CNN
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Attorney General Pam Bondi toured the former Alcatraz prison on Thursday as the Trump administration pushes the idea of re-establishing it as a prison more than 60 years after it was closed.
Bondi was there with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to receive a briefing on the facility, a Justice Department official said, and is “discussing facilities with Park Police on the ground, and directing staff to collaborate on the necessary planning to rehabilitate and reopen the facility.”
Bondi touted the prison on Alcatraz Island, saying in an interview with Fox News after her tour of the facility that, if reopened, it could be used to hold “violent prisoners.”
“It could hold it could hold illegal aliens. It could hold anything,” she said. “This is a terrific facility – needs a lot of work, but no one has been known to escape from Alcatraz and survive.”
Her visit to the notorious facility comes two months after President Donald Trump floated the idea of rebuilding and reopening Alcatraz.
The attorney general continues to face questions about her handling of files connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Bondi did not address the controversy during her interview.
The Justice Department last week released a memo that there was no Epstein “client list,” and the Trump administration announced that it didn’t plan to release any more documents in the investigation. That announcement has only fueled calls from Trump allies and Democrats for additional disclosures.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Alayna Treene contributed to this report.
