AG Bondi to Face Lawmaker Questions    02/11 06:11

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Pam Bondi will face questions from 
lawmakers Wednesday over the Justice Department's handling of files related to 
Jeffrey Epstein that have exposed sensitive private information about victims 
despite redaction efforts.

   Bondi is confronting a new wave of criticism stemming from the political 
saga that has dogged her term after the release of millions of additional 
Epstein disclosures that victims have slammed as sloppy and incomplete.

   It will be the first time the attorney general appears before Congress since 
a tumultuous hearing in October in which she repeatedly deflected questions and 
countered Democrats' criticism of her actions with her own political attacks.

   Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are expected to grill Bondi on 
how the Justice Department decided what should and should not be made public 
under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was passed by Congress after 
the department abruptly announced in July that no more files would be released 
even though it had raised the hopes of conservative influencers and conspiracy 
theorists.

   Bondi has continuously struggled to move past the backlash over her handling 
of the Epstein files since distributing binders to a group of social media 
influencers at the White House last February. The binders included no new 
revelations about Epstein, leading to even more calls from President Donald 
Trump's base for the files to be released.

   The hearing comes days after some lawmakers visited a Justice Department 
office to look through unredacted versions of the files. As part of an 
arrangement with the Justice Department, lawmakers were given access to the 
over 3 million released files in a reading room with four computers and were 
allowed to take handwritten notes.

   Democrats have accused the Justice Department of redacting information that 
should have been made public, including information that could lead to scrutiny 
of Epstein's associates. Meanwhile, victims have slammed the department for 
inconsistent or nonexistent redactions that allowed for the inadvertent release 
of nude photos and other private information about victims.

   The department has defended the latest rollout of more than 3 million pages 
of documents along with more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. The 
Associated Press and other media organizations are still reviewing millions of 
pages of documents, many of them previously confidential.

   An AP review of records shows that while investigators collected ample proof 
that Epstein sexually abused underage girls, they found scant evidence the 
well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men. 
Videos and photos seized from Epstein's homes in New York, Florida and the 
Virgin Islands didn't depict victims being abused or implicate anyone else in 
his crimes, a prosecutor wrote in one 2025 memo.