasn’t being transparent.
“When I watched her testimony, I was embarrassed,” Bardine said. “I felt I had to do something. I don’t subscribe to what she has been doing. It’s not what I was taught.”
He asked on social media if other graduates would sign on to his objections. They did. Since the letter’s Monday release, NPR and other outlets have reported that key documents related to a woman who made accusations against Trump had been removed from the files publicly released.
“It does seem like we’re at an inflection point,” Bardine said.
The letter was addressed to D. Benjamin Barros, the law school dean, and the university’s board of trustees.
Barros could not be reached for comment. Bardine said he was awaiting a response.
“I fully expect them to respond to this,” he said.