(Headline USA) Attorney General Pam Bondi took heated questions from lawmakers in a combative congressional hearing over the Justice Department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein that have exposed sensitive private information about victims despite redaction efforts.
Bondi tried to turn the page from persistent criticism of the Justice Department by aggressively pivoting across the five-hour hearing.
The attorney general gave a wide-ranging, passionate defense of President Donald Trump, mocked her Democratic questioners and refused to directly respond to accusations from representatives that she is perpetuating a cover-up and ignoring victims, several of whom were sitting behind her in the hearing room.
Bondi also defended the department’s handling of the files, even as its political saga continues to dog her term. The attorney general had a similarly tumultuous hearing before Congress in October.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told reporters following the hearing that Attorney General Pam Bondi had evaded answering most questions from Democrats, especially as they focused on the release of the case files on Jeffrey Epstein.
“To us, it feels like we are in the middle of a cover-up,” Raskin said, adding that he felt Bondi’s demeanor showed that the Trump administration showed it was not respecting the will of Congress with what’s known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
But he alluded to more battles with the attorney general, especially if Democrats take the House majority next year. He said Democrats would have the power to issue subpoenas to force sworn testimony, including from Trump administration officials.
Democrats have hammered Bondi repeatedly for the latest file dump disclosing some victims’ identities. North Carolina Republican Rep. Brad Knott offered Bondi a defense.
“Many on this committee made very serious efforts … to give you the resources and time” to “thoroughly go through that file” to make sure victims were shielded, he said.
Knott argued that such amendments to the Epstein disclosure resolution were “met with refusal” from House leadership.
Democrats on the committee have argued throughout the day that Bondi’s department still has managed to redact considerable portions of the documents.
Rep. Dan Goldman had a handful of prominent victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse who are in the hearing room with Attorney General Pam Bondi stand and raise their hands if they had tried to speak with the Department of Justice but not received a response.
All of the survivors raised their hands.
Goldman pointed to an email contained in released files that contained a list of victims, but only one had been blacked out. “That is clearly intentional to intimidate these survivors and victims,” he said.
Bondi pushed back on the accusation that it was an intentional mistake.
Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz mocked the researched notes that Bondi has been been using in her come backs against Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee.
He told the attorney general that in the spirit of the Olympics, he would score the quality of the political insult and held up a small whiteboard.
Bondi responded by saying that Moskowitz had mocked the Bible by earlier holding up a copy of the book and saying that “Trump’s name appears more in the Epstein files than God appears in the book about God.”
Moskowitz shot back, “I want it from the burn book.” When Bondi declined to engage, he wrote a “0” on his whiteboard.
Among the feistiest and most bitter exchanges came with Rep. Becca Balint, a Vermont Democrat who tried to ask Bondi whether the Justice Department had questioned different Trump administration officials about their ties to Epstein.
Bondi declined to answer directly, instead saying that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had already answered questions on the issue.
As Balint tried to press further, Bondi responded, “Shame on you.” That touched off a furious response from a frustrated Balint, who said: “This is pathetic. I am not asking trick questions. The American people deserve to know. These are senior Trump officials.”
The situation became even more tense when Bondi referenced “antisemitic culture” and a resolution that she said Balint voted against.
The question was cut off by a shouting Balint, who said: “You want to go there? Are you serious? Talking about antisemitism to a woman who lost her grandfather in the Holocaust!”
The attorney general distanced herself from a decision last year to transfer Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and confidant of Jeffrey Epstein, to a federal prison camp in Texas.
That transfer last year by the Bureau of Prisons, which sits under the Department of Justice, has been widely criticized. Bondi said she agreed that Maxwell should not receive any comforts while she serves out a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking minors.
“I was not involved in that at all,” she told lawmakers.
Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi on why she had hired Jared Wise, who was charged in connection to the Jan. 6th 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol and was captured on a police-worn body camera urging people to “kill” officers.
Bondi acknowledged that Wise was working at the Justice Department, noting that he had been pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Neguse responded, “This is who you choose, as the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America, to hire at the Department of Justice,” and added, “and yet you expect hard-working police officers across the country to believe that you take law enforcement seriously?”
Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing some of the toughest questioning from Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky lawmaker who broke with his party to advance the legislation that forced the released of the case files on Jeffrey Epstein.
Massie took Bondi to task for the release of victims’ personal information, telling her, “Literally the worse thing you could do to survivors, you did.”
He also questioned her why more men seemingly connected to Epstein’s abuse are not under investigation.
Bondi responded in the way she has to most Democrats who brought up the Epstein files, by shooting back that he was only focused on the files because President Donald Trump is mentioned in them.
She accused Massie of having “Trump-derangement syndrome” and called him a “hypocrite.”
Democratic Rep. Lou Correa asked a handful of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse who are attending Attorney General Pam Bondi’s hearing to stand and raise their hand if they felt that the Department of Justice would support them.
None raised their hand.
Correa underscored the importance of law enforcement supporting victims and making sure they are heard as they seek justice.
Bondi responded to Correa’s point by saying she wanted victims to come forward.
“We want to work with them,” she said.
She was responding to an old video of Trump and Epstein at a party together by saying it was “ridiculous” for Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu to ask her whether she would investigate Trump’s connections to Epstein.
“They are trying to deflect from all the great things Donald Trump has done,” Bondi exclaimed.
Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren used her time to highlight several emails released in the case files on Jeffrey Epstein that seem to refer to others being involved in the abuse of underage girls and asked Attorney General Pam Bondi whether she would open investigations.
“We will look and investigate any case, involving any victim,” Bondi responded, adding, “We will look into anything.”
But Bondi quickly raised her tone and volume as she accused Lofgren of filibustering her allotted time for questioning.
Democratic lawmakers and the public are demanding follow-up investigations into a number of individuals who were connected to Epstein, but the FBI last year released a memo saying no one else would be charged. Also, an Associated Press review of internal Justice Department records shows investigators found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men.
The attorney general addressed the victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse during the House Judiciary Committee, saying she was “deeply sorry” for what they had suffered.
Bondi has been severely criticized by survivors of Epstein’s abuse, including several who were in attendance at the committee hearing Wednesday, for failing to redact personal information, including nude photos, of victims in the release of over 3.5 million case files on Epstein.
Bondi did not explicitly apologize for that failure, but said the Justice Department has taken down files when they were made aware that they included victims’ information and that staff had tried to do “our very best in the time frame allotted by the legislation” mandating the release of the files.
“Any accusations of criminal wrongdoing will be taken seriously and investigated,” the attorney general added.
Attorney General Pam Bondi ended a hearing that spanned over five hours at the Capitol with handshakes from Republican lawmakers and walking out a staff exit of the hearing room.
The hearing was marked by sharp back-and-forth between Bondi and Democratic lawmakers, who repeatedly brought up how the Department of Justice has handled the release of case files on Jeffrey Epstein.
By the end, Bondi was visibly tired, but did not back down from trading barbs with Democrats.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.
