Bondi brushes off Epstein questions, says Trump’s transparency is unassailable

Attorney General Pam Bondi declined multiple invitations to apologize to Epstein victims Wednesday, calling it “theatrics,” but said the FBI is eager to hear from them if they have evidence of other people involved in sex trafficking.

Ms. Bondi labeled Epstein, a convicted sex offender who took his life while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, “that monster” and defended her department’s release of millions of pages of documents pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein, saying President Trump’s decision to sign the law forcing disclosure makes him the most transparent president in history.

She said errors made redacting names of potential Epstein collaborators and failing to redact names of victims were minimal, given the pile of information and the short deadline the law allowed.

And she vowed to look into any new evidence victims bring forward.

“The FBI is waiting to hear from you,” she told the House Judiciary Committee. “Any accusations of criminal wrongdoing will be taken seriously and investigated.”

But beyond those promises, the hearing breached the lines of surreality with Democrats firing off wide-ranging allegations of misconduct, including Mr. Trump and Ms. Bondi mocking them for their efforts.

When Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Washington Democrat, asked Epstein victims in the room to stand, about 10 stood up in seats behind Ms. Bondi. Ms Jayapal asked Ms. Bondi to apologize to them. She did not.

“I’m not going to get in the gutter for her theatrics,” the attorney general said.

When Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, asked to know how many Epstein co-conspirators Mr. Bondi’s department has charged, she responded by demanding he apologize to Mr. Trump for his role in leading impeachment proceedings against the president during his first administration.

And she tried to turn the tables on Democrats, suggesting their intense focus on Epstein now was political opportunism.

“They are talking about Epstein today. This has been around since the Obama administration. This administration released over 3 million pages of documents — over 3 million — and Donald Trump signed that law,” she said.

“He is the most transparent president in the nation’s history,” she said.

Democrats were incensed at her defiance and complained about the way the department released the files.

“This is not about anybody that came before you. It is about you taking responsibility for your Department of Justice and the harm it has done to the survivors standing right behind you,” Ms. Jayapal said.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who led the charge for the law that allowed for the disclosure of the files, confronted Ms. Bondi with multiple examples of bungles in the releases of the documents.

One was the redaction of the name of businessman Les Wexner from a memo labeling him a co-conspirator of Epstein. Mr. Massie said it wasn’t until he spotted the redaction and raised the issue that DOJ corrected that, unveiling the name in that document.

Mr. Massie also pointed to an email sent to the department with a list of victims’ names to be protected. Nearly every name on the list was visible.

The congressman said the department was caught “red-handed.”

“This cover-up spans decades and you are responsible for this portion of it,” Mr. Massie said.

Ms. Bondi responded by attacking Mr. Massie.

“This guy has Trump derangement syndrome. He’s a failed politician,” she said. She also labeled him a “hypocrite” for his vote against a law that criminalized the posting of AI-generated “deep-fake” pornography.

Rep. Ted Lieu, California Democrat, raised a controversial 2020 claim made to the FBI by someone who said he was a limo driver who overheard Mr. Trump talking about involvement with Epstein sex trafficking.

“You need to interview this witness immediately,” he said.

“There is no evidence that Donald Trump has committed a crime. Everyone knows that,” the attorney general countered.

Ms. Bondi cast the focus on Epstein as a distraction from Mr. Trump’s record.

She said the murder rate was down 21% last year, to the lowest levels in more than a century, along with drops in carjackings, gun assaults and aggravated assaults.

“President Trump has given us the resources, the support and the leadership to protect the American people. President Trump’s policies have saved lives,” she said.

She also hailed the Dow Jones topping 50,000 points.

“They said it couldn’t be done in four years, yet President Trump did it in one year,” she said.