Pam Bondi delivered a fervent defense of Donald Trump during her appearance before a Congressional committee concerning the handling of Epstein files. However, she first acknowledged that the President’s name appeared “countless” times in those documents.
The tense meeting took place on Wednesday, February 11, when Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) questioned the Attorney General about reports suggesting that 1,000 staff members were tasked with identifying and removing Trump’s name from the Epstein files. He inquired if these reports were “accurate.”
Bondi was compelled to concede, stating, “I believe his name has appeared countless times in the documents.”
When Johnson pressed further, asking if the reports were accurate, Bondi quietly replied, “I cannot give you an exact number.”
This admission was one of several tense exchanges during the contentious congressional hearing regarding the Justice Department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, particularly concerning the release of victims’ private information despite redaction efforts.
Recognizing that Trump appeared multiple times in the files, Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu questioned Bondi about investigating Trump’s alleged connections to Epstein.
Bondi vehemently dismissed the suggestion as “ridiculous” and launched into an unexpected defense of the President, oddly referencing the recent rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. She argued, “They are trying to deflect from all the great things Donald Trump has done. You sit here and you attack the president, and I am not going to have it and I am not going to put up with it.”
Portraying Trump as a victim, Bondi claimed he had faced baseless impeachments and investigations. She even contended that former special counsel Robert Mueller had not found evidence of foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election, despite Mueller producing such evidence.
There have been persistent calls to release the complete Epstein files, and as part of the congressional hearings, lawmakers had the opportunity to view un-redacted versions.
During the hearing, Bondi was photographed reviewing records showing which lawmakers had personally viewed the files. The image revealed her examining the search history of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash).
This unsanctioned “surveillance” of Congress members was widely criticized as “wholly improper.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) described it as “deeply disturbing.”
“It’s deeply, deeply disturbing that Pam Bondi had, and they had, preserved, essentially, search histories of sitting members of Congress on the Epstein files,” Ocasio-Cortez stated. “They were looking at what members of Congress were looking at, and they were using that, importantly, as ammunition against them — their own search histories against them in a hearing by Pam Bondi.”
Bondi also faced criticism over the Department of Justice’s decision to transfer Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell to a federal prison camp in Texas last year.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking minors, but whistleblowers suggested she appeared to receive “special treatment” in prison, including access to a puppy, special meals, and her own social space.
“I was not involved in that at all,” Bondi told the lawmakers.