Former Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the U.S. Department of Justice’s release of files associated with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and did not answer questions about President Donald Trump’s involvement in the release.
Bondi testified in a closed session to lawmakers on the U.S. House Oversight Committee Friday over the release of more than three million documents associated with Epstein. She repeatedly referred lawmakers to acting attorney general Todd Blanche on further questions related to the files release, lawmakers said.
“She continues to place all of the investigation and the blame on acting AG Todd Blanche,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. “She said she would not speak or respond to any questions that had anything to do with President Trump.”
Blanche formerly worked as Trump’s personal lawyer before becoming Deputy Attorney General at the DOJ and now acting Attorney General after Trump removed Bondi.
Bondi responded to Garcia’s characterization over social media. She said she praised Blanche for his handling of the document release.
“I praised Acting AG Blanche’s management of this Herculean task,” Bondi wrote. “I said his ethics are beyond reproach and that he is an incredible Attorney General.”
Liz Stein, an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein, called for explanations into why certain names were redacted while others were left in the documents, including the names of other alleged victims.
“While survivors identifying information was exposed, the Department of Justice is simultaneously telling the American people that there are no additional investigative leads worth pursuing,” Stein said. “These files contain leads, names, connections, friendships, patterns, witnesses, travel records, financial relationships, and institutional failures. In any other sex trafficking case of this magnitude, those leads would be aggressively pursued, but in this case they have not been.”
Stein and some lawmakers called for Bondi to testify under oath and undergo video recording. They criticized her for appearing before the panel with lawyers from the DOJ, including Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the DOJ.
Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., said lawyers from the Department of Justice repeatedly interrupted and did not allow Bondi to answer questions. She said lawyers argued that Bondi’s voluntary appearance at the hearing meant she did not need to answer all of the questions asked.
“This will be remembered as the largest cover-up likely in American history, and it is clear that this interview is a smoke screen to try to show the American people that they are complying while they are not,” Stansbury said.
Chair of the Oversight Committee Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said he “appreciated” Bondi’s agreement to return to the committee to testify. She previously testified before the committee in February.
Comer said the government, through five presidential administrations, has “failed” the survivors of Epstein. He said the case has not been thoroughly investigated and he is seeking answers on nearly three million documents the DOJ has yet to release.
“We’re going to try to determine whether or not there can be more documents legally turned over,” Comer said. “I want every document. I don’t want anything held back.”
In January, the DOJ released more than three million documents associated with Epstein. Stansbury said Bondi said that the department had more than six million documents related to Epstein in its possession.
“I also asked her pretty basic questions about whether she knew about any effort to look for Donald Trump’s name in the files before they were released, and she says she doesn’t recall,” said Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va.
The Democrat lawmakers said they will seek to call Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel in for further questioning on handling of the files. The lawmakers said several FBI directives determined how the files were redacted and Patel would need to appear for questioning.
“The request is going in today to Chairman Comer to have Todd Blanche come in,” Garcia said. “It’s clear that after this testimony, that is where a lot of the information is, if he doesn’t do it, we’re going to force a subpoena and try to get votes, but he’s got to come in.”
Comer said several more interviews are scheduled over the coming weeks as part of the committee’s investigation, including a June 10 deposition of Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.
