REPLAY: US lawmakers grill attorney general Bondi over Epstein file release

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00:00:00that we are going to then cross live now and listen to the questioning of Pam Bondi,

00:00:04which is just getting underway.

00:00:06Charlene Richard and Lisa Phillips.

00:00:10Now, you're not showing a lot of interest in the victims, Madam Attorney General,

00:00:13whether it's Epstein's human trafficking ring

00:00:16or the homicidal governmental violence against citizens in Minneapolis.

00:00:21As Attorney General, you're siding with the perpetrators and you're ignoring the victims.

00:00:28That will be your legacy unless you act quickly to change course.

00:00:33You're running a massive Epstein cover-up right out of the Department of Justice.

00:00:38You've been ordered by subpoena and by Congress

00:00:40to turn over 6 million documents, photographs, and videos in the Epstein files,

00:00:45but you've turned over only 3 million.

00:00:48You say you're not turning over the other 3 million because they're somehow duplicative,

00:00:53but we know that there are actual memos of victim statements in there,

00:00:57and you also took down the Department of Justice's prosecution memo from 2019.

00:01:04So it's clearly not all duplicative, but even if it were, why not release it?

00:01:08Just release all the duplicative stuff.

00:01:11In the half you did produce, you redacted the names of abusers, enablers,

00:01:16officers, accomplices, and co-conspirators, apparently to spare them embarrassment and disgrace,

00:01:22which is the exact opposite of what the law ordered you to do.

00:01:27Even worse, you shockingly failed to redact many of the victims' names,

00:01:33which is what you were ordered to do by Congress.

00:01:36Some of the victims had come forward publicly, but many had not.

00:01:39Many had kept their torment private, even from family and friends,

00:01:45but you published their names, their identities, their images on thousands of pages for the world to see.

00:01:55So you ignored the law, and even with over 100,000 employees at your disposal,

00:02:00you acted with some mixture of staggering incompetence, cold indifference, and jaded cruelty

00:02:08towards more than 1,000 victims raped, abused, and trafficked.

00:02:14This performance screams cover-up.

00:02:18Convicted sex trafficker and groomer, Ghislaine Maxwell,

00:02:21opened the gates of hell to Virginia Giuffre and hundreds of other victims,

00:02:26as Virginia recorded in her remarkable book, Nobody's Girl.

00:02:29But when Maxwell was subpoenaed to come testify before Congress,

00:02:34you and Todd Blanche quickly moved her from a higher security prison

00:02:39to a minimum security camp in Texas, where she's enjoyed five-star treatment,

00:02:44including catered meals, private gym time, and access to a therapy puppy.

00:02:51All because Todd Blanche, who's utterly failed to investigate

00:02:55the monstrous crimes of Epstein and Maxwell's co-conspirators,

00:02:58spent nine hours with Maxwell and satisfied himself that she would have nothing untoward

00:03:04to say about Donald Trump, which is your only real interest in the matter,

00:03:09based on institutional performance.

00:03:12But abandoning victims and coddling perpetrators is what you do best.

00:03:17When the FBI opened a criminal investigation into the brutal killing in Minneapolis of Renee Good,

00:03:22a poet and 37-year-old mother of three,

00:03:25by Trump's masked paramilitary ICE agents, you shut it down.

00:03:30You claim you're investigating the cold-blooded murder of Alex Preddy,

00:03:34an ICU nurse at the VA.

00:03:36But how can we trust the administration when the president and Kristi Noem

00:03:40call Preddy a domestic terrorist,

00:03:42and Stephen Miller called him a would-be assassin?

00:03:45Not only do you refuse to share evidence with the state and local investigators

00:03:49and prosecutors in Minnesota,

00:03:51you have blocked their access to the crime scene and the evidence.

00:03:56How are you seeking justice for Marimar Martinez,

00:03:59the Montessori school teacher in Chicago who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent,

00:04:05who bragged about it on text?

00:04:07Or the family of Keith Porter,

00:04:09a father of two shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent in L.A.?

00:04:12Or the family of Silverio Villas-Gonzalez,

00:04:16shot and killed in Illinois minutes after he dropped his kids off at school?

00:04:20There's no sign of any movement at the Department of Justice.

00:04:24You even launched a criminal investigation into Renee Good's grieving widow.

00:04:29How sick is that?

00:04:31But it's even worse.

00:04:32You've turned the People's Department of Justice into Trump's instrument of revenge.

00:04:38Trump orders up prosecutions like pizza,

00:04:40and you deliver every time.

00:04:42He tells you to go after James Comey,

00:04:45Letitia James,

00:04:46Lisa Cook,

00:04:47and Jerome Powell,

00:04:48the head of the Federal Reserve Board,

00:04:50and members of Congress like Adam Schiff,

00:04:52Mark Kelly,

00:04:53Alyssa Slotkin,

00:04:54Chrissy Houlihan,

00:04:55Jason Crow,

00:04:56Chris Deluzio,

00:04:57and Maggie Goodlander,

00:04:58to name a few,

00:04:59and you snap to it.

00:05:01You replace real prosecutors

00:05:03with counterfeit stooges

00:05:05who robotically do the president's bidding.

00:05:07Nothing in American history comes close

00:05:10to this complete corruption of the justice function

00:05:13and contamination of federal law enforcement.

00:05:16The good news is many serious lawyers at DOJ,

00:05:19including some of your own original appointees,

00:05:21have refused your lawless orders.

00:05:25Danielle Sassoon,

00:05:27your original pick for acting U.S. Attorney Manhattan,

00:05:29resigned rather than follow your corrupt order

00:05:32to quash an indictment against Mayor Eric Adams

00:05:35as a political favor from Donald Trump.

00:05:38A Federalist Society member

00:05:39who clerked for Justice Scalia,

00:05:41U.S. Attorney Sassoon refused to participate

00:05:44in this blatantly corrupt scheme.

00:05:46Her top assistant, Hagan Scotton,

00:05:48an Iraqi war vet

00:05:50and two-time Bronze Star recipient

00:05:51who clerked for Chief Justice Roberts,

00:05:54and then Judge Kavanaugh,

00:05:55promptly resigned too,

00:05:57writing to your office,

00:05:58quote,

00:05:59I expect you will eventually find someone

00:06:01who is enough of a fool

00:06:03or enough of a coward

00:06:04to file your motion,

00:06:06but it was never going to be me.

00:06:08You and the president nominated Eric Siebert,

00:06:11a 15-year career prosecutor,

00:06:13to be your U.S. Attorney

00:06:14for the Eastern District of Virginia.

00:06:18But after five months

00:06:19of investigating Letitia James and James Comey,

00:06:22he found no evidence

00:06:24to justify criminal charges.

00:06:26So you forced him out.

00:06:27You replaced him with Lindsay Halligan,

00:06:29Trump's personal lawyer

00:06:30from the Mar-a-Lago documents case

00:06:32who had zero prosecutorial experience

00:06:35and no qualifications.

00:06:37And then you were humiliated

00:06:38when a federal judge

00:06:39found that this corrupt appointment

00:06:41was blatantly unlawful

00:06:42and threw out

00:06:43Halligan's indictments entirely.

00:06:46And grand juries of American citizens

00:06:47have repeatedly rejected

00:06:49your vendettas

00:06:50and baseless indictments

00:06:51brought by the hacks

00:06:52left at DOJ now.

00:06:54With two different grand juries

00:06:55in Virginia voting down indictments

00:06:57against Letitia James

00:06:58in a single week,

00:06:59and just yesterday,

00:07:01another grand jury

00:07:02shut down your vendetta factory

00:07:04by rejecting indictments

00:07:06against the six members of Congress

00:07:07who had spoken out

00:07:09to remind all service members

00:07:11that they have a duty

00:07:12to refuse illegal orders.

00:07:14You tried to get a grand jury

00:07:16to indict six members of Congress

00:07:17who are veterans

00:07:18of our armed forces

00:07:19on charges of seditious conspiracy

00:07:22simply for exercising

00:07:24their First Amendment rights.

00:07:25I hope you will heed the wisdom

00:07:27and the constitutional patriotism

00:07:29of those grand jurors

00:07:30and not try it again

00:07:32by doubling down

00:07:33on that humiliation.

00:07:35As your best lawyers are sacked

00:07:36for having participated

00:07:38in the January 6th case

00:07:39or just flee for the exits now,

00:07:41your new lawyers

00:07:42keep lying in court.

00:07:43In dozens of cases,

00:07:44they've been excoriated

00:07:46for lying to federal judges.

00:07:48Chief Judge Boasberg,

00:07:49right here in D.C.,

00:07:50suggested your Department of Justice

00:07:52perpetrated a fraud on the court.

00:07:55Other judges found your statements

00:07:56to be, quote,

00:07:57inexplicably misleading,

00:07:59patently incredible,

00:08:01totally inconsistent,

00:08:03and so disingenuous

00:08:04that the court is left

00:08:05with little confidence

00:08:06that the government

00:08:07can be trusted

00:08:08to tell the truth

00:08:09about anything.

00:08:11Now, as ranking member,

00:08:14I asked the chairman

00:08:15to add a few extra rounds

00:08:17of questions today

00:08:18because we each have

00:08:19five hours of questions,

00:08:20not five minutes,

00:08:22but we're stuck with five minutes.

00:08:23That's clearly insufficient

00:08:25to give voice

00:08:26to America's victims

00:08:27and survivors

00:08:28and to demand answers

00:08:29about all the corruption

00:08:30and cover-ups

00:08:31that we see at DOJ right now.

00:08:33We've got just one round,

00:08:34so we ask you politely

00:08:35but firmly,

00:08:36Madam Attorney General,

00:08:38please do not waste

00:08:40one second

00:08:40of our precious time

00:08:42by evading questions,

00:08:44by changing the subject,

00:08:46or engaging in personal attacks

00:08:48against members of Congress.

00:08:49We saw your performance

00:08:50in the Senate,

00:08:51and we're not going to accept that.

00:08:53This isn't a game.

00:08:54In the Senate,

00:08:55you brought something with you

00:08:56called a burn book,

00:08:57a binder of smears

00:08:59to attack members personally

00:09:00for doing the people's work

00:09:02of oversight.

00:09:03Please set the burn book aside

00:09:05and answer our questions,

00:09:06and when you hear us

00:09:07reclaim our time,

00:09:09that means it's time

00:09:10for you to stop speaking.

00:09:11We only have five minutes,

00:09:12so when we reclaim our time,

00:09:14that means you stop.

00:09:16And if you don't,

00:09:16we will ask the chair

00:09:17to stop the clock

00:09:18and let you go on his time.

00:09:20The quality of justice

00:09:21in America

00:09:22depends on the character

00:09:23of our government.

00:09:25Please do your job

00:09:26and bring the Department of Justice

00:09:28back from the brink.

00:09:29The survivors seated behind you

00:09:31and the American people

00:09:32watching everywhere

00:09:33deserve a Department of Justice

00:09:35worthy of its name.

00:09:36I yield back, Mr. Chair.

00:09:37Without objection,

00:09:37all of the opening statements

00:09:38will be included in the record.

00:09:40We will now introduce

00:09:40today's witness.

00:09:41The Honorable Pamela J. Bondi

00:09:43has served as the Attorney General

00:09:45of the United States

00:09:45since February 5th, 2025.

00:09:47She previously served

00:09:48in the office

00:09:48of the White House Council

00:09:49two terms as the Florida

00:09:51Attorney General

00:09:52and spent more than 18 years

00:09:53as a prosecutor.

00:09:55We welcome our witness

00:09:56and thank her

00:09:56for appearing today.

00:09:57We will begin by swearing you in.

00:09:59Would you please rise

00:09:59and raise your right hand?

00:10:01Yes.

00:10:05Do you swear or affirm

00:10:06under penalty of perjury

00:10:07that the testimony

00:10:08you're about to give

00:10:09is true and correct

00:10:10to the best of your knowledge,

00:10:11information, and beliefs

00:10:12so help you God?

00:10:13I do.

00:10:13Let the record show

00:10:14that the witness

00:10:15has answered in the affirmative.

00:10:16You can be seated

00:10:17and please know

00:10:17that your written testimony

00:10:18will be entered

00:10:19into the record

00:10:19in its entirety.

00:10:21Accordingly,

00:10:22we ask that you summarize

00:10:23your testimony.

00:10:25Madam Attorney General,

00:10:26you may begin.

00:10:29Thank you, Chairman Jordan,

00:10:31Ranking Member Raskin,

00:10:32and distinguished members

00:10:34of this committee.

00:10:35Thank you for hosting me

00:10:37here today.

00:10:38I'm grateful for the opportunity

00:10:39to answer your questions,

00:10:41highlight the work

00:10:42of our department,

00:10:43and discuss the most

00:10:44important topic of all,

00:10:45keeping the American people safe.

00:10:49A little over a year ago,

00:10:50I was sworn into office

00:10:51as the 87th Attorney General

00:10:53of the United States.

00:10:54I came into office

00:10:55with the goal

00:10:56of refocusing

00:10:57the Department of Justice

00:10:58on its core mission

00:11:00after years of bloated bureaucracy

00:11:03and political weaponization.

00:11:05The Department of Justice's

00:11:07core mission

00:11:08is to fight violent crime,

00:11:11protect the American people,

00:11:13and defend the rule of law

00:11:15above all else.

00:11:17While our work is never done,

00:11:19we have made tremendous progress

00:11:21to make America safe again.

00:11:24In 2025,

00:11:25we saw the lowest murder rate

00:11:27in 125 years.

00:11:30That's nothing short of historic.

00:11:33If you compare 25 to 24,

00:11:36here's what you'll find.

00:11:38The murder rate is down 21%.

00:11:40Robbery down 23%.

00:11:42Carjacking down 43%.

00:11:45Gun assault down 22%.

00:11:47Ag assault, burglary,

00:11:49could go on and on.

00:11:51Crime is declining.

00:11:53This did not happen by accident.

00:11:56The numbers tell an important

00:11:58yet straightforward story.

00:12:00President Trump has given us

00:12:02the resources,

00:12:03the support,

00:12:05and the leadership

00:12:05to protect the American people.

00:12:08President Trump's policies

00:12:10have saved lives.

00:12:13I cannot think of a policy outcome

00:12:15more important than protecting

00:12:17the lives of American citizens.

00:12:20Can you?

00:12:21This trend has been especially clear

00:12:24in Washington, D.C.

00:12:25and in Memphis.

00:12:27These are two iconic American cities

00:12:29that spent years

00:12:31in the grip of horrific,

00:12:33violent crime.

00:12:35The Department of Justice

00:12:36surged law enforcement resources

00:12:38and the results came quickly.

00:12:41Crime plummeted

00:12:43in both cities.

00:12:45And I want to make one point

00:12:46loud and clear.

00:12:48We achieved those results

00:12:50by working with Democratic mayors.

00:12:54Public safety

00:12:55does not have a party registration.

00:12:59When your constituents

00:13:00call 911,

00:13:02they don't ask for political views

00:13:04of the responding officer.

00:13:06They ask for help.

00:13:07I have federal agents

00:13:09in each and every one

00:13:11of your districts.

00:13:12They are here to help

00:13:13and I am here to help.

00:13:16Many cities and states

00:13:17have worked with us

00:13:18and taken advantage

00:13:20of our federal support.

00:13:22Some have not.

00:13:24Meanwhile,

00:13:24a few elected officials

00:13:25have declared

00:13:26that they are, quote,

00:13:27at war with the federal government

00:13:29and encouraged

00:13:30widespread obstruction

00:13:32of law enforcement.

00:13:34This has resulted

00:13:35in avoidable clashes

00:13:37on the streets

00:13:38as you've all seen.

00:13:39We've seen rioters

00:13:41storming a Christian church.

00:13:44Citizens

00:13:44and law enforcement officers

00:13:46have both been endangered

00:13:48by reckless rhetoric.

00:13:51We have made dozens

00:13:52of arrests

00:13:53in and around Minneapolis

00:13:55so far

00:13:56and many of them

00:13:57could have been avoided

00:13:59by simple compliance

00:14:00with federal law.

00:14:02Of course,

00:14:03our efforts reach

00:14:04beyond our urban centers.

00:14:07We are striking

00:14:08crucial blows

00:14:09against terrorist organizations

00:14:11such as MS-13,

00:14:13TDA,

00:14:15the Sinaloa Cartel

00:14:16and Antifa.

00:14:18And as we sit here,

00:14:20I think you've seen

00:14:21the news this morning.

00:14:22The news is reporting

00:14:23that cartel drones

00:14:26are being shot down

00:14:28by our military.

00:14:30That's what we all

00:14:31should care about right now,

00:14:32protecting America.

00:14:37As we seek

00:14:38to dismantle

00:14:39these drug trafficking networks

00:14:41that poison Americans,

00:14:43in 2025,

00:14:44our DEA agents seized

00:14:46more than 47 million

00:14:50fentanyl pills

00:14:51and more than

00:14:539,800

00:14:55total

00:14:57kilos

00:14:58of fentanyl.

00:15:00That represents

00:15:01369 million

00:15:04potentially

00:15:05deadly

00:15:06doses

00:15:07that can kill

00:15:08Americans.

00:15:11Meanwhile,

00:15:12our attorneys

00:15:12are fighting

00:15:13for President Trump's

00:15:14agenda

00:15:14in courtrooms

00:15:15across this country.

00:15:17This administration

00:15:17has been sued

00:15:18627 times.

00:15:21We fought

00:15:22through a

00:15:23nonstop flood

00:15:24of bad faith

00:15:25temporary restraining

00:15:26orders

00:15:27from liberal

00:15:28activist judges

00:15:29across this country.

00:15:31America has never

00:15:32seen

00:15:33this level

00:15:34of coordinated

00:15:35judicial

00:15:36opposition

00:15:36towards a

00:15:38presidential

00:15:39administration.

00:15:41It is not

00:15:43only

00:15:43an unlawful

00:15:44attack on the

00:15:45executive branch's

00:15:46authority,

00:15:46but a serious

00:15:47attack

00:15:48attack on the

00:15:49democratic process.

00:15:51In spite of this

00:15:52unprecedented judicial

00:15:54activism,

00:15:55we've attained

00:15:5624 favorable

00:15:59rulings at the

00:16:00U.S.

00:16:01Supreme Court,

00:16:03their emergency

00:16:04docket,

00:16:04and even more

00:16:05to come.

00:16:06We've done so

00:16:07while ending the

00:16:08weaponization of the

00:16:09prior administration

00:16:10by dropping

00:16:11FASAC

00:16:12prosecutions,

00:16:13exposing the

00:16:14Arctic Frost

00:16:15scandal via

00:16:17congressional

00:16:17disclosure,

00:16:18thank you,

00:16:19Chairman,

00:16:19and restoring

00:16:20one tier of

00:16:21justice in

00:16:22this country.

00:16:24To address

00:16:26the Epstein

00:16:27files,

00:16:28more than

00:16:29500 attorneys

00:16:30and reviewers

00:16:31spent thousands

00:16:32of hours

00:16:33painstakingly

00:16:34reviewing millions

00:16:35of pages

00:16:36to comply

00:16:37with Congress's

00:16:38law.

00:16:39We've released

00:16:40more than

00:16:403 million pages,

00:16:42including

00:16:43180,000

00:16:44images,

00:16:45all to the

00:16:46public,

00:16:47while doing

00:16:48our very best

00:16:50in the

00:16:50time frame

00:16:51allotted by

00:16:52the legislation

00:16:53to protect

00:16:55victims.

00:16:56And if you

00:16:56brought us

00:16:57a victim's name

00:16:58that was

00:16:59inadvertently

00:17:00released,

00:17:01we immediately

00:17:02redacted it.

00:17:03All members

00:17:04of Congress,

00:17:05as you know,

00:17:06are invited

00:17:06to visit

00:17:07DOJ

00:17:08to see

00:17:09for yourselves.

00:17:12I want

00:17:13to take a

00:17:13moment to

00:17:13acknowledge

00:17:14the Epstein

00:17:14survivors

00:17:15who are

00:17:15here today.

00:17:17I'm a career

00:17:18prosecutor,

00:17:19and despite

00:17:21what the

00:17:21ranking member

00:17:22said,

00:17:23I have spent

00:17:24my entire

00:17:25career

00:17:25fighting for

00:17:27victims,

00:17:27and I will

00:17:28continue

00:17:29to do so.

00:17:31I am deeply

00:17:32sorry for what

00:17:33any victim,

00:17:34any victim,

00:17:36has been through,

00:17:37especially as a

00:17:38result of that

00:17:38monster.

00:17:39officer, if you

00:17:40have any

00:17:41information to

00:17:43share with law

00:17:44enforcement about

00:17:46anyone who has

00:17:47hurt you or

00:17:48abused you, the

00:17:50FBI is waiting

00:17:51to hear from

00:17:52you.

00:17:54I want you to

00:17:55know that any

00:17:56accusations of

00:17:58criminal wrongdoing

00:17:59will be taken

00:18:00seriously and

00:18:02investigated.

00:18:03The Department of

00:18:04Justice is

00:18:05committed to

00:18:06holding criminals

00:18:07accountable to

00:18:08the fullest

00:18:09extent of the

00:18:10law.

00:18:11In 2025, the

00:18:13FBI arrested

00:18:13over 1,700

00:18:15child predators,

00:18:17a 10%

00:18:18increase from

00:18:192024.

00:18:21We also

00:18:21located 2,700

00:18:23victims of

00:18:25child exploitation

00:18:27and shut

00:18:28down 3.8

00:18:30million dark

00:18:32web pedophile

00:18:33accounts.

00:18:353.8 million.

00:18:36So, please, if

00:18:39you have

00:18:39information to

00:18:40share that

00:18:41needs to be

00:18:42investigated,

00:18:43contact the

00:18:44FBI.

00:18:45Today, I

00:18:47look forward to

00:18:47discussing further

00:18:48our shared

00:18:50obligation to

00:18:51protect the

00:18:52American people,

00:18:54uphold the

00:18:54rule of law,

00:18:55and keep this

00:18:56nation safe.

00:19:00Thank you,

00:19:00Madam Attorney

00:19:01General.

00:19:02We now

00:19:02proceed under the

00:19:03five-minute rule.

00:19:03The chair recognizes

00:19:04the gentleman from

00:19:04California for five

00:19:05minutes.

00:19:05Thank you, Mr.

00:19:06Chairman.

00:19:07Madam General,

00:19:08thank you for your

00:19:10extensive remarks,

00:19:11particularly on your

00:19:13continued investigation

00:19:15of those responsible

00:19:16over the years in the

00:19:18Epstein debacle.

00:19:20Obviously, you have an

00:19:22amazingly full

00:19:24docket between

00:19:26civil rights,

00:19:27between criminal,

00:19:28between so-called

00:19:29white-collar crime,

00:19:31and doing so, as the

00:19:32chairman said,

00:19:33at a time in which

00:19:35both you and the

00:19:35president are under

00:19:36attack and our

00:19:38ICE agents and

00:19:39FBI and others are

00:19:40under attack when

00:19:41they try to enforce

00:19:42law.

00:19:43I personally want to

00:19:45apologize for those

00:19:46who would

00:19:47embolden,

00:19:49support,

00:19:50or even

00:19:51stand with

00:19:52those lawbreakers

00:19:54that sit on this

00:19:55and other

00:19:55daises here in

00:19:57Congress.

00:19:57My job

00:20:00generally is to talk

00:20:02about patents and

00:20:02trademarks as the

00:20:04chairman of that

00:20:05subcommittee.

00:20:06I'll forgo that

00:20:07today because one of

00:20:09my other jobs is

00:20:11the creation and

00:20:13maintenance of

00:20:14Article 3 judges,

00:20:15and I work with the

00:20:16chief justice on that,

00:20:17and we're trying to

00:20:18expand the court.

00:20:20But currently, there

00:20:21are only 677 district

00:20:23court judges.

00:20:23They have very full

00:20:25dockets as well.

00:20:27But you create a

00:20:29tremendous amount of

00:20:30judges, particularly

00:20:32immigration judges.

00:20:34You do so in order to

00:20:36save the court that,

00:20:38but adjudicate, as is

00:20:40requirement, each of

00:20:43those people who claim

00:20:44a right to be here in

00:20:46the United States.

00:20:47And that has been

00:20:48going on under

00:20:49Republican and

00:20:50Democratic

00:20:50administrations for

00:20:52years.

00:20:52What's unique about

00:20:54the Trump

00:20:55administration this

00:20:56time is that you

00:20:58and President Trump

00:20:59have managed to

00:21:00reduce the

00:21:02backlog of people

00:21:04seeking that for

00:21:05the first time in

00:21:05decades.

00:21:06You are getting

00:21:07ahead of that

00:21:09tremendous backlog

00:21:09that caused, for

00:21:11better or worse, the

00:21:12release of millions

00:21:13of people with

00:21:15little pieces of

00:21:15paper saying,

00:21:16come back later

00:21:17when we call you,

00:21:18and often to no

00:21:19avail when you

00:21:20call.

00:21:20So I want to

00:21:22congratulate you on

00:21:23that, because it's

00:21:23an accomplishment you

00:21:24might not take credit

00:21:25for, and the other

00:21:26side would never give

00:21:27you credit for.

00:21:30But I hope you can

00:21:31continue to do that

00:21:32and do more.

00:21:33And I say so for a

00:21:35reason, because much

00:21:36of this hearing will

00:21:38be about Minneapolis

00:21:41and other places in

00:21:43which the backlog of

00:21:44criminal aliens,

00:21:46including in my home

00:21:47state of California,

00:21:48California, people who

00:21:49have hurt other

00:21:50people, people who

00:21:51have victimized their

00:21:52communities, is

00:21:54extensive.

00:21:55And although the

00:21:56overall number through

00:21:58adjudication may be

00:21:59going on, because of

00:22:01places like my home

00:22:02state, California, you're

00:22:04unable to apprehend

00:22:05people that my

00:22:06sheriffs want

00:22:07apprehended.

00:22:09They desperately want

00:22:10to cooperate, and

00:22:11they're prohibited by

00:22:12law.

00:22:13It is this committee's

00:22:14opinion on this side

00:22:15of the aisle, that in

00:22:17fact, you should be

00:22:18given the ability to

00:22:20demand that participation

00:22:23and that the release of

00:22:24a known criminal not be

00:22:26considered to be

00:22:28acceptable just because a

00:22:30state or a city has

00:22:31declared itself a

00:22:32sanctuary.

00:22:33I want you to opine on

00:22:34just one thing that I

00:22:36think has been

00:22:37misunderstood.

00:22:38As I said earlier, you

00:22:40create and maintain

00:22:42those judges that

00:22:43adjudicate these cases.

00:22:46You also support

00:22:47so many that, in

00:22:52fact, have to make

00:22:55decisions as judges.

00:22:57Knowing that this

00:22:58limitation of so few

00:23:00Article III judges are

00:23:01there, please educate

00:23:04those who seem to miss

00:23:05the point that Article I

00:23:07judges, including

00:23:08bankruptcy judges,

00:23:09including immigration

00:23:11judges, including lots of

00:23:12people with the title

00:23:14appropriately judged, do

00:23:16in fact issue

00:23:17documents that look

00:23:19like, act like, and

00:23:20are normally accepted as

00:23:22warrants, as subpoenas,

00:23:25as demands for state

00:23:27officials to stand

00:23:29aside and allow the

00:23:30production of either an

00:23:32individual or documents.

00:23:34Because I think people are

00:23:35missing the point that

00:23:36these ICE retainers and

00:23:38detainers and so on, they

00:23:40act like they're nothing

00:23:41when, in fact, in the

00:23:43ordinary course, Madam

00:23:45General, you do, in

00:23:47fact, have Article I

00:23:48judges constantly putting

00:23:50those out, and they are

00:23:50respected normally.

00:23:57Thank you, Congressman,

00:23:58for talking about all the

00:24:00great judges.

00:24:02And if I could add one

00:24:04thing to that, we are

00:24:05always recruiting and

00:24:06looking for judges.

00:24:08So please reach out to

00:24:10our office for these

00:24:11judges who are handling

00:24:12all these very important

00:24:14matters.

00:24:15We've even added some

00:24:16JAG officers as

00:24:19immigration judges.

00:24:21And so we're continuing

00:24:22to do that, but we're

00:24:23always seeking qualified

00:24:25lawyers as well to be

00:24:27part of that.

00:24:27And thank you for

00:24:28highlighting that,

00:24:30Congressman.

00:24:31I yield back.

00:24:31The gentleman yields

00:24:32back.

00:24:32The gentlelady from

00:24:32Washington is recognized.

00:24:34Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:24:35Good morning, Attorney

00:24:36General Bondi, right

00:24:38here.

00:24:39We are joined in this

00:24:40room by some of the

00:24:41thousands of survivors

00:24:43from Jeffrey Epstein's

00:24:44horrific sex trafficking

00:24:46ring.

00:24:47They have shown such

00:24:48incredible courage in

00:24:51speaking out, in

00:24:52demanding accountability

00:24:53to bring the predators

00:24:55and pedophiles to

00:24:56justice.

00:24:58The Epstein Files

00:24:59Transparency Act

00:25:00required your Department

00:25:01of Justice to disclose

00:25:02the perpetrators

00:25:03connected with Epstein's

00:25:05criminal activities

00:25:06and to redact the

00:25:08information of survivors

00:25:09to protect their

00:25:11identities.

00:25:12Let me show you what

00:25:13actually happened.

00:25:15First, in violation of

00:25:17the law, your department

00:25:18has shown a pattern of

00:25:20redacting the names of

00:25:22powerful predators.

00:25:24Here behind me is one

00:25:26example of an email from

00:25:28Epstein to a man whose

00:25:29name was redacted.

00:25:31The email reads, quote,

00:25:33Where are you?

00:25:35Are you okay?

00:25:37I loved the torture

00:25:39video.

00:25:41Only after members of

00:25:42Congress demanded that we

00:25:44see the unredacted files

00:25:46did the world learn the

00:25:47name of this individual,

00:25:50Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayam,

00:25:52the chairman and CEO of a

00:25:54company that had financial

00:25:56ties to President Trump's

00:25:58business and personal ties to

00:26:00Trump's advisor, Steve

00:26:01Bannon.

00:26:02Second, the survivors were

00:26:05not similarly protected, also

00:26:07in violation of the law.

00:26:09Here is another email

00:26:11titled Epstein victim list.

00:26:14We have blurred the names of

00:26:15the survivors for their

00:26:16protection, but your

00:26:18Department of Justice

00:26:19initially released this list

00:26:20of 32 survivors' names

00:26:23with only one name

00:26:25redacted, along with

00:26:27numerous files that

00:26:29disclosed not only the names,

00:26:31the emails, and the

00:26:32addresses of survivors, but

00:26:34also nude photographs and

00:26:36even the identities of

00:26:38Jane Doe's, who had been

00:26:40protected for decades until

00:26:42your department released

00:26:44their names.

00:26:45Survivors are now telling us

00:26:47that their families are

00:26:48finding out for the first

00:26:49time that they were

00:26:51trafficked by Epstein.

00:26:52In their words, quote,

00:26:55this release does not

00:26:56provide closure.

00:26:58It feels like a deliberate

00:26:59attempt to intimidate

00:27:01survivors, punish those who

00:27:03came forward, and

00:27:04reinforce the same

00:27:06culture of secrecy that

00:27:08allowed Epstein's crimes to

00:27:09continue for decades.

00:27:11To the survivors in the

00:27:13room, if you are willing,

00:27:16please stand.

00:27:16And if you are willing,

00:27:23please raise your hands if

00:27:25you have still not been

00:27:27able to meet with this

00:27:29Department of Justice.

00:27:33Please know for the record

00:27:34that every single survivor

00:27:36has raised their hand.

00:27:38Attorney General Bondi,

00:27:41you apologize to the

00:27:44survivors in your opening

00:27:45statement for what they

00:27:46went through at the hands

00:27:47of Jeffrey Epstein.

00:27:49Will you turn to them now

00:27:51and apologize for what

00:27:53your Department of Justice

00:27:55has put them through with

00:27:58the absolutely unacceptable

00:28:01release of the Epstein

00:28:04files and their information?

00:28:13Congresswoman, you set

00:28:14that before, Merrick Garland

00:28:17sat in this chair twice.

00:28:19Attorney General Bondi,

00:28:21can I finish my answer?

00:28:22No, I'm going to reclaim my

00:28:24time because I asked you a

00:28:26specific question that I would

00:28:28like you to answer, which is

00:28:31will you turn to the

00:28:33survivors?

00:28:33This is not about anybody that

00:28:35came before you.

00:28:36It is about you taking

00:28:37responsibility for your

00:28:39Department of Justice and the

00:28:42harm that it has done to the

00:28:44survivors who are standing

00:28:45right behind you and are

00:28:48waiting for you to turn to

00:28:49them and apologize for what

00:28:52your Department of Justice

00:28:53has done.

00:28:53Members get to ask the

00:28:55questions, the witness gets

00:28:56to answer in the way they want

00:28:57to answer.

00:28:57The Attorney General can

00:28:58respond.

00:28:59That's not accurate, Mr.

00:29:00Chairman.

00:29:00Because she doesn't like the

00:29:01answer.

00:29:02So, Mr.

00:29:04Chairman, why didn't she ask

00:29:07Merrick Garland this twice?

00:29:09I am reclaiming my time and

00:29:11when I reclaim my time, it is

00:29:13not the time.

00:29:13Mr. Chairman, the

00:29:13General Lade has reclaimed

00:29:14her time.

00:29:14I'm not going to get in the

00:29:15gutter for her theatrics.

00:29:17The time belongs to the

00:29:18gentlelady.

00:29:19The gentlelady has 17

00:29:20seconds.

00:29:22You're not going to answer

00:29:23this question, so let me

00:29:24just say, what a massive

00:29:27cover-up.

00:29:27No, I'm answering a

00:29:28question, Chairman.

00:29:28Mr. Chairman, will you

00:29:28restore her time?

00:29:29The witness is

00:29:30interrupting.

00:29:30I'm not going to get in the

00:29:31gutter with this woman.

00:29:32She's doing theatrics.

00:29:33Let me have my time.

00:29:34The gentlelady from

00:29:35Washington controls the time.

00:29:37The gentlelady has 17

00:29:38seconds.

00:29:38You can proceed with your

00:29:40final 17 seconds.

00:29:41What a massive cover-up this

00:29:43has been and continues to be.

00:29:45Donald Trump made the

00:29:46release of the Epstein files

00:29:48the center of his political

00:29:49campaign because he thought

00:29:51it would benefit him.

00:29:52Then you got into office,

00:29:53Attorney General, claimed to

00:29:55have a client list, only to

00:29:56them say that there was no

00:29:58list.

00:29:59Your deputy, Todd Blanche, met

00:30:01alone with Elaine Maxwell and

00:30:04transferred her to a

00:30:06minimum security prison.

00:30:08And now you continue the

00:30:09cover-up and I wish that you

00:30:12would turn around to the

00:30:13survivors who are standing

00:30:15right behind you and on a

00:30:16human level.

00:30:18Chairman, the chair now

00:30:18recognizes the

00:30:20chair.

00:30:20I'm what you have done.

00:30:21The time is, the time of the

00:30:22gentlelady has expired.

00:30:23The gentlelady, you have no

00:30:24time to yield back.

00:30:25We appreciate that.

00:30:26We appreciate the thought.

00:30:28The, and I would argue the

00:30:30central issue in the last

00:30:31election, the presidential

00:30:32election, was securing the

00:30:33border.

00:30:34The gentleman from Arizona

00:30:35who knows something about

00:30:36securing the border is up for

00:30:38five minutes.

00:30:38Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and

00:30:39thank you, Attorney General

00:30:41Bondi, for being here today.

00:30:42In 2022, Lafarge, which is a

00:30:45French cement company, pled

00:30:47guilty in U.S. federal court

00:30:49to participating in a criminal

00:30:50conspiracy with ISIS.

00:30:53That conspiracy contributed to

00:30:55the deaths of U.S. service

00:30:57members fighting in Syria

00:30:58during Operation Inherent

00:31:00Resolve.

00:31:01As part of the plea

00:31:01agreement, Lafarge was

00:31:03required to pay more than

00:31:03$775 million to DOJ's asset

00:31:07forfeiture fund.

00:31:09In February 2025, my colleagues

00:31:11and I sent you a letter urging

00:31:12the department to review the

00:31:13petitions for remission submitted

00:31:15by the families of those fallen

00:31:17service members, including

00:31:18several of my constituents.

00:31:20The previous administration

00:31:21ignored these victims and our

00:31:23requests and left their

00:31:24petitions unresolved.

00:31:26My question for you on this

00:31:27particular issue is if you're

00:31:29willing to work to ensure those

00:31:30families that their petitions will

00:31:32be removed, excuse me, reviewed

00:31:34and brought to a resolution?

00:31:36Congressman, we are aware of

00:31:38that and we're committed to

00:31:39doing everything we can to

00:31:41support the victims and work

00:31:42with you.

00:31:43Thank you for that question.

00:31:45Yeah, I appreciate your answer.

00:31:46And now let's go to something that

00:31:48is also pressing that I've been

00:31:49working on for years and this is

00:31:51the FISA Section 702 and Arctic

00:31:54Frost.

00:31:54In January 2025, you testified

00:31:57before the U.S. Senate and agreed

00:31:59with Senator DeLi that, quote,

00:32:00anytime an American citizen's

00:32:02private communications are

00:32:03intercepted or stored, whether

00:32:05through incidental collection

00:32:06or otherwise, those communications

00:32:08should not be searched without

00:32:09some showing of probable cause,

00:32:11close quote.

00:32:12You still hold that view today,

00:32:14I assume?

00:32:16Yes.

00:32:17And during the most recent FISA

00:32:19reauthorization, I offered an

00:32:21amendment to establish a clear

00:32:23warrant requirement for searches

00:32:24of Americans' data while

00:32:26preserving every publicly cited

00:32:27operational exception, including

00:32:29emergencies, defensive queries,

00:32:32cybersecurity threats, and my

00:32:34intent was to ensure the

00:32:35Department of Justice could

00:32:36continue to keep Americans safe

00:32:38while also ending warrantless

00:32:40searches of U.S.

00:32:41persons' data.

00:32:42Are there any additional

00:32:43circumstances or exceptions that

00:32:45you believe must be included to

00:32:47ensure DOJ can continue to

00:32:49operate effectively while still

00:32:50protecting American citizens' data

00:32:53and privacy?

00:32:55Yeah, Congressman, we are

00:32:57committed to working with

00:32:58Congress to uncover weaponization

00:33:00and other misconduct by Jack

00:33:02Smith, by others, Arctic Frost,

00:33:05everything that happened under the

00:33:07past administration.

00:33:09And we are committed to working

00:33:11with you on that.

00:33:13And we are working with Chairman

00:33:16Jordan, with the House Intel, with

00:33:20all of our, my fellow cabinet

00:33:22members on resolving that issue.

00:33:24Well, thank you.

00:33:25And I'm glad you brought up Arctic

00:33:26Frost, because Section 702 was

00:33:30used in the Arctic Frost

00:33:31investigation.

00:33:32It was.

00:33:32And information derived was used by

00:33:36Special Counsel Jack Smith.

00:33:38And my question has always been, and

00:33:41no one's been able to answer this, is

00:33:42what was the legal predicate for using

00:33:44a foreign intelligence authority in

00:33:47the Arctic Frost investigation?

00:33:49Have you been able to ascertain any

00:33:51legal predicate?

00:33:53Congressman, what I can tell you

00:33:56today is that has been referred to

00:33:58my office.

00:33:59I can't discuss anything regarding

00:34:01that, because it is very active and

00:34:04ongoing.

00:34:05And you probably can't answer this

00:34:06one either, but I really want to

00:34:08know if Section 702 queries related

00:34:10to that matter involved members of

00:34:12Congress, which we know at some level

00:34:13it did, congressional staff, which we

00:34:16know at some level did.

00:34:17We've heard that journalists or other

00:34:19U.S. persons not suspecting of acting

00:34:21as foreign agents were also caught up

00:34:23in that.

00:34:24Can you answer that question and say

00:34:26whether queries did cover all those

00:34:28groups I just identified?

00:34:30It is a very active, pending

00:34:33investigation within my office.

00:34:35However, I believe many members of

00:34:38Congress have stated that their phones

00:34:42were part of Arctic Frost.

00:34:46We are well aware of that, and we are

00:34:49taking this very seriously, and this is a

00:34:52very active investigation.

00:34:54And I would keep going and say if any

00:34:56member of the Democrat Party, if any of

00:34:58them, if that had happened to them, we

00:35:00would take that just as serious as we

00:35:03do.

00:35:04And they should be jumping up and down,

00:35:06screaming, supporting you and what you

00:35:09want to do, because this should be a

00:35:12bipartisan issue.

00:35:13Well, I hope it is a bipartisan issue.

00:35:16And, you know, I'll just leave with

00:35:18these last couple of questions, which I'm

00:35:20sure fall into the same investigation

00:35:24privilege.

00:35:25But that's this, how many such queries

00:35:27were actually conducted to overall, this

00:35:30is outside of Arctic Frost, in the prior

00:35:32year by the FBI or other intelligence

00:35:34community.

00:35:35And particularly, we really need to know,

00:35:38what were the legal standards applied?

00:35:40Did they use probable cause?

00:35:41Did they use reasonable, articulable

00:35:43suspicion?

00:35:43Or did they have no individualized

00:35:45suspicion and just were gathering up

00:35:47information?

00:35:48And that's beyond the investigation with

00:35:51regarding Arctic Frost.

00:35:52I don't expect you to have that

00:35:54information today, but if you can help

00:35:56get that information so we can

00:35:58understand the extensive nature of this

00:36:02continued misuse of 7-0-2, it would be

00:36:05very particularly helpful.

00:36:06And it was extensive.

00:36:07Yes, Congressman.

00:36:09Time of the gentleman has expired.

00:36:10I have a UC, Mr. Chairman.

00:36:13And that is the general aide from Texas.

00:36:15I ask unanimous consent to enter into the

00:36:17record.

00:36:17El Paso airspace reopened after FAA quickly

00:36:21rescinds 10-day flights restriction.

00:36:23This was published by the Texas Tribune on

00:36:25February 11, 2026.

00:36:27And it says it was because of an impasse with

00:36:30the DOD over the use of unmanned military

00:36:33aircraft and not triggered by Mexican cartel

00:36:36drones.

00:36:37Without objection.

00:36:38Point of order, Mr. Chairman.

00:36:40I didn't hear back about the second round of

00:36:42questions.

00:36:42I assume that's not happening.

00:36:43I just want to be able to assure the members,

00:36:46certainly on my side, if not both sides.

00:36:48That's not a point of order.

00:36:49No, but that every member will get five

00:36:52minutes with the witness.

00:36:54Will there be five minutes for each?

00:36:56Yeah, you get five minutes.

00:36:57Yeah.

00:36:57With the witness.

00:36:58Okay, very good.

00:36:59Yeah.

00:36:59Okay.

00:37:00And are you up next?

00:37:02Gentleman from New York is recognized.

00:37:05Mr. Chairman, I want to begin by acknowledging

00:37:08the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's horrific

00:37:10abuse who are in the room with us today.

00:37:12I want to thank all of you for your bravery

00:37:15in speaking out.

00:37:16I want to say that you and the other survivors

00:37:18of these heinous crimes deserve better from

00:37:21this Department of Justice.

00:37:23In particular, it is shocking that the

00:37:25Department did not redact the names of

00:37:27Epstein's victims, but it did redact the

00:37:30names of their abusers.

00:37:32I don't know whether this was done out of

00:37:34incompetence or whether it was deliberate

00:37:36and malicious, but either way, it is

00:37:38completely unacceptable.

00:37:39Even more troubling, the DOJ has failed to

00:37:42bring any of these perpetrators to justice.

00:37:45Instead, it has engaged in a relentless

00:37:47pursuit of Donald Trump's perceived enemies.

00:37:51I want to focus on just one example.

00:37:53The Attorney General of my home state of

00:37:55New York, Tish James.

00:37:57This DOJ has been hell-bent on securing

00:38:00an indictment against Ms. James for something,

00:38:02anything, simply because she held Donald Trump's

00:38:05companies accountable for years of financial

00:38:07fraud. And indeed, the Department

00:38:10manufactured an investigation against her for

00:38:12alleged, quote, mortgage fraud.

00:38:15But the U.S. attorney leading the

00:38:16investigation, Eric Siebert, a Trump

00:38:18appointee, refused to bring charges against

00:38:21Ms. James because there was simply no

00:38:23evidence. Unfortunately, a prosecutor who

00:38:27refuses to do Trump's bidding has no place in

00:38:30this DOJ, so Mr. Siebert was forced out.

00:38:33Now, Trump could not contain his fury, fury that

00:38:37he expressed to you in a social media post

00:38:39addressed to you by name.

00:38:41I'm sure you've seen it.

00:38:42Quote, I fired him and there is a great case

00:38:45he wrote to you about, Mr. Siebert.

00:38:47Then we moved down.

00:38:48We can't delay any longer.

00:38:50It's killing our reputation and credibility.

00:38:52They impeached me twice and indicted me five times

00:38:55over nothing.

00:38:57Justice must be served now.

00:38:59And obviously, you followed that order.

00:39:01Lindsay Halligan, Trump's former defense lawyer

00:39:05who had never prosecuted a case in her life,

00:39:08was installed to replace Mr. Siebert,

00:39:10and it was clear that part of her mandate

00:39:12was to go after Ms. James.

00:39:14Halligan immediately saw an indictment,

00:39:17which her court dismissed because Halligan was

00:39:18illegally put into the row.

00:39:21But your department was undeterred,

00:39:23and not once, but twice, it tried to indict

00:39:26Attorney General James in separate courts.

00:39:29Both grand juries rejected you and refused to

00:39:31indict her.

00:39:32It is practically unheard of for a grand jury

00:39:35to refuse an indictment.

00:39:37In 2016, it happened in just six cases

00:39:40out of over 150,000 offenses.

00:39:44And you had it happened twice in the same week,

00:39:47in two different courts.

00:39:48That must have been humiliating.

00:39:50And now there are reports that you are continuing

00:39:52to investigate her.

00:39:54The amount of resources that have gone into targeting

00:39:56Attorney General James, months of investigations,

00:39:59multiple failed indictments, is astounding.

00:40:02Since your own prosecutors told you that there is not

00:40:05enough evidence to support a conviction,

00:40:07it's clear that you are going after her

00:40:09simply because she held President Trump accountable,

00:40:12and he wants to punish her.

00:40:14And she is just one name on a long list of Trump

00:40:17political enemies that DOJ has reportedly targeting.

00:40:20From Jerome Powell and Lisa Cook at the Federal Reserve

00:40:23to James Comey, numerous Democratic members of Congress,

00:40:27John Brennan, Jack Smith, Democratic officials

00:40:30of Minnesota, Chris Krebs, Miles Taylors, and more.

00:40:33And those are just the ones we know about.

00:40:35In contrast to these politically motivated investigations,

00:40:39grasping at something they can charge their enemies with,

00:40:41we now have concrete evidence of disgusting criminality

00:40:44revealed in the Epstein files.

00:40:47So I really have just one question for you.

00:40:51How many of Epstein's co-conspirators have you indicted?

00:40:54How many perpetrators are you even investigating?

00:41:03First, you showed it.

00:41:06I find it.

00:41:07How many have you indicted?

00:41:08Excuse me.

00:41:09I'm going to answer the question.

00:41:10Answer my question.

00:41:11No, I'm going to answer the question the way I want to answer

00:41:14the question.

00:41:14Your theatrics are ridiculous.

00:41:15No, you're going to answer the question the way I asked it.

00:41:16Chairman Jordan, I'm not going to get in the gutter

00:41:18with these people, but I'm going to answer the question.

00:41:20How many have you indicted?

00:41:22Again, the time belongs to me.

00:41:23Reclaiming my time.

00:41:24The time belongs to me.

00:41:24I think it's very interesting.

00:41:26Reclaiming my time.

00:41:26I think it's very interesting.

00:41:28Reclaiming my time.

00:41:28And you can reclaim your time.

00:41:29When he talks about they indicted,

00:41:30the president said they indicted him twice.

00:41:33Mr. Chairman, please stop the clock and restore his time.

00:41:34They sure did.

00:41:35And he indicted.

00:41:36Oh, okay.

00:41:36Here we go with these theatrics.

00:41:38The time belongs to the gentleman from New York.

00:41:40We will give you a few more seconds.

00:41:42We will do that.

00:41:43But when you ask a question, the witness gets answered.

00:41:46You may not like the answer, but she gets to answer.

00:41:48The question was, how many of Epstein?

00:41:50They don't like the answer, Chairman, because it's honest.

00:41:55So he asked a four-minute question.

00:41:58Restore 45 seconds, Mr. Navarro, please, Mr. Chairman.

00:42:02You can let her filibuster all day long, but not on our watch.

00:42:05Not on our time.

00:42:06No way.

00:42:07And I told you about that, Attorney General, before you started.

00:42:10You don't tell me anything.

00:42:11Oh, I did tell you, because we saw what you did in the Senate.

00:42:13You're a lawyer.

00:42:14Not even a lawyer.

00:42:15Committee will be in order.

00:42:16I should get back at least 45 seconds.

00:42:18We will give you a few more seconds.

00:42:19I said that already.

00:42:2045 seconds.

00:42:21Okay.

00:42:22I'm timing right now, Mr. Navarro.

00:42:24All right.

00:42:24My time.

00:42:25The answer to my question, how many of Epstein's co-conspirators has she indicted, is zero.

00:42:31You have been the Attorney General for a whole year, and your DOJ fired the lead prosecutor

00:42:36of this case, sat on evidence this entire time, and claimed falsely last July that there

00:42:42were no more leads.

00:42:43It took an act of Congress for you to finally release part of the Epstein files, and when

00:42:47you did, you included personal information about the victims while protecting the names

00:42:52of abusers.

00:42:53Time of the Gentleman has expired.

00:42:53None of the perpetrators have been brought to justice, but enormous resources are dedicated

00:42:58to the Supreme Trump Senate.

00:43:00It's clear that under your leadership, the Department of Justice no longer works in American

00:43:04Canada.

00:43:04It works for Donald Trump.

00:43:07I yield back.

00:43:07The gentleman yields back.

00:43:08May I answer?

00:43:12I think our next question, Madam Attorney General, is going to give you time to respond to all

00:43:17kinds of things.

00:43:18We will turn to the gentleman from Texas for five minutes.

00:43:20Ms. Bonda, you go right ahead.

00:43:22I'm over here.

00:43:23The time is yours.

00:43:28First, he brought up the President saying they indicted me twice.

00:43:32They sure did.

00:43:33They tried to impeach him twice, and you, Mr. Nadler, were one of the leads on the

00:43:38impeachment.

00:43:39I was on the other side.

00:43:40I lived that with you.

00:43:42During impeachment, you said the President conspired, sought foreign interference in

00:43:47the 2016 election.

00:43:49Robert Mueller found no evidence, none, of foreign interference in 2016.

00:43:55Have you apologized to President Trump?

00:43:58Have you apologized to President Trump, all of you who participated in those impeachment

00:44:03hearings against Donald Trump?

00:44:05You all should be apologizing.

00:44:06You sit here and you attack the President, and I am not going to have it.

00:44:11I'm not going to put up with it.

00:44:13You know, all they want to do, all the American people need to know this.

00:44:18They are talking about Epstein today.

00:44:20This has been around since the Obama administration.

00:44:24This administration released over three million pages of documents.

00:44:30Over three million, and Donald Trump signed that law to release all of those documents.

00:44:37He is the most transparent president in the nation's history.

00:44:42And none of them, none of them, asked Merrick Garland over the last four years one word about

00:44:52Jeffrey Epstein.

00:44:53How ironic is that?

00:44:55You know why?

00:44:56Because Donald Trump, the Dow, the Dow right now is over, the Dow is over $50,000.

00:45:04I don't know why you're laughing.

00:45:06You're a great stock trader, as I hear, Raskin.

00:45:09The Dow is over $50,000 right now.

00:45:13The S&P at almost $7,000.

00:45:16And the NASDAQ smashing records.

00:45:19Americans' 401ks and retirement savings are booming.

00:45:24That's what we should be talking about.

00:45:27We should be talking about making Americans safe.

00:45:30We should be talking about, what does a Dow have to do with anything?

00:45:33That's what they just asked.

00:45:35Are you kidding?

00:45:36Mr. Jordan, am I, Mr. Jordan.

00:45:38The committee will be in order.

00:45:41Mr. Jordan, am I going to get an extra 45 seconds added to my time?

00:45:45The committee will be in order.

00:45:46The time belongs to the gentleman from Texas.

00:45:49Ms. Bondi, the attorney general can respond.

00:45:54The Dow has shattered $50,000 for the first time.

00:45:58This is crazy.

00:45:59They said it couldn't be done in four years, yet President Trump has done it in one year.

00:46:06National median rents have fallen to a four-year low, thanks to Donald Trump.

00:46:13That's why they want to focus on Epstein and our most transparent president in the nation's history.

00:46:21The murder rate, as I said, has plummeted to a 125-year low, thanks to Donald Trump.

00:46:30For an unprecedented nine straight months, there were zero illegal border crossings at the southern border.

00:46:43That's what we should be focused on, all the great work that this president has done and will continue to do to keep America safe and to make Americans safe.

00:46:57Thank you, Attorney General Bondi.

00:46:59I agree with you totally.

00:47:01I think you've done a fine job.

00:47:02I think that Democrats, in fact, should be apologizing to the Epstein victims for doing nothing during the four years that they were running the government.

00:47:09We did not hear about this.

00:47:11And it took you and President Trump to finally provide transparency and give answers to the American people, and I want to thank you for that.

00:47:18I want to thank you also for standing up for truth today and for fighting back against the theatrics and the time waste that you will endure over the next hour or two.

00:47:30I want to apologize on behalf of my colleagues on the left.

00:47:33They're not all that bad, but they've got to put on a show.

00:47:36And I'm sorry that you have to go through that, and I would like to yield the last, I'd say 40, but 40 is 80 seconds.

00:47:42The clock says 40, but I've got 80 seconds since I was so rudely interrupted, and I'll give all 80 seconds to Chairman Jordan.

00:47:49And I would just yield to the Attorney General if she has anything to add.

00:47:57I'm fine to continue.

00:47:59Thank you, Chairman.

00:47:59All right.

00:47:59The chair now recognizes, the gentleman yields back.

00:48:01The chair recognizes the general aide from California.

00:48:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:48:05And I would note that Mr. Nadler's question has not yet been answered, but I want to start by asking that out of respect for the American public and the Epstein survivors,

00:48:16some of whom, of course, are here today, that we can have a transparent conversation and get the public the answers they deserve.

00:48:24I want to briefly direct your attention to two documents I'm hoping we will put up on the screen.

00:48:31In the first, an individual emails Jeffrey Epstein asking whether a woman identified as M was pro or civilian,

00:48:42and Epstein responds that she was a civilian, Russian, and fun.

00:48:47In the second email, Epstein writes to Steve Tisch about a Ukrainian girl,

00:48:53noting that she was, quote, a little freaked out by the age difference and stating that he would try to convince her not to return to Ukraine.

00:49:01He then instructs Mr. Tisch to call him, adding, I don't like records of these conversations.

00:49:07So I'd like to ask a straightforward question that really is either a yes or no answer.

00:49:14Do these emails constitute credible evidence, not proof, but credible evidence warning further investigation

00:49:22into whether Steve Tisch was involved in Epstein's criminal conduct?

00:49:28Do you think yes or no?

00:49:29I'm not going to play a yes-no game with you, but I will answer the question to the best of my ability.

00:49:36As I said, we will look and investigate any case involving any victim.

00:49:42I'm not familiar.

00:49:43There were three million pages, of course, with that email.

00:49:46But, of course, we will look into anything.

00:49:48The documents have been released, three million.

00:49:51The redacted versions, we left them open for all of you to come view.

00:49:56I believe you view them.

00:49:57If not, will you have some copies?

00:49:59I'd like to read.

00:49:59But can I finish, please?

00:50:01I'm not being rude.

00:50:02I only have five minutes.

00:50:03No.

00:50:03Yeah, and I only have 30 seconds based on your filibuster.

00:50:07You didn't give a yes or no answer.

00:50:09So let me just go further.

00:50:12Director Patel testified in this committee room that there was no credible information

00:50:17indicating that Epstein trafficked victims to anyone else.

00:50:22And glancing at the documents, that proves that's not the case.

00:50:26In July, your department issued a memo stating that it had conducted an exhaustive review of the Epstein files

00:50:34and concluded that no additional individuals would be charged.

00:50:38So I did go over to the Department of Justice yesterday.

00:50:42I would note that our 35 members are in the House, and there's four computers.

00:50:50So it would take many months to actually have the time.

00:50:55You know, I only had a few hours.

00:50:57I think the transparency argument is really kind of a sham because it's not really possible.

00:51:02Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa.

00:51:02Did you have to wait to get a computer?

00:51:03It is not possible to really go in.

00:51:06I did, however, see a U.S. attorney information for the Southern District of New York indicating that there were additional survivors

00:51:15and probable co-conspirators.

00:51:18Other members of Congress have uncovered likely co-conspirators whose names were blocked out.

00:51:24Now, the Epstein filed transparency act, which all but one member of this House voted for and the president signed,

00:51:33requires the department to release everything except that it needs to be redacted to protect the victims

00:51:42or an ongoing prosecution, which apparently there is none from the testimony we have received.

00:51:49I am concerned that this act has not been fully complied with.

00:51:55When Director Patel came to the committee, he admitted that up to 1,000 FBI agents had gone through the files

00:52:02and redacted President Trump's name from them.

00:52:06And it's pretty clear that what has been transmitted from the FBI continues to redact President Trump's name,

00:52:14even though he is mentioned, you know, thousands of times in these files.

00:52:18So I think the credibility of the department in terms of complying with the act has been damaged.

00:52:26And I think the department's credibility has been damaged in other ways.

00:52:30I think we all saw the horrible video of American citizens being killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis.

00:52:40And I think how the department has handled these cases raises a lot of doubt about the department.

00:52:45State and local police in Minnesota got a court order to get access to the crime scene

00:52:52to be sure evidence would be properly preserved by federal agents.

00:52:57But they took the agents, defied the court order, and in a departure from general policy,

00:53:05the DOJ is not collaborating with state and local law enforcement on these homicides.

00:53:10So I really think that is a disgraceful approach to the homicides of American citizens.

00:53:18And it really does nothing to bring credit to your department.

00:53:23And, Mr. Chairman, I would yield back.

00:53:24General Lee yields back.

00:53:25May I answer?

00:53:26Attorney General can respond.

00:53:27I find it interesting that she keeps going after President Trump,

00:53:31the greatest president in American history.

00:53:33And if they could maintain their composure, this isn't a circus.

00:53:37This is a hearing.

00:53:39I find it interesting she keeps going after Donald Trump.

00:53:41She doesn't say how much money she took from Reid Hoffman, did you?

00:53:45And nor did she post anything.

00:53:47Mr. Chairman, regular order, please.

00:53:49She posted nothing on her X account on her Twitter account during the Biden years.

00:53:55Gentle lady.

00:53:55I have a point of order, Mr. Chairman.

00:54:07Committee will be in order.

00:54:08Point of order, Mr. Chairman.

00:54:09Gentle lady can state her point of order.

00:54:13When a witness attacks...

00:54:15Not a valid point of order.

00:54:16You've got to state...

00:54:16She hasn't completed her point of order yet.

00:54:18Please let her speak, Mr. Chairman.

00:54:19Let's have some regular order here.

00:54:20Regular order is you've got to state the rule.

00:54:22I am trying to make a point of order that the witness...

00:54:25And what rule are you referring to?

00:54:27...without responding to a question has attacked me personally.

00:54:30I think it's pathetic that she can't answer the questions and instead has attacked members of the committee.

00:54:34That is not even close to a point of order.

00:54:36The gentleman from Wisconsin is recognized.

00:54:40In August of last year, I sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking for assistance

00:54:44in seeking compensation for the town of Lac du Flambeau.

00:54:48The town of Lac du Flambeau is in my district.

00:54:50And your office replied that it was an ongoing matter and unable to comment on it.

00:54:55Which I understand.

00:54:56That's just fine.

00:54:57I want to set this up just as a reminder.

00:55:00So three years ago, it was at this time of year that four roads were blockaded in the town of Lac du Flambeau.

00:55:06And the temperature was 25 below zero.

00:55:10People had to park their cars at a neighbor's place, take the snowmobile across the lake to get their car,

00:55:15and then be able to drive into town.

00:55:17There were people 80 and 90 years old that could not, were very concerned that they'd be able to get emergency medical services.

00:55:27And the perpetrators of this, the tribe out there, they demanded compensation from the town.

00:55:36I would call it extortion.

00:55:37They ultimately got $600,000 from the town of Lac du Flambeau.

00:55:43The unfortunate part, Mr. Chairman, is that the Biden administration took the side of the perpetrators who closed those roads off.

00:55:52And the Biden administration made it clear to the town of Lac du Flambeau that we are not on your side in regards to this.

00:56:01Well, fortunately, there was a federal judge that said, no, this is wrong, what happened, and these roads should be left open,

00:56:08and they should continue to be left open.

00:56:10My question to you is, are you willing to work with my office and with the town of Lac du Flambeau

00:56:17to further investigate this matter and seek compensation from the tribal government

00:56:22after their extortion of $600,000 from this little town in northern Wisconsin?

00:56:30Congressman, you do a great job representing your district.

00:56:33And yes, we would more than welcome working with you, and we are familiar with that investigation.

00:56:39Mr. Chairman, I would just add, we're highlighting these miscarriages of justice in the previous administration.

00:56:45This is just another one of those small examples, no different than the Catholic diocese in Richmond and many others that you have retold so many times.

00:56:54But here's another instance of what they did to a small town and nearly bankrupted them as a result of it.

00:57:01Fortunately, there was a federal judge that saw through it and has fixed it.

00:57:06I want to move on to fraud enforcement.

00:57:08You have established a National Fraud Enforcement Division, is that correct, Madam Attorney General?

00:57:13Yes, Congressman.

00:57:14Has this new division begun any investigations and getting after those individuals that have committed the rampant fraud we've seen, like, in Minnesota?

00:57:27Well, it's not only rampant in Minnesota, it's rampant throughout this country.

00:57:31Much of it is in California, as you know, and other places.

00:57:35Yes, we are working on it actively.

00:57:39Our criminal fraud division has been working on it.

00:57:42We are expanding that.

00:57:44It was the vice president's idea to come up with this amazing separate fraud division, which we are establishing and going nonstop, not only to expose the fraud in Minnesota, but around the country.

00:57:58It's taxpayer dollars that have been stolen from the American people.

00:58:03And we are committed to recovering that money and holding those people accountable.

00:58:08Mr. Chairman, I would remind everyone here, why did this happen in Minneapolis?

00:58:13Why did federal law enforcement have to go to Minneapolis?

00:58:15Because of industrial-scale fraud.

00:58:18It was an assistant United States attorney that said, this is industrial-scale fraud that's going on in Minnesota at this point.

00:58:26I sent a letter to our governor in Wisconsin, you know, we're right across the border there.

00:58:32My district is only 20 miles from the city of Minneapolis.

00:58:36And I asked him to open the books for a federal audit on food stamps and Medicaid.

00:58:41Don't you think it would be a good idea for every governor to do that at this point?

00:58:45It protects the citizens, and I can't understand why that's not happening.

00:58:52And, yes, I do think that's a great idea.

00:58:54It's happening around this country.

00:58:56And when our new division with Colin McDonnell is established, it's established.

00:59:02When Colin is confirmed, he's amazing.

00:59:04I think you've met with him, you said, Chairman.

00:59:06When that is established, we're going to work on both sides of the aisle.

00:59:09That's what we want to do, to stop fraud in every city, in every state, in this country.

00:59:16We will continue to fight for the American people.

00:59:18So you would encourage every governor across the United States, after what we have seen in Minnesota,

00:59:25what we almost certainly know is happening in other states, you mentioned California,

00:59:30you would agree that every governor should avail themselves of federal resources

00:59:34to make sure that this industrial-scale fraud is rooted out to protect the taxpayers of the United States.

00:59:41Is that correct?

00:59:41Absolutely.

00:59:43Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

00:59:44Gentleman yields back.

00:59:45The gentleman from Tennessee is recognized.

00:59:47Thank you, Mr. Chair.

00:59:48First, I'd like to thank you for holding this hearing and holding it in a proper fashion, as you have.

00:59:53Secondly, I'd like to thank all of the victims of the Epstein case who have come here to attend this hearing

00:59:59for doing it and for being brave and trying to move this justice forward.

01:00:03I apologize.

01:00:04I can't do it, but the Attorney General is not recognizing you.

01:00:06That's embarrassing.

01:00:08I am from Memphis, General Bondi, and Memphis does have the task force there.

01:00:14The Memphis Safe Task Force has been operating in Memphis for several months,

01:00:17and we do have a Democratic mayor, Paul Young, and he's not against the task force,

01:00:21but he is against ICE being in Memphis, and he's not in favor of the National Guard being in Memphis,

01:00:26and I concur with him on those positions.

01:00:28I think the DEA being there, the alcohol, tobacco, firearms, the FBI, who have been in Memphis in other ways,

01:00:34having more people there is good for Memphis.

01:00:37Crime has gone down in Memphis, but it went down 25 percent before the task force got there

01:00:42under the direction of Mary Young and Director Davis, Chief Davis.

01:00:46It's gone down about 15 percent more since then, and that's good,

01:00:50but I would like to comment that Mexico City's homicide rate has gone down 40 percent

01:00:54during the same time when Memphis has only gone down 25 percent,

01:00:59and that's not necessarily because of the task force, although the mayor says he thinks it's helped.

01:01:05So I thank you for that.

01:01:06You would agree, I presume, that violent crime in communities across our country is critically important,

01:01:13and that's why the task force is there.

01:01:14Is that not true?

01:01:17Yes, and if I can just add to that, I think the surge, the FBI, our FBI,

01:01:22under the leadership of Director Patel, came in and did a surge in Memphis.

01:01:26Earlier.

01:01:26Yes, right, prior to the task force.

01:01:29And thank you for saying that about Mayor Young.

01:01:32He's been great to work with, and thank you.

01:01:34He's a good guy.

01:01:36He's a very good guy.

01:01:37One problem I've got with where we are in priorities here.

01:01:42A recent Department of Justice National Institute of Justice report based on arrest records in Texas

01:01:47and in California found that undocumented immigrants were less than half as likely

01:01:51as U.S.-born Americans to be arrested for homicide.

01:01:54And this pattern holds for assault, sexual assault, robbery, burglary, theft, and arson.

01:01:59Half as likely to be addressed for drug offenses.

01:02:02So I ask you, and I've written to you about this,

01:02:04there are TV ads that run that say to local law enforcement specifically,

01:02:09are you tired of having your hands handcuffed because you can't do the things you wanted to do when you joined?

01:02:15And if you want to do something different, join ICE, and you'll get a $50,000 bonus

01:02:19and we'll pay off your student debts and we'll help you with pensions, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

01:02:25So they're encouraging local law enforcement to leave local law enforcement and go to work for ICE.

01:02:30We need people working in the front lines of local law enforcement to protect our citizens

01:02:35from the worst of the worst.

01:02:37The worst of the worst are not the immigrants.

01:02:39The worst of the worst records show are native-born Americans

01:02:42and they are committing crimes that hurt our citizens and our cities.

01:02:47And you're working against it.

01:02:48And thank you for that.

01:02:49But by trying to get our local law enforcement where we have an undercount of officers in Memphis

01:02:55to leave Memphis and go to work for ICE to deport people is a wrong priority.

01:02:59Why are we trying to get people, policemen, who are working on the front lines to leave the front lines,

01:03:05take the $50,000 and go to work for ICE instead of working to fight the worst of the worst?

01:03:11Congressman, I have not yet seen that commercial, that ad.

01:03:16I would argue that we need strong people in both local law enforcement, state law enforcement

01:03:22and all of our federal agencies working together.

01:03:27I've seen some of the worst of the worst violent criminals, violent criminals who were in this country illegally.

01:03:37We both know that.

01:03:38And in Memphis, working hand in hand.

01:03:41I want to stick with Memphis and your mayor and what you discussed

01:03:45because there have been nearly 6,000 arrests as of February 8th.

01:03:50And I think you agree with this.

01:03:52In your district, in your district, and almost 600 gang members.

01:03:58What we found in Memphis, a lot of the gangs are local gangs.

01:04:03But 600 gang members were taken off the streets.

01:04:06I'm going to agree with you.

01:04:09I thank you for that.

01:04:10And 148 missing children were recovered by all of us working together.

01:04:17And nearly 1,000 illegal guns were seized as a result of us working together.

01:04:23And I don't disagree with some of the things you said, but there are questions about those children.

01:04:26But it's a different thing.

01:04:28The fact is ICE is running rampant and you are not investigating them.

01:04:32When they killed Mr. Prette and Ms. Good, that was an execution.

01:04:38And you did not investigate it.

01:04:39And you tried to investigate Ms. Good's widow.

01:04:42And you tried to investigate Mr. Prette.

01:04:44They were executed.

01:04:46Like Kristi Noem executed her dog.

01:04:49And that was wrong.

01:04:50And you should investigate those people.

01:04:52And you should investigate anybody that uses a weapon, a federal official or not, for civil rights violations.

01:04:58I yield back the balance.

01:04:58Gentleman yields back his time.

01:05:00Madam Attorney General, anytime you need a break, just let us know.

01:05:02Oh, great.

01:05:03We'll just keep going.

01:05:04The chair is now recognized for five minutes.

01:05:06Madam Attorney General, you're not allowed to exercise your constitutional rights in a way that tramples on someone else's, are you?

01:05:12No.

01:05:13No, you can't do that.

01:05:13I mean, you have a right to petition the government under the First Amendment.

01:05:16But that doesn't mean you can come into this room and start screaming at Mr. Raskin or me or anybody else and disrupt a congressional hearing.

01:05:23You have a right to protest on the street.

01:05:26But that doesn't give you a right to go into the Capitol and disrupt Congress.

01:05:29Something these guys talk about every day.

01:05:31You can't do that.

01:05:32So when Don Lemon said that he was exercising his First Amendment free press rights, freedom of the press rights, that's not really accurate because he was trampling on other individuals' rights.

01:05:43Is that true?

01:05:46Chairman, we will always protect our churches and the freedom of religion.

01:05:55And yes, that's accurate.

01:05:56First right, mentioned under the First Amendment, freedom of religion.

01:05:58Freedom of practice your faith the way you think the good Lord wants you to, right?

01:06:01That's right, under the federal government.

01:06:03And isn't it true that Mr. Lemon met at a shopping center with the rioters who entered City's Church in St. Paul, met with them prior to marching to the church?

01:06:16He did meet.

01:06:18And this is a pending case right now, so I will only stick to what is in the four corners of the unsealed indictment, if I could, Chairman.

01:06:26There's a lot more that will come out.

01:06:29But under the four corners of the indictment, yes, he did.

01:06:33They had an operation called Operation Pull-Up.

01:06:36They said they were gearing for a resistance.

01:06:39They met in a parking lot, and they caravaned to a church on a Sunday morning when people were worshiping together.

01:06:47And Mr. Lemon said that he live-streamed before entering the church with the rioters.

01:06:53Didn't he say, we're going to head to the operation?

01:06:55Didn't he say this on camera?

01:06:56Is that right?

01:06:58Yes, Chairman.

01:06:59Yeah.

01:06:59And more.

01:07:00That he was in Minnesota, and that, as you said, they were gearing up for an operation.

01:07:04So, again, you can't do that.

01:07:07This is why this is, I think, so important that this guy be held accountable, and I think why you guys have charged him and indicted him.

01:07:14Moving to a second subject here, will John Brennan be indicted?

01:07:19Mr. Brennan lied to the committee, which you're not supposed to do, last Congress, and we deposed him.

01:07:26He definitely, 18 U.S.C., 1001, we're all familiar with it.

01:07:29He lied to the committee, and the committee, the Congress, and I think the country would like to know if, in fact, he's going to be indicted for lying.

01:07:35And here's why it's so important.

01:07:36I'll give you a chance to respond.

01:07:38Here's why it's so important.

01:07:40It wasn't just that he lied to us.

01:07:41It's what he lied to us about.

01:07:43He lied to us about when all this weaponization against the President of the United States started.

01:07:48He lied to us about the dossier, and specifically what role the dossier played in the intelligence community assessment.

01:07:58Because we know back when President Trump was first elected, first term, this is when it all started,

01:08:03which led to the Mueller and to the impeachment and to the Jack Smith and all the stuff that's happened in the last decade.

01:08:08But it began here, and he lied to Congress about the role he played.

01:08:13And I just want to read a couple of things he said during that deposition before I give you a chance to respond.

01:08:19Mr. Brennan, when asked a question, said the CIA was not involved at all with the dossier.

01:08:24He said it was their purview, FBI's purview, and not ours.

01:08:27He also said the CIA was very much opposed to having any reference or inclusion of the Steele dossier in the intelligence community assessment.

01:08:37Well, that's interesting because information that was declassified this past summer by the CIA says something entirely different.

01:08:45It says, Brennan, I want to put this one up if we have it.

01:08:48It says, Brennan ultimately formalized his position in writing, stating that, quote, this is released by the CIA Director Ratcliffe,

01:08:54my bottom line is that what I believe that that information warrants inclusion in the report.

01:08:58He was further asked by a CIA official, the same officer said when he approached the director

01:09:07and asked that the director refused to remove it after being explained this wasn't good,

01:09:12with the dossier's many flaws, he said, yes, but doesn't it ring true?

01:09:18So this is John Brennan using that document to change intelligence community assessment,

01:09:22which I think led to all the stuff we've seen over the last decade.

01:09:27And I think this committee in the country, Congress in the country,

01:09:30would like, excuse me, like to know if Mr. Brennan is going to be indicted.

01:09:36All right, we are going to dip out of that live exchange at the House Judiciary Committee there in New York.

01:09:42You were listening primarily to the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, answer questions there from the committee about the Epstein files,

01:09:50although there were some other issues raised as well, like the ice raids in Minnesota.

01:09:56Plenty of fire exchanges, as you may well have heard there, with the Democrats on the committee,

01:10:00less so it has to be said for the Republicans there.

01:10:03The ranking Democrat on the committee saying the redaction of names in the Epstein files,

01:10:11in his words, screams of a cover-up.

01:10:14That was the words of Jamie Raskin.

01:10:18Listening to that with me, Ketavan Gourja Stani, our former Washington correspondent,

01:10:23and lots to unpack there, Ketavan.

01:10:26And first of all, just on the Epstein files and the approach being taken by the Justice Department,

01:10:33did we learn anything, actually, from the questions that Pam Bondi was being asked?

01:10:37Unfortunately, no, because, A, only the Democrats were asking questions about Epstein.

01:10:44The Republicans that we've heard so far were basically asking about everything but the Epstein files.

01:10:51The Democrats tried to ask specifically on two points.

01:10:56One is the fact that some of the victims' names or identifying information were misredacted

01:11:07or not redacted at all by mistakes, says the Department of Justice,

01:11:11but asking whether that had been fixed, why it happened, things like that.

01:11:15The other aspect of it was why some of the names of some men who seemed to be incriminated

01:11:22had been redacted by the Department of Justice.

01:11:28So that was really the line of questioning that the Democrats came in with,

01:11:32and they wanted to get answers or at least get an explanation as to whether or not the Department

01:11:39of Justice was going to do something about it.

01:11:41And the fact is that Pam Bondi sort of took the same strategy as she did when she had another

01:11:49hearing in front of the House back in October of last year, which is either deflect or go

01:11:57on the offense by either attacking the person who was asking her the question or attacking

01:12:02members of the past administration, of the Biden administration, and not really answering

01:12:08the question. That was pretty vivid when one of the Democrats, Jerry Nadler, asked her how many

01:12:16men had been indicted or were being investigated after the release of all those documents,

01:12:23and she multiple times refused to answer.

01:12:26And in the end, he answered himself by saying it was zero, the number.

01:12:30So, unfortunately, for the Epstein survivors, some of whom were actually sitting in that room

01:12:38behind—a few rows behind Pam Bondi, they are not really coming out of there, at least

01:12:45from what we've heard so far, with any answers as to why these redactions happened, why some

01:12:52of the redactions didn't happen.

01:12:54And the likelihood of any information coming out doesn't seem clear when you look at what

01:13:00Pam Bondi said.

01:13:01That said, there were also references to some of the documents, the unredacted documents,

01:13:08that some of the congressmen and women have started seeing.

01:13:13And the names that were redacted, some of them are coming out.

01:13:17And so, there might be information coming out later, but it doesn't seem like it's going

01:13:22to come out through the mouth of the attorney general, at least from the first hour or so

01:13:27that we've listened to.

01:13:28Yeah.

01:13:29And your thoughts, then, on the Republicans on the committee—you did touch on this, but

01:13:34it did sort of feel like the Republicans were just trying to kill time, weren't they?

01:13:38I mean, they didn't really ask Pam Bondi any questions about Epstein, and I suppose that

01:13:43sort of speaks to the polarization in the Senate and in the House right now.

01:13:49Yes, and to be fair, this is often the case with some of these hearings, and we saw it

01:13:54throughout the Trump administration, but also sometimes under previous administration, which

01:14:00is that usually the members that represent the party of the administration tend to try

01:14:07to lowball or softball the questions or talk about elements that they feel are their strong

01:14:14points, as opposed to going on the offense, which is the role of the opposing party.

01:14:19So that was not surprising.

01:14:21But the fact is that within the Democratic—the Republican Party, there are divisions about

01:14:28the question of the Epstein files.

01:14:30And one person that we haven't heard from just yet is the Republican Representative Tom Massey.

01:14:38Why is he important?

01:14:39He's the Republican co-author of the law that forced the Department of Justice to release

01:14:46the documents regarding these Epstein files.

01:14:50And he, so far, has not spoken.

01:14:52At some point, there was a shot of the side where he's sitting, and he was not even in his

01:14:59chair.

01:15:00If he's going to come back, he's going to ask questions.

01:15:04Will he go on the offense and side with the Democrats on this issue?

01:15:08That is something that might be interesting.

01:15:11But the other Republicans are in a pretty uncomfortable position, because if they were to ask about

01:15:18the Epstein files, they would have to ask about those redactions, because this is something

01:15:23that other Republicans who have seen the unredacted documents—not just Tom Massey, who is a critic

01:15:29of Donald Trump—but even some who are big supporters of Donald Trump have, in the past

01:15:34few days, said, I didn't think there was a big problem there, and now I've seen the

01:15:38unredacted file, and this is not OK, and we need to get to the end of this.

01:15:42So for the Republicans, this is a particularly uncomfortable moment, because they need to talk

01:15:50about certain things.

01:15:51But clearly, they were trying to talk about anything besides the Epstein files.

01:15:58And Pam Bondi herself, your thoughts then on her as Attorney General?

01:16:02I mean, she was pretty robust, wasn't she, in her sort of staunch defending of the Justice

01:16:06Department, but also of President Trump.

01:16:08She said several times he's the most transparent president in American history.

01:16:13Just give us a little bit more about Pam Bondi.

01:16:17Clearly, as I say, she's very loyal to Donald Trump, but what's her background here?

01:16:20How does she end up serving such an important role?

01:16:23Well, look, she had several important roles in Florida, which is, of course, the state

01:16:28of Donald Trump.

01:16:30And she got, in part, her job because of her loyalty to Donald Trump.

01:16:37And she has really gone and served that president, even gone out of her way to really defend the

01:16:46president, even on some issues.

01:16:48But she is also someone who, in part, created the Epstein problem for the U.S. president.

01:16:55Remember, back when the Trump administration arrived in the White House, she was the one

01:17:03who came to the White House with binders that she said contained the names of Epstein's

01:17:09clients.

01:17:10She gave—she handed out those binders to influencers and right-wing content creators

01:17:18and said, these are going to be the names.

01:17:20They did a whole photo op at the White House, and then nothing happened.

01:17:24And then it had to be the Congress that had to force them to release those documents.

01:17:30So she is, in a way, partly responsible.

01:17:32And there are a lot of critics of Pam Bondi in private within the Trump administration

01:17:37thinking that she has done a little bit of harm to the U.S. president by her handling of

01:17:43this situation.

01:17:44But just to focus on some of the things she said, she said about the transparency that

01:17:50Donald Trump was the one who released all the documents, failing, again, to mention that

01:17:55he had been forced to do it by law instead of doing it on his own.

01:17:59She also said something, and I'll end on that, which was, we will investigate anything that

01:18:06looks like it could be criminal or incriminating in the documents that were just released.

01:18:11That is not exactly what her deputy—the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, said when

01:18:17he released the latest batch of documents, where he indicated that there was probably no

01:18:24reason to go forward with any new investigation or any new prosecution.

01:18:29So a lot of contradictions there also from Pam Bondi with the reality of what is going

01:18:35on right now.

01:18:36All right.

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