Former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the Department of Justice's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files during a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Friday. Bondi acknowledged that "redaction errors" occurred in the release of the documents but maintained that the DOJ acted transparently and produced everything required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Bondi emphasized that she delegated oversight of the review process to then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is now acting attorney general. She stated that the DOJ collected and reviewed nearly 3 million pages of records, including thousands of videos and hundreds of thousands of images, spanning four presidential administrations.
Democrats on the committee accused Bondi of stonewalling questions about President Donald Trump's involvement with Epstein. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) claimed that Bondi repeatedly declined to answer questions about Trump and blamed Blanche for the mishandling of the files. Bondi denied these accusations, stating that she praised Blanche's management of the investigation.
The committee is considering subpoenas for Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel after Bondi declined to answer certain questions. Democrats have criticized the DOJ for redacting the names of powerful figures while exposing the identities of survivors. Bondi's testimony comes amid bipartisan criticism of the botched redactions in the released documents.