WASHINGTON — U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi repeatedly sparred with lawmakers on Wednesday as she was pressed over the Justice Division’s dealing with of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and confronted calls for for better transparency within the high-profile case.
Bondi accused Democrats and at the least one Republican on the Home Judiciary Committee of partaking in “theatrics” as she fielded questions on redaction errors made by the Justice Division when it launched thousands and thousands of recordsdata associated to the Epstein case final month.
The lawyer basic at one level acknowledged that errors had been made because the Justice Division tried to adjust to a federal regulation that required it to evaluation, redact and publicize thousands and thousands of recordsdata inside a 30-day interval. Given the large activity at hand, she mentioned the “error price was very low” and that fixes had been made when points had been encountered.
Her testimony on the Epstein recordsdata, nevertheless, was largely punctuated by dramatic clashes with lawmakers — exchanges that occurred as eight Epstein survivors attended the listening to.
In a single occasion, Bondi refused to apologize to Epstein victims within the room, saying she wouldn’t “get into the gutter” with partisan requests from Democrats.
In one other change, Bondi declined to say what number of perpetrators tied to the Epstein case are being investigated by the Justice Division. And at one level, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) mentioned the Trump administration was partaking in a “cover-up,” prompting Bondi to inform him that he was affected by “Trump derangement syndrome.”
The episodes underscore the depths to which the Epstein saga has roiled members of Congress. It has lengthy been a political cudgel for Democrats, however after thousands and thousands of recordsdata had been launched earlier this month, providing essentially the most element but of Epstein’s crimes, Republicans as soon as unwilling to criticize Trump administration officers are rising extra testy, as was placed on full show throughout Wednesday’s listening to.
Past the Epstein recordsdata, Democrats raised broad considerations concerning the Justice Division more and more investigating and prosecuting the president’s political foes.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the highest Democrat on the Home Judiciary Committee, mentioned Bondi has turned the company into “Trump’s instrument of revenge.”
“Trump orders up prosecutions like pizza and also you ship each time,” Raskin mentioned.
For example, Raskin pointed to the Justice Division’s failed try to indict six Democratic lawmakers who urged service members to not adjust to illegal orders in a video posted final November.
“You tried to get a grand jury to indict six members of Congress who’re veterans of our armed forces on costs of seditious conspiracy, merely for exercising their 1st Modification rights,” he mentioned.
Through the listening to, Democrats criticized the Justice Division’s prosecution of journalist Don Lemon, who was arrested by federal brokers final month after he coated an anti-immigration enforcement protest at a Minnesota Church.
Bondi defended Lemon’s prosecution.
“They had been gearing for a resistance,” Bondi testified. “They met in a car parking zone and so they caravaned to a church on a Sunday morning when folks had been worshipping.”
The protest happened after federal immigration brokers fatally shot two U.S. residents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis.
Six federal prosecutors resigned final month after Bondi directed them to research Good’s widow. Bondi later acknowledged on Fox Information that she “fired all of them” for being a part of the “resistance.” Lemon then employed a type of prosecutors, former U.S. Atty. Joe Thompson, to signify him within the case.
