Former Attorney General Pam Bondi told a panel of House lawmakers that “justice and transparency … have been delivered” on the Epstein files and that the Justice Department released all of the documents required under the law.
Ms. Bondi appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform panel on Friday wearing a bandage on her throat following recent treatment for thyroid cancer.
She told lawmakers in her opening statement that when the department released the thousands of pages of documents and court transcripts related to the federal government’s investigation into Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme, “there were redaction errors” that led to the publication of the names of some victims.
According to a source with knowledge of her testimony, Ms. Bondi told lawmakers she delegated then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is now the acting attorney general, to oversee the release of the documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act that President Trump signed into law last year.
Ms. Bondi would not answer questions about her conversations with Mr. Trump or disclose talks between the president and his Cabinet secretaries or senior staff.
“These are generally considered protected privileges by administrations of both parties,” the source said.
Democrats who attended the grilling criticized Ms. Bondi for refusing to discuss her conversations with Mr. Trump. They accused her of hiding information to protect the president and the wealthy and powerful men who may have been involved in the sex trafficking scheme.
“The United States Department of Justice is intervening on behalf of Pam Bondi to stop her from answering questions about what happened in the cover-up of this case and her conversations with Donald Trump,” Rep. Melanie Stansbury, New Mexico Democrat, said.
Ms. Bondi was pushed out of her job in April.
Democrats said they will demand Mr. Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel testify about their knowledge of the Epstein files.
Ms. Bondi told lawmakers in the closed-door inquiry that she opposes a pardon for Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell “and believes she should die in prison.”
Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking and is serving 20 years behind bars.
Democrats insisted Ms. Bond blew a chance to exonerate Mr. Trump, who palled around with Epstein in the 1990s but broke off their friendship by 2007, before Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor.
“She had the opportunity to say Donald Trump certainly wasn’t aware of those crimes,” Rep. James Walkinshaw, Virginia Democrat, said. “She had the opportunity to say I know Donald Trump, and if he was aware of those crimes, he would have done something. Instead, she said I don’t know.”
A bombshell Justice Department file released earlier this year revealed Mr. Trump was one of the first people to call Palm Beach police to alert them that he believed Epstein was sexually abusing teenage girls.
A 2020 document showed that Mr. Trump called the Palm Beach Police Department in Florida in 2006 and told then-Chief Michael Reiter, who was investigating Epstein, “Thank goodness you’re stopping him; everyone knows he’s been doing this.”
Mr. Trump told police that he “was around Epstein once” when teenage girls were present, then “got the hell out of there.”
Ms. Bondi was one of the witnesses summoned to answer questions from the Oversight panel as it seeks to determine who participated in the sex trafficking operation or who knew about or covered up Epstein’s victimizing of dozens of women.
“We demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to transparency in the department’s search for, collection and review of the Epstein files, producing nearly 3 million pages of material, including thousands of videos and hundreds of thousands of images,” Ms. Bondi told lawmakers.
Democrats complained the GOP-led panel failed to require Ms. Bondi to testify under oath.
A GOP aide said every transcribed interview “admonishes the witness that their testimony is subject to” the federal false statement statute.
“It also requires the witness to verbally acknowledge that they understand their obligation to tell the truth during the transcribed interview after it references the statute. It also clarifies that the obligation extends to information provided to and answers they give not just to members but committee staff questioners as well,” the aide said.
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