Attorney General Pam Bondi told Congress on Wednesday that the Justice Department has active investigations stemming from accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and urged any victims to tell their stories to the FBI.
She confirmed the investigations hours into a hearing where she fended off jabs from Democrats who said she botched the case by revealing victims’ names but not doing enough to name and shame Epstein’s collaborators.
“We have pending investigations in our office,” Ms. Bondi told the House Judiciary Committee when asked whether any more indictments would be forthcoming.
She labeled Epstein, a convicted sex offender who was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges when he took his own life, “that monster” and said Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted of aiding him, “will hopefully die in prison.”
She defended her department’s release of millions of pages of documents pertaining to Epstein, saying President Trump’s signing of the legislation forcing disclosure makes him the most transparent president in history.
Ms. Bondi said errors in redacting the names of potential Epstein conspirators and in failing to redact the names of victims were minimal, given the volume of information and the 30-day deadline set by the law. In fact, it took about twice that time to release the 3 million files published so far.
SEE ALSO: High-profile figures listed in Epstein files after bipartisan push to unredact names
“We did the best we could,” she said.
She vowed to look into any new evidence victims bring forward.
“The FBI is waiting to hear from you,” she told lawmakers. “Any accusations of criminal wrongdoing will be taken seriously and investigated.”
Beyond those promises, the hearing breached the lines of surreality when Democrats fired off wide-ranging allegations of misconduct, including that Mr. Trump and Ms. Bondi mocked them for their pursuit of the Epstein files.
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 how many Epstein co-conspirators Mr. Bondi’s department had charged, she responded by demanding that he apologize to Mr. Trump for his role in leading impeachment proceedings against the president during his first administration.
She tried to turn the tables on Democrats by suggesting their intense focus on Epstein 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 by her defiance and complained about how 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 mistakes in the released files.
One was the redaction of the name of billionaire 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 Justice Department corrected that, unveiling the name in that document.
Mr. Massie also pointed to an email sent to the department listing the names of victims 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 legislation to criminalize the posting of artificial-intelligence-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 also rebuffed the accusation that her department has delivered favored treatment to Maxwell with a transfer to a more agreeable prison.
The attorney general said Maxwell is at a facility with the same level of security as before and didn’t know about the transfer beforehand.
Ms. Bondi cast the focus on Epstein as a distraction from Mr. Trump’s record.
She said the homicide rate was down 21% last year, to the lowest levels in more than a century, along with declines 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 Industrial Average’s topping 50,000 points last week.
“They said it couldn’t be done in four years, yet President Trump did it in one year,” she said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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