Key takeaways from Bondi’s testimony to House Judiciary Committee

Lawmakers questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi for five hours on Wednesday over the US Justice Department’s (DOJ) handling of documents related to convicted late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Bondi launched into a passionate defense of Donald Trump as she tried to turn the page from relentless criticism of the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files. The hearing often turned combative as she repeatedly shouted at Democrats. Here are the key takeaways from the hearing:

Epstein victims felt a lack of empathy

During her opening remarks, Bondi deemed Epstein a “monster” and issued an apology to the victims. “I am deeply sorry for what any victim, any victim, has been through, especially as a result of that monster,” Bondi said.

Early in the hearing, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington asked Epstein survivors in the audience to raise their hands if they had not had a chance to meet with a member of the Justice Department. All the victims raised their hands.

The victims included Danielle Bensky, who met Epstein in 2004 when she was 17 years old. She has accused Epstein of sexually assaulting her. “There was such a lack of empathy today. There was such a lack of, honestly, humanity today,” Bensky told an NBC programme after the hearing.

Bondi clashed with Democrats

Congressional Democrats accused the US attorney general of engaging in a “cover-up” of the Jeffrey Epstein files and turning the Department of Justice into an “instrument of revenge” for Trump.

Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin criticized the slow release of the Epstein files and the redactions made to the documents. “You’re running a massive Epstein cover-up right out of the Department of Justice,” Raskin said. “You’ve been ordered by subpoena and by Congress to turn over six million documents, photographs and videos in the Epstein files, but you’ve turned over only three million.”

When pressed by Representative Jayapal, Bondi refused to turn and face the Epstein victims in the audience and apologize for what Trump’s Justice Department has “put them through”. She accused the Democrat of “theatrics”.

Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett stormed out of the hearing after a spat with Bondi. Crockett said Bondi would be remembered as one of the worst attorneys general, prioritizing loyalty to Trump over the law, before yielding the rest of her time.

The attorney general also clashed with Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California. Lieu asked whether Trump had attended a party with underage girls, a question Bondi deemed “ridiculous”. Bondi insisted there was no evidence Trump had committed a crime. To which Lieu suggested that her answer amounted to lying under oath, noting that Trump’s name appears repeatedly in the Epstein files. Bondi shot back: “Don’t you ever accuse me of committing a crime.”

Republicans join Democrats in questioning Bondi

Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, who helped lead the effort to require the release of the files, accused the Justice Department of a “massive failure” to comply with the law. He questioned why billionaire Leslie Wexner’s name was redacted in an FBI document listing potential co-conspirators in the sex trafficking investigation into Epstein.

Bondi said Wexner’s name appeared numerous times in other files the department released and that the DOJ unredacted his name on the document “within 40 minutes” of Massie spotting it.

“Forty minutes of me catching you red-handed,” Massie replied.