Bondi faces heated questions on handling of Epstein files at House hearing

Under questioning from Republican Rep. Chip Roy, Bondi said that there were "pending investigations" into those involved in the Epstein files, a comment that appears to undercut comments by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that no new prosecutions are forthcoming.

Blanche told CNN earlier this month said there was "nothing in there that allowed us to prosecute anybody," referring to the Justice Department's review of the files last year. He added that "the whole world can look at and see if we got this wrong."

"There's a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr. Epstein or people around him, but that doesn't allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody," Blanche said.

Blanche also told ABC that the department's review of the files "is over." 

In a July memo from the Justice Department and FBI, the agencies said an examination of the Epstein material "did not uncover evidence that could predicate any investigation against uncharged parties."

Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz dared Bondi to share the best opposition research against him that her aides at the Justice Department had compiled ahead of the hearing. Bondi has repeatedly referenced a large binder in front of her to respond to Democratic questions with personal attacks.

Moskowitz focused most of his five minutes on Epstein and his ties to the president and Lutnick. As his time wound down, he nudged Bondi, "whatcha got?"

"Because I'm curious and I'd like to see, flip to the Jared Moskowitz section of the binder. I'm interested to see what staff provided on the oppo on me," he said, "and because we're in the Olympics, I'm going to give it a grade. I just want to see how good it is, so give me your best one."

The congressman then pulled out what looked like a piece of poster board and uncapped a marker.

"I want it from the burn book. Which is the best one?" he said.

In response, Bondi accused Moskowitz of "mocking the Bible." He had said Mr. Trump's name appeared in the Epstein files more times than God was named in the Bible.

Moskowitz wrote a large "0" on the board as his time expired.

During a line of questioning from Rep. Becca Balint, a Democrat from Vermont, Bondi repeatedly declined to say whether the Justice Department had asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Navy Secretary John Phelan and Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg about their ties to Epstein.

Lutnick acknowledged visiting Epstein's private island in 2012 but said this week he did not have any relationship with the disgraced late financier. Phelan was listed on two flight manifests from Epstein's plane in 2006. The Project on Government Oversight reported that Feinberg, the cofounder of a private equity firm, is referenced in at least 20 documents released by the Justice Department.

Bondi said Lutnick had addressed his ties to Epstein himself, but did not say whether the Justice Department had asked Phelan and Feinberg about their connections.

"I'm stunned that you want to continue talking about Epstein," the attorney general said.

Bondi also declined to answer whether the president was aware of Lutnick's connection to Epstein.

"This is pathetic," Balint said. "I am not asking trick questions here. The American people have a right to know the answers to this. These are senior officials in the Trump administration. This is not a game."

The attorney general then criticized Balint for voting "present" on a resolution in 2023 condemning the rise of antisemitism in the U.S. and worldwide. The Vermont Democrat said in a statement following the December 2023 vote that the measure "makes a dangerous, unequivocal assertion that anti-Zionism is always antisemitism."

"Do you want to go there?" Balint angrily told Bondi. "Are you serious? Talking about antisemitism to a woman who lost her grandfather in the Holocaust? Really?"

Balint quickly left the hearing room.

Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross of North Carolina pushed Bondi on why Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime Epstein associate, was moved from a federal correctional facility in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas last year.

The transfer came in August, just days after Maxwell met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to discuss Epstein's case.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence after she was convicted in 2021 for her role in helping Epstein recruit and abuse underage girls. No reason was given at the time by the Justice Department or Bureau of Prisons for the move. 

"Let me be crystal clear on this: no," Bondi said. "I did not know she was being transferred."

Bondi later said that Maxwell "was transferred, I learned, after the fact, to the same level facility. And that is a question for the Bureau of Prisons. I was not involved in that at all."

The attorney general added that "hopefully" Maxwell "will die in prison."

Ross then asked Bondi if Mr. Trump should pardon or commute Maxwell's prison sentence.

"I already answered that question," Bondi said, before accusing Ross of ignoring the case of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who was killed while seated on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, part of Ross' district, last year.

Neguse began his questioning of Bondi by asking her about the Justice Department's decision to hire Jared Wise as an adviser. Wise faced six charges as a result of his alleged actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He was seen on video shouting at rioters to "kill" law enforcement officers responding to the assault and calling them "the Gestapo."

"This is who you choose as the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America to hire at the Department of Justice, someone on video yelling 'kill 'em' at police officers, right?" he said.

Bondi said Wise was pardoned by Mr. Trump. On his first day back in the White House, the president issued sweeping pardons to the roughly 1,500 defendants charged as a result of their alleged actions on Jan. 6.

Neguse also asked Bondi about the gutting of the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, which specializes in corruption cases, and its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which was disbanded last April.

Bondi declined to answer the questions directly and then pivoted to crime in Neguse's congressional district. The Colorado Democrat said he was seeking to ask basic questions about how the Justice Department functions. 

Raskin, the committee's top Democrat, pressed Bondi on legal action Mr. Trump is pursuing against the federal government. The president sued the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department for at least $10 billion and claimed the agencies allowed an IRS contractor to leak his tax returns. Mr. Trump and his legal team also asked the Justice Department to pay him $230 million to settle two federal damages claims related to the federal investigations into him, including the FBI's search at Mar-a-Lago in August 2022.

Raskin asked whether a settlement between the government and Mr. Trump would violate the Constitution's Emoluments Clause, which allows the president to receive a fixed salary but prohibits the president from receiving any other payment from the United States.

Bondi declined to discuss pending litigation.

Raskin then asked whether the survivors of Epstein's crimes should be entitled to damages from the federal government for having their personal information publicized by the Justice Department.

"If Donald Trump can get $10 billion theoretically from the Department of Justice, how much should these people get for a far worse violation of their privacy rights and a far greater danger established to them in their lives?" he said.

Bondi accused Raskin of being "obsessed" with Mr. Trump.

Rep. Thomas Massie, one of the co-sponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, used his time to criticize Bondi for her department's handling of the Epstein files, particularly the failure to redact some survivors' names.

Massie said that the Justice Department initially published a list of victims names that was sent by their attorney, who asked not to have the names published. Massie said it was "literally the worst thing you could do to the survivors."

The Kentucky Republican then pivoted to why names of powerful men, like former Victoria's Secret CEO Les Wexner, are redacted in some files, including one document that appears to show Wexner as a potential co-conspirator of Epstein's.

"Are you able to track who it was that obscured Les Wexner's name … as a co-conspirator in an FBI document?" Massie asked.

Bondi replied that she believes Wexner's name was listed more than 4,000 times in the more than 3 million documents that have been released so far by the Justice Department. She said that the department unredacted his name within 40 minutes of Massie raising the issue.

Massie replied that it was added back "within 40 minutes of me catching you red-handed."

Bondi then called Massie, a Republican who has been critical of the president, a "failed politician" and a "hypocrite" who has "Trump derangement syndrome."

Bondi again accused Massie of failing to ask Garland about Epstein, but the Kentucky Republican said the "cover-up" goes back several administrations.

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

Bondi told Rep. Lou Correa, a Democrat from California, that the Justice Department would work to shield victims' information and also disclose the names of men whose identities were withheld in the files.

"If any man's name was redacted that should not have been, we will of course unredact it," the attorney general said. "If a victim's name was unredacted, please bring it to us and we will redact it."

Bondi said that the Justice Department was given just 30 days to go through the records and withhold certain information, such as the personal information of victims. She said the department's error rate has been "very low," but conceded there were always going to be mistakes made.

Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California questioned Bondi about allegations about Mr. Trump that were included in the Epstein files. He also asked Bondi about a Justice Department and FBI memo about Epstein that was released last July, in which the agencies said investigators "did not uncover evidence that could predicate any investigation against uncharged parties."

"Epstein should rot in hell. So should the men who patronized this operation," Lieu said. "As we sit here today, there are over 1,000 sex-trafficking victims and you have not held a single man accountable. Shame on you."

Bondi again accused Democrats of "trying to deflect against all the great things Donald Trump has done."

There is no evidence Mr. Trump engaged in wrongdoing.

Republicans have been ceding their time to Bondi to allow her to answer Democrats' questions. Following her exchange with Lieu, Bondi recited crime statistics from California.

"He didn't want to talk about all the crime that is happening in his state," she said of Lieu.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California and frequent foe of the administration, pressed Bondi on why prosecutors in several different districts have declined to bring charges against individuals who threatened him on social media and in phone messages.

"The president can come after me. It's fine. I'm in the arena. So are these folks, but we never expected that the Department of Justice would not seek to prosecute and investigate those who are making threats against us, and that would include those on that side of the aisle," he said of Republicans. "I'm just asking for your help to protect life, because life is at risk with the environment we're in right now."

Bondi said she knows of several instances of people leveling threats against Swalwell and told the committee that "none of you should be threatened."

"I can assure you some of them are very active," she said, referring to ongoing investigations.

Jordan asked Bondi if former CIA Director John Brennan is going to be indicted by a grand jury as the result of a Justice Department investigation into the federal government's probes of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign.

"He lied to the committee," Jordan said of Brennan. "I think the country would like to know if, in fact, he's going to be indicted for lying."

"What I can confirm is that we have received a referral from you, Chairman Jordan, to investigate John Brennan," Bondi replied. "What I will say today, I can't confirm nor deny whether there is a pending investigation, but what I will say is, no one is above the law."

In November, a federal grand jury subpoenaed Brennan and other former CIA and FBI officials who were involved in the Russia investigation, which Mr. Trump and his allies have railed against for years.

Following comments from Rep. Zoe Lofgren about the Epstein files and killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, Bondi went after the California congresswoman.

"I find it interesting that she keeps going after President Trump, the greatest president in American history," the attorney general said, adding that Democrats should "maintain their composure. This isn't a circus."

Bondi then attacked Lofgren for accepting campaign donations from Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn and a major Democratic donor.

Mr. Trump asked the Justice Department last November to investigate prominent Democrats with ties to Epstein, which included Hoffman. Hoffman had limited interactions with Epstein but said he regretted his contacts and has been a vocal advocate for releasing all of the Epstein files.

Bondi appears to be resurrecting the strategy she used during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last October, when she largely declined to answer questions from Democrats and instead attacked them.

A question from Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York sparked the most contentious exchange of the hearing so far.

Nadler began by discussing the criminal charges brought against New York Attorney General Letitia James and said it was "humiliating" that the Justice Department failed twice to secure indictments against James after her criminal charges were dismissed.

"It's clear that you were simply going after her because she held President Trump accountable," Nadler said.

Nadler then asked Bondi how many of Epstein's co-conspirators have been indicted, after which the exchange dissolved into chaos. 

Bondi again accused Democrats of engaging in "theatrics" and failing to allow her to answer their questions because "they don't like the answer, because it's honest."

When Raskin, the committee's top Democrat, jumped in to ensure Democrats had their full five minutes for questioning, Bondi retorted, "you don't tell me anything, washed up, loser lawyer."

With Nadler's time expired, a GOP member gave Bondi time to respond. She launched into a fierce defense of Mr. Trump and said Democrats should apologize to the president for impeaching him twice during his first term.

"You sit here and you attack the president and I am not going to have it. I'm not going to put up with it," she said.

Bondi said the Trump administration released more than 3 million pages of documents related to Epstein's case and praised the president for signing into law the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The law, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, required the Justice Department to make the material public by Dec. 19.

"He is the most transparent president in the nation's history," the attorney general said.

Bondi then attacked Democrats for failing to ask Garland about Epstein and pivoted to talking about the stock market and the economy.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, accused Bondi of protecting powerful men with ties to Mr. Trump whose identities were redacted in their communications with Epstein, while failing to redact some names and images of survivors.

She called on all the survivors who are attending the hearing to raise their hands if they had not yet met with the Justice Department. All of the women raised their hands. Jayapal asked Bondi to apologize directly to them for failing to shield their personal information.

Bondi declined, and instead started speaking about Merrick Garland, the attorney general under the Biden administration.

"Why didn't she ask Merrick Garland this twice when he sat in my chair?" Bondi said. "I'm not going to get in the gutter for her theatrics."

Jayapal accused the Justice Department of executing a "massive cover-up."

"I wish that you would turn around to the survivors who are standing right behind you and on a human level apologize to them for what you have done," she said.

Bondi called Jayapal "unprofessional" and again accused her of engaging in "theatrics." 

Bondi acknowledged survivors of Epstein's crimes and said that the Justice Department did its "very best in the time frame allotted" by the Epstein Files Transparency Act to protect those who were victims of his abuses.

"I'm a career prosecutor, and despite what the ranking member said, I have spent my entire career fighting for victims, and I will continue to do so," she said, referring to Raskin. "I am deeply sorry for what any victim, any victim, has been through, especially as a result of that monster."

The attorney general said more than 500 lawyers reviewed the Epstein-related material and the department released millions of pages of documents, including 180,000 images.

"Any accusations of criminal wrongdoing will be taken seriously and investigated," she said. "The Department of Justice is committed to holding criminals accountable to the fullest extent of the law."

After touting lower crime numbers in cities that the Trump administration has surged resources to like Washington, D.C., and Memphis, Bondi criticized the wave of lawsuits against the administration since Mr. Trump took office last year.

"This administration has been sued 627 times. We fought through a non-stop flood of bad faith, temporary restraining orders from liberal activist judges across this country," Bondi said. "America has never seen this level of coordinated judicial opposition towards a presidential administration."

Bondi also spoke about this morning's closure of airspace over El Paso, which was later lifted.

"As we sit here, I think you've seen the news this morning, the news is reporting that cartel drones are being shot down by our military," Bondi said. 

Raskin ended his opening statement with a request for Bondi to respect lawmakers' time, particularly given that each member of the Judiciary Committee is only allotted five minutes for questions.

"Please do not waste one second of our precious time by evading questions, by changing the subject for engaging in personal attacks against members of Congress," he said, adding, "this isn't a game."

Raskin cited Bondi's appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year, during which she attacked Democratic senators during their questioning and came armed with a binder full of information about them.

"Please set the burn book aside and answer our questions, and when you hear us reclaim our time, that means it's time for you to stop speaking," the Maryland Democrat said.

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, began his opening remarks by welcoming a number of Epstein survivors who are attending the hearing, wearing all-white outfits. Raskin accused Bondi of ignoring them during her department's release of the Epstein files.

"You're not showing a lot of interest in the victims, Madam Attorney General, whether it's Epstein's human trafficking ring, or the homicidal governmental violence against citizens in Minneapolis," Raskin said. "As attorney general, you're siding with the perpetrators and you're ignoring the victims. That will be your legacy, unless you act quickly to change course. You're running a massive Epstein cover-up right out of the Department of Justice."

He continued: "You've been ordered by subpoena and by Congress to turn over 6 million documents, photographs and videos in the Epstein files, but you've turned over only 3 million. You say you're not turning over the other 3 million because they're somehow duplicative, but we know that there are actual memos of victim statements in the air, and you also took down the Department of Justice's prosecution memo from 2019 so it's clearly not all duplicative. But even if it were, why not release it?"

Raskin criticized Bondi and her department for attempting and failing on Tuesday to indict six congressional Democrats who taped a video last year that instructed members of the military that they must reject "illegal orders."

"Trump orders up prosecutions like pizza and you deliver every time. He tells you to go after James Comey, Letitia James, Lisa Cook, and Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve Board and members of Congress like Adam Schiff, Mark Kelly, Elissa Slotkin, Chrissy Houlihan, Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio and Maggie Goodlander, to name a few," Raskin said. "And you snap to it. You replace real prosecutors with counterfeit stooges who robotically do the president's bidding. Nothing in American history comes close to this complete corruption of the Justice function and contamination of federal law enforcement."

Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio who chairs the Judiciary Committee, kicked off the hearing just after 10 a.m. and began his opening remarks by lambasting "sanctuary" jurisdictions led by Democrats.

He attacked Democrats for jeopardizing the safety of the American public by releasing migrants who are in the U.S. illegally from jails instead of contacting federal immigration authorities.

Jordan then criticized the Justice Department under the Biden administration, including for special counsel Jack Smith's investigations into Mr. Trump. 

"What a difference a year makes," he said.

Jordan praised Bondi for returning the Justice Department "to its core missions" and rolling back several policies implemented under former Attorney General Merrick Garland.

"The Trump Justice Department has ended lawfare," Jordan said before thanking Bondi for her work as attorney general.

Another issue that Bondi is likely to field questions on is the Justice Department's decision to seek an indictment against six Democratic lawmakers who participated in a video reminding members of the military that they must refuse illegal orders. A federal grand jury on Tuesday declined to indict the Democrats, three sources familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News.

Mr. Trump had attacked the Democrats for the video, which was posted in November, calling their comments "seditious" and demanding they be "arrested and put on trial."

Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., which is led by former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, sought to charge the lawmakers. They are among a string of Mr. Trump's foes who have been targeted by the Justice Department, joining former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Criminal cases against Comey and James were tossed out last year after a judge found the government lawyer who brought the case, Lindsey Halligan, was improperly appointed. The Justice Department has appealed that decision. Grand juries rejected subsequent attempts by federal prosecutors to indict James again.

The attorney general will testify after the FBI executed a search warrant at an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, that sought material related to the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, including physical ballots.

Deputy FBI Director Andrew Bailey and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard were at the site of the search, and Gabbard's involvement has raised concerns from Democrats. A spokesperson for Gabbard said Mr. Trump and Bondi asked Gabbard to be present for the search.

A FBI affidavit filed with a U.S. magistrate judge to justify the warrant to search the Fulton County elections office revealed that the criminal investigation originated from a referral sent by Kurt Olsen, who works in the White House. Olsen, a lawyer, worked to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Olsen spoke multiple times with Mr. Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, when Congress met to reaffirm President Biden's win in the 2020 race, according to a House select committee that investigated the assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the 2020 election was "rigged" and called for prosecutions stemming from that election.

The Justice Department has taken several actions focused on elections since Mr. Trump returned to the White House. Last year, it began seeking complete voter registration lists from nearly all 50 states, which includes birth dates, addresses and partial Social Security numbers. 

At least 11 states have turned over the voter rolls or said they plan to. The Justice Department has filed lawsuits against 24 states and Washington, D.C., for refusing to hand over their voter registration lists. Suits against California, Oregon and Michigan have since been dismissed.

The FBI, which is a component of the Justice Department, is leading the federal investigation into the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal law enforcement offices in Minneapolis. Blanche, the deputy attorney general, also said earlier this month that lawyers from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division would be participating in the investigation.

Top Democrats on the Judiciary panel asked Bondi last month to turn over records related to Pretti's killing. They also sought documents about the Justice Department's decision to forgo an investigation into immigration agents for civil rights violations related to the fatal shooting of Good on Jan. 7.

Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle and survivors of Epstein's crimes have criticized the Justice Department for the scope of redactions in the millions of pages of documents made public in the past few weeks and the time it took to release the material.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act required the Justice Department to publish its Epstein-related records by Dec. 19. While some of the files were released by the deadline set by the law, additional tranches of documents were disclosed after Dec. 19. 

The Justice Department released an additional 3 million pages of files at the end of January and said it had fulfilled its obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

But survivors said that the Justice Department failed to redact the identities of at least 31 people who were victimized as children.

Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told federal judges last week that it was working to identify, review and redact potential victim-identifying information.

But Reps. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, and Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, also said the Justice Department improperly redacted the names and emails of others who had ties to Epstein, including the names of six men who could be incriminated by their inclusion in the files.

Massie is a member of the Judiciary Committee, and he and Khanna co-sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act. They went to the Justice Department on Monday to view unredacted versions of the documents.