Cardillo contends there's much more to the ongoing saga of the Jeffrey Epstein files than disastrous public relations by the Trump administration. He finds it perplexing that an attorney and veteran politician, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, would so haphazardly handle such sensitive material, something for which Americans crave answers.
Bondi on Feb. 21 told Fox News anchor John Roberts that the files would be made public. "It is sitting on my desk right now to review. That's been a directive of President [Donald] Trump. I'm reviewing that," she told Roberts.
Now it's July, and Axios has reported that the FBI's investigation found no evidence of blackmail, no evidence that Epstein kept a client list before he died in prison while facing federal sex-trafficking charges.
It's the first time Trump's administration has officially contradicted conspiracy theories about Epstein's activities and his death - theories that had been pushed by the FBI's top two officials, director Kash Patel and deputy director Dan Bongino, before Trump appointed them to the bureau.
Bondi guilty of a PR blunder?
Bondi's handling of the situation is baffling, Cardillo told show host Jenna Ellis on American Family Radio Monday.
"The woman understands communication. She was a trial lawyer, a prosecutor, a litigator. When Pam was attorney general in Florida, the pill mills (opioid crisis) were out of control. She was doing daily pressers. Her messaging was precise; it was spot-on. She's no stranger to high-stakes political communications."
Now, however, the administration is taking a social media beating with Bondi the subject of editorial cartoons and facing calls for her resignation.
One call is from podcaster Megyn Kelly, formerly of Fox, who on Friday confirmed other reports that FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino has said he'll resign if Bondi remains the AG.
Trump came out in support of Bondi in a Truth Social post on Saturday.
"The Left is imploding! Kash Patel, and the FBI, must be focused on investigating Voter Fraud, Political Corruption, ActBlue, The Rigged and Stolen Election of 2020, and arresting Thugs and Criminals, instead of spending month after month looking at nothing but the same old, Radical Left inspired Documents on Jeffrey Epstein. LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB — SHE'S GREAT!" Trump wrote.
Not Trump's best PR moment either
Bondi alone doesn't bear the brunt of the PR nightmare. Trump is also a problem, Cardillo said.
"What's surprising to me is Trump is a marketing genius, right? I criticize him when he makes bad moves, but the man is a marketing genius. He understands how to use multimedia better than anybody. It's surprising to me the White House comms shop hasn't tried to clean this up. They're both making it worse by the day," he said.
There's more to the administration's Epstein mess than bad PR.
A number of political analysts are comparing this to the 1970s Watergate cover-up in which Richard Nixon's administration withheld key tapes and memos.
"There are really only two options," Kelly wrote. "One, there's no huge undisclosed there there on Epstein. Bondi misled on it (until she didn't)) $ Trump is quick to forgive a loyal soldier for being desperate to get on TV; or two, there's a scandal that's being covered up & it's at his discretion."
Cardillo disputes claims there's been no political blackmail in play.
"Okay, there may not be a little black book, right? It could have been on Epstein's phone, or in his mind, he knew which people had which proclivities. I'll buy that there's not a little black book in writing somewhere – but notice what they didn't say. They didn't say there's no evidence of children being abused, no evidence of women being trafficked."
In Cardillo's opinion, the administration's handling of the case is a signal of the power of the people involved. And it's not the first time Trump has chosen not to act. Many of the legal claims citing alleged abuse and trafficking surfaced between 2002 and 2007.
"Trump had all this information in his first term. He never moved on it. So clearly there are people involved in this who are too big to fail, who are too powerful to take down. I mean, that's really the only logic," Cardillo suggested.
It's a blight on Trump's second term, he added; the first break from so many in his base eager to see corruption exposed.
Potential impact on midterms?
Trump in a June 2024 interview with Fox & Friends said he would release the files. Though as the conversation continued, he seemed less sure, expressing concern for the impact the release could have on the lives people who may have attended but broke no laws. It went this way:
Rachel Campos‑Duffy: "Would you declassify the Epstein files?"
Donald Trump: "Yeah. Yeah, I would."
Rachel Campos‑Duffy: "All right."
Donald Trump: "I guess I would. I think that less so because, you don't know - you don't want to affect people's lives if it's phony stuff in there, because it's a lot of phony stuff with that whole world. But I think I would, or at least –"
As bad as it looks, Watergate comparisons and the like, Cardillo doesn't believe the debacle of the Epstein files will hurt the administration in the 2026 mid-term elections.
"I don't think most Americans are going to vote on Jeffrey Epstein come November 2026. They care about the price of gas and groceries, taxes, health insurance and where their kids are going to school. Jeffrey Epstein doesn't affect their daily life in any way, shape or form.
"But people are upset – and this is overshadowing things the administration and DOJ need to do."
