WASHINGTON: Attorney General Pam Bondi will face questions from lawmakers Wednesday over the Justice Department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein that have exposed sensitive private information about victims despite redaction efforts.
Bondi is confronting a new wave of criticism stemming from the political saga that has dogged her term after the release of millions of additional Epstein disclosures that victims have slammed as sloppy and incomplete.
It will be the first time the attorney general appears before Congress since a tumultuous hearing in October in which she repeatedly deflected questions and countered Democrats’ criticism of her actions with her own political attacks.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are expected to grill Bondi on how the Justice Department decided what should and should not be made public under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was passed by Congress after the department abruptly announced in July that no more files would be released even though it had raised the hopes of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists.
Bondi has continuously struggled to move past the backlash over her handling of the Epstein files since distributing binders to a group of social media influencers at the White House last February. The binders included no new revelations about Epstein, leading to even more calls from President Donald Trump’s base for the files to be released.
