FBI section chief forced to resign over Epstein file orders

MSMichael Seidel served as section chief of the FBI's Record/Information Dissemination Section, known as RIDS. This unit handles all public requests submitted under the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act. Seidel ran the team responsible for processing and releasing government records to the public.

Attorney General Pam Bondi released what she called Phase 1 of the Epstein files on Feb. 27, 2025. The release was distributed to right-wing influencers at the White House before going public. The documents turned out to be mostly previously leaked material, including old flight logs and a redacted address book.

On Feb. 26, Bondi discovered the FBI's 🗽New York field office held thousands of additional Epstein-related pages that hadn't been disclosed. She demanded the full files by 8 AM on Feb. 28 and tasked FBI Director Kash Patel with investigating why the documents weren't provided. Bondi ordered Patel to deliver a report with proposed personnel action within 14 days.

FBI Director Patel ordered approximately 1,000 FBI personnel to an FBI facility in Winchester, 🏛️Virginia, to review roughly 100,000 Epstein-related records. The team included agents from counterintelligence, international operations, and FOIA staff. They worked 24-hour shifts from mid-March through the end of the month.

Between March 17 and March 22, 934 FBI personnel clocked 14,278 premium pay hours and were paid $851,344 in overtime. Between January and July 2025, RIDS agents worked 4,737 overtime hours total, with more than 70% of that concentrated in March. These figures come from FBI records obtained by Bloomberg reporter Jason Leopold through a FOIA lawsuit.

Seidel objected to the scale and pace of the personnel diversion from regular FBI operations. Patel blamed Seidel for the failure to deliver all Epstein files to Bondi on time. Seidel was given a choice: submit retirement papers or be fired. He was pushed out in late March or early April 2025.

The personnel diversion pulled counterintelligence specialists off active national security investigations. Many of the agents brought in from the 🗽New York and 🌲Washington field offices lacked the expertise to identify information protected by statute regarding child victims and child witnesses. Sen. DDDick Durbin cited a protected FBI whistleblower who disclosed that personnel were told to flag any Epstein records mentioning President Trump.

JDJames Dennehy, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's 🗽New York field office, was forced to retire on March 3, 2025. Dennehy's office was the one Bondi accused of holding thousands of undisclosed Epstein pages. In an email to staff, Dennehy said he was told on a Friday to submit retirement papers that day or be fired.

The DOJ and FBI formally closed the investigation into Epstein's co-conspirators in July 2025. The memo stated they did not uncover evidence to predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties. Rep. JRJamie Raskin called this decision an abrupt termination of an active investigation in which nearly 50 survivors had provided detailed information identifying specific co-conspirators.