Former Attorney General , who appeared for her closed-door interview on Friday (local time) in connection with the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files case, refused to answer questions on President ‘s involvement in the release of the files.
Bondi defended the Trump administration’s actions before House lawmakers, who were scrutinising a delayed process that also included the personal information of potential victims.
What happened at Bondi’s hearing?
The former attorney general, who arrived at on Friday morning for her closed-door interview, was defiant in her previous public testimony when she was questioned by lawmakers over the investigation in the Epstein case. In her opening statement, Bondi followed the same track and said that Acting Attorney General , who was the Deputy Attorney General at the time, had overseen the process to release the Epstein case files as mandated by a law passed by Congress and signed by Trump last year.
According to her written statement, “The bottom line is: justice and transparency in this matter have been delivered at the direction of President Trump and his administration.”
In her opening statement, she told the committee that releasing the Epstein case files was “an enormously complicated and labor-intensive process” and conceded that the department had made redaction errors. But she mostly defended the Justice Department’s work, saying that it had complied with the law and demonstrated “an unprecedented commitment to transparency.”
The recorded Bondi interview allowed lawmakers to seek more information about the Trump administration’s handling of the and other related matters, including the prison sentence of Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidante, Ghislaine Maxwell.
What did Democratic lawmakers allege?
Democratic lawmakers said that the former attorney general stated that she would not speak about Trump in the interview. She cited her ability to decline questions since she voluntarily agreed to appear before the committee, after consulting a lawyer from the Department of Justice ().
Democratic Rep. Dave Min of California said, “It’s a sham in there. They are not answering any questions.”
Democratic Rep. James Walkinshaw of Virginia told AP that he questioned Bondi on whether the US President had any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes before they became public. Reading from his notes of the exchange, Walkinshaw told reporters that Bondi’s response was, “I’m not certain of the extent of his knowledge.”
Lawmakers question Bondi over Epstein probe
Jeffrey was a wealthy financier who killed himself in a New York City jail in 2019 while awaiting trial. Maxwell, a British socialite, was convicted in 2021 of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein but insisted that she is innocent, arguing that she never should have been prosecuted. The Justice Department moved Maxwell from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas last August.
Lawmakers are now trying to find out what decisions prosecutors have made about investigating Epstein associates, how the DOJ handled the congressional mandate to release the files, and whether Trump was a part of the process.
Bondi’s role in the Epstein saga
The former attorney general has been central to the entire political firestorm over Epstein. She initially raised expectations for the full release of what’s known as the Epstein files, only to later backtrack. That reversal prompted Congress to step in and pass a law requiring the release.
She later faced more backlash when the DOJ delayed releasing the files and then included personal information and nude images of several potential victims. Bondi has insisted in congressional hearings that she was trying to follow the law.
The , meanwhile, has been conducting a wide-ranging investigation into Epstein that spans multiple presidential administrations.
(With AP inputs)
