Former Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the administration’s handling of the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files in closed door remarks Friday, amid bipartisan criticism of botched redactions in the millions of pages that were made public during her tenure.
“There were redaction errors,” Bondi acknowledged, according to her prepared opening statement to members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee obtained by POLITICO. “But since day one of this process, this Department has been committed to accountability and transparency.”
She continued, “Our stance has always been that the Department stands ready to review any potential evidence of criminal activity related to Epstein and his associates and would pursue appropriate investigative or prosecutorial action wherever the facts and law warrant.”
She also said she delegated oversight of the Epstein files release process to her then-deputy, Todd Blanche, who is now acting attorney general.
Bondi is on Capitol Hill for a transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee as part of the panel’s ongoing investigation into the late, convicted sex offender. She specifically is being asked to speak about the DOJ’s compliance, or lack thereof, with the Epstein Files Transparency Act — legislation passed by Congress in November that compelled the government to release documents and materials in the federal government’s possession related to the Epstein case.
The committee voted to subpoena Bondi for her testimony in March in a surprising move initiated by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and backed by four other House Republicans in a stunning rebuke of the administration’s handling of the Epstein matter. Rarely, if ever, does the party in the majority subpoena a sitting Cabinet member of their own party.
After Bondi was fired by President Donald Trump about a month later, Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) downgraded the terms of her appearance to a transcribed interview rather than a formal deposition — meaning she would not have to answer questions under oath and the proceedings would not be videorecorded.
Bondi last appeared before Congress in February in an oversight hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, during which several of Epstein’s victims sat in the audience behind her. Despite entreaties from Democrats to engage with the victims, Bondi declined.
She referred back to that February hearing in her opening statement Friday, saying that she was “deeply sorry for what any victim has been through, especially as a result of that monster.”
But a group of Epstein’s victims returned to Capitol Hill for Bondi’s transcribed interview Friday, where they pleaded outside the hearing room that witnesses in the Oversight investigation be sworn in and videotaped for full transparency and accountability.
One of the victims, Sharlene Rochard, confronted Oversight Chair James Comer Friday morning as he addressed reporters before joining for the start of Bondi’s interview, asking him to promise that individuals brought in as part of the congressional Epstein investigation testify under oath.
“If you lie to Congress, it’s a felony,” Comer said, defending his own panel’s process. “We’re bringing people in that have never been brought in before.”
Liz Stein, another victim, asked Comer to commit to getting answers from the former attorney general about the redaction process, specifically why details about victims were exposed while information about potential perpetrators was withheld.
“Those are questions we’re going to ask, and we’re doing this. We want justice for the survivors,” Comer said, adding that if Epstein’s victims were not satisfied by Bondi’s responses, the committee would work to get them answers.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the Oversight Committee’s top Democrat, told reporters he and his colleagues were “incredibly disappointed” by the majority’s decision not to force Bondi to testify under the parameters of a subpoena.
“We obviously have a lot of questions as it relates to why only 50% of the files have been released, why many of the survivors … were literally put in danger by the way the files were released,” Garcia said. “And of course, why this continues to be some type of cover-up.”
More than half a dozen Democrats are on hand to question Bondi, while Comer is the only Republican to come back to Washington early from the weeklong congressional recess. Mace had previously said she planned to come back to town to question the former attorney general but was not present Friday morning, explaining she was busy preparing for the South Carolina gubernatorial primary election next month.
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