Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the Justice Department’s handling of records related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, as lawmakers from both parties pressed her over redactions and outreach to survivors.
Bondi told the panel that more than 500 reviewers and attorneys had spent thousands of hours examining more than 3 million pages of documents released in what the department described as its final tranche late last month.
She said the review was conducted under a compressed timeline mandated by legislation passed nearly unanimously in November requiring the release of nearly all Epstein-related files.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, and the renewed document release has drawn attention to prominent figures who maintained ties with him after his conviction.
Lawmakers, including some Republicans, have expressed frustration that the department redacted or withheld material beyond the law’s limited exemptions.
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the panel’s top Democrat, accused Bondi of shielding Epstein’s associates from “embarrassment and disgrace” and said she had not met with victims seated behind her.
Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington said the department had redacted the names of “powerful predators” while allowing the release of survivors’ names, identities and, in some cases, “nude images,” some of whom had been protected for decades.
When Jayapal asked survivors in the room to stand if they had not met with the Justice Department, all rose.
Bondi declined Jayapal’s request to turn and directly apologize, saying, “I am not going to get in the gutter for her theatrics.”
Bondi maintained that any victims’ names released inadvertently were “immediately redacted” and said the department acted to comply with the law while protecting survivors.
“I have spent my entire career fighting for victims, and I will continue to do so,” she said, calling Epstein a “monster.”
The hearing comes amid broader scrutiny of the department’s independence, as it appeals decisions dismissing cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James and pursues investigations aligned with President Donald Trump’s claims, including the seizure of 2020 election ballots in Georgia.
Bondi is also expected to face questions about the department’s role in immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota and decisions related to civil rights investigations.