Bondi pressed on Epstein files, political retribution by Justice Department
WASHINGTON— US Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi sparred repeatedly with lawmakers Wednesday as she came under pressure over the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and faced demands for greater transparency in the high-profile case.
Bondi accused Democrats and at least one Republican on the House Judiciary Committee of engaging in “theater” while answering questions about editorial errors made by the Justice Department, which released millions of files related to the Epstein case last month.
The attorney general acknowledged at one point that mistakes were made because the Justice Department was trying to comply with federal law that requires it to review, organize and make public millions of files within a 30-day period. Given the enormous task at hand, he said the “error rate is very low” and corrections are made when problems are encountered.
But his testimony about the Epstein files was often punctuated by dramatic clashes with lawmakers; These meetings took place when eight Epstein survivors attended the hearing.
On one occasion, Bondi refused to apologize to the Epstein victims in the room, saying she would “not fall into the void” with partisan demands from Democrats.
In another interview, Bondi declined to say how many perpetrators linked to the Epstein case were being investigated by the Justice Department. And at one point, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said the Trump administration was attempting a “cover-up,” prompting Bondi to tell him she was suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome.”
The episodes underscore how much the Epstein saga troubled members of Congress. It’s long been a political cudgel for Democrats, but following the release earlier this month of millions of dossiers offering the most detailed information yet about Epstein’s crimes, Republicans once reluctant to criticize Trump administration officials are growing more testy, as was fully revealed at Wednesday’s hearing.
Beyond the Epstein files, Democrats have expressed broad concern about the Justice Department increasingly investigating and prosecuting the president’s political enemies.
Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said Bondi had turned the agency into “Trump’s tool of revenge.”
“Trump files lawsuits like pizza and you deliver every time,” Raskin said.
As an example, Raskin pointed to the Justice Department’s unsuccessful attempt to charge six Democratic lawmakers who urged service members not to comply with illegal orders in a video released last November.
“You attempted to persuade a grand jury to indict six members of Congress, veterans of our armed forces, on seditious conspiracy charges simply for exercising their 1st Amendment rights,” he said.
During the hearing, Democrats criticized the Justice Department’s investigation of journalist Don Lemon, who was arrested by federal agents last month after covering an anti-immigration enforcement protest at a Minnesota Church.
Bondi pleaded Lemon’s case.
“They were preparing for a resistance,” Bondi testified. “One Sunday morning, people met in a parking lot for worship and drove to church.”
The protest took place after federal immigration agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis.
Six federal prosecutors resigned Last month after Bondi instructed them to investigate Good’s widow. Bondi later said on Fox News that she “fired them all” because they were part of the “resistance.” then lemon I hired one of these prosecutorsformer US Attorney. Joe Thompson will represent him in the case.
