Unhinged Bondi Refuses to Look Epstein Survivors in the Eye or Apologize For Leaking Their Identities and Private Information As She Doubles Down on Grotesque Cover-Up to Protect Sexual Predators

Washington, D.C. (February 12, 2026)—Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, led Judiciary Committee Democrats in cross-examining Attorney General Pam Bondi for the damage done to the Department of Justice (DOJ) under her watch.

Seated in the audience were survivors and families of late survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking ring, who were recognized, with their permission, at the start of the hearing: Theresa Helm; Jess Michaels; Lara Blume McGee; Dani Bensky; Liz Stein; Marina Lacerda; Sky and Amanda Roberts, who are the family of the late Virginia Giuffre; Sharlene Lund; and Lisa Phillips. Bondi ignored Members’ pleas for her to apologize directly to the survivors for the catastrophic harm Bondi’s DOJ caused by releasing their information and intimate details of their abuse. Rather than apologize, Bondi called the question “theatrics.” 

Bondi refused to confront the Trump DOJ’s botched handling of the Epstein files, which recklessly exposed survivors and shielded potential criminal co-conspirators. 

• Rep. Pramila Jayapal pressed Bondi: “Will you turn to [the Epstein survivors] now and apologize for what your Department of Justice has put them through with the absolutely unacceptable release of the Epstein files and their information?” Bondi said: “I’m not going to get into the gutter with this woman doing theatrics.” 
   
• Rep. Jayapal asked Epstein survivors to raise their hand if they still haven’t been invited to meet with Pam Bondi or the DOJ. Every single one raised their hand. 
   
• Rep. Hank Johnson said: “We have the Epstein victim survivors here today. Rep. Jayapal asked a simple question. If you would be so kind and honorable as to turn around and face them and apologize to them for outing them. I mean, how many lives have been derailed because your Department was either sloppy and incompetent or willfully trying to intimidate and punish these ladies?” Bondi again refused to acknowledge the survivors, saying: “Your time is up.” 
   
• Bondi obfuscated and filibustered when asked by Rep. Jerry Nadler how many of Epstein’s co-conspirators she has indicted. Rep. Nadler slammed her stonewalling: “The answer to my question of how many of Epstein’s co-conspirators has she indicted is zero. You have been the Attorney General for a whole year, and your DOJ fired the lead prosecutor of this case, sat on evidence this entire time, and claimed falsely last July that there were no more leads. It took an act of Congress for you to finally release part of the Epstein files. And when you did, you included personal information about the victims while protecting the names of abusers.” 
   
• In response to a question from Rep. Ted Lieu on why she shut down the investigation into Epstein’s co-conspirators, the Attorney General deflected and made clear she is only here to defend Trump: “This is so ridiculous, that they are trying to deflect from all the great things Donald Trump has done.” Rep. Lieu slammed her non-response: “There are over 1,000 sex trafficking victims. And you have not held a single man accountable. Shame on you. If you had any decency, you would resign right after this hearing concludes.” 
   
• Rep. Lou Correa blasted Bondi for redacting the names of powerful men in the Epstein files while dangerously exposing victims: “We have to make sure we tell those predators there is no place for them to hide. And if they commit the crime, they’re going to fry for it. It starts with showing us the names of the perpetrators in the Epstein files.” 
   
• Bondi responded with personal attacks when Ranking Member Raskin asked her to “create a joint task force of the Department of Justice and governors and state attorneys general and district attorneys across the country to investigate the crimes that have taken place against [Epstein] victims.” 
   
• In response to a question from Rep. Dan Goldman, Bondi refused to commit to providing key documents still missing from the Epstein files production: an 86-page prosecution memo from the Southern District of New York, and a draft indictment from Florida against Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirators. Bondi’s DOJ is violating the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act compelling the unredacted release of these documents.  
   
• Rep. Jared Moskowitz pointed out precisely why the DOJ has covered up the Epstein files: “Trump’s name appears more times in the Epstein file than Harry Potter’s name appears in the seven books about Harry Potter.” 
   
• Rep. Deborah Ross probed the Trump Administration’s shameful transfer of sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell to a lower-security prison where she has been pampered: “Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator received perk after perk in prison. In July, she had a two-day interview with your deputy and President Trump’s former defense attorney, Todd Blanche. Just days after that, Maxwell was transferred from a federal correctional institution in Florida to a minimum-security camp in Texas, which she, as a sex offender, would normally be ineligible for at this new facility. We’ve heard reports that she’s been afforded special privileges: puppy time, private workouts, personal mail, secretarial services.” Bondi bizarrely claimed she didn’t know about the prison transfer that occurred under her watch and falsely claimed that Maxwell had not been transferred to a lower-security prison. 
   
• Rep. Becca Balint said: “Now, I’ve seen some of the unredacted Epstein files. And obviously, as you know, President Trump’s name is all over them. But so are the names of other senior Trump officials. Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, John Phelan, the Secretary of the Navy, and Steven Feinberg, the Deputy Secretary of Defense. These men were appointed by President Trump to senior positions in his Administration. All of them have clear and confirmed ties to Jeffrey Epstein.” Bondi flailed when Rep. Balint pressed her on these ties and why they weren’t a dealbreaker for the President who hired them anyway. 
   
• Amid all the lies and evasions, Bondi made a rare admission, saying that Trump’s name “appeared countless times” in the Epstein files.  

DOJ has blocked investigations into ICE and CPB misconduct that led to the fatal shootings of two Americans. 

• Rep. Zoe Lofgren said: “We all saw the horrible video of American citizens being killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis. How the Department has handled these cases raises a lot of doubt about the Department. State and local police in Minnesota got a court order to get access to the crime scene to be sure evidence would be properly preserved by federal agents, but the agents defied the court order. And in a departure from general policy, the DOJ is not collaborating with state and local law enforcement on these homicides.” 
   
• After the federal agent shootings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good in Minneapolis, Rep. Lucy McBath explained how DOJ has shuttered investigations, slandered the victims, and even targeted their families. She said: “These families have not received the same commitment to investigate what happened to their loved ones, nor have they received the respect that I would expect from the nation’s top law enforcement officer. Investigations have been slow walked, they’ve been canceled, and the special agent assigned to Renée Good’s investigation resigned following pressure from your officials to reclassify Ms. Good’s case.”
   
• Rep. Steve Cohen said: “ICE is running rampant and you are not investigating them. When they killed Mr. Pretti and Ms. Good, that was an execution. And you did not investigate it, and you tried to investigate Ms. Good’s widow.”  

DOJ is prosecuting Trump’s enemies and protecting criminals, including fraudsters, extremists, and Trump allies. 

• Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon told Bondi: “Americans have never tolerated political demagogues who use the government to punish people on an enemies list. It brought down McCarthy, it brought Nixon, and it will bring down this Administration as well.” 
   
• Rep. Chuy García said: “You’re one of the worst Attorneys General in our history and an instrument of Donald Trump’s lawless authoritarian agenda. And I’m glad the American people are seeing who you are, how you act, and the lack of good values. You weaponize the Department of Justice to target immigrants, working families, and anyone that Trump deems an enemy of the state, all to protect real, powerful criminals, including in your Administration.” 
   
• Rep. Joe Neguse presented Bondi a video of Jared Wise, a convicted January 6 rioter who yelled “kill him” at police officers during the January 6 insurrection and has since been hired at DOJ. Bondi affirmed: “He does work for us.” Rep. Neguse said: “This is an individual whom a federal grand jury indicted for two felonies and four misdemeanors related to his participation in the attack on January 6th. One of those charges was forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating, and interfering with police with the intent to commit another felony. This is who you choose, as the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America, to hire at the Department of Justice, someone on video yelling ’kill him’ at police officers, right?” Bondi replied: “I believe he was pardoned by President Trump.” 
   
• Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove slammed Bondi for taking down a DOJ report on domestic extremism stating that the number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of domestic extremism: “Stop scrubbing important data from your website. Stop taking down reports that you know the American people need to know about.” 
   
• Bondi refused to answer simple questions about her dismantling of cryptocurrency law enforcement. Rep. Neguse explained: “When a Member of Congress asks how many people work at the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and the Attorney General refuses to answer it; it is not a coincidence. It’s because she eliminated the team. Why? Because her boss, the President of the United States, is making money hand over fist, $1.4 billion over the course of the last year through.”
   
• Rep. Eric Swalwell spoke to Bondi’s weaponization of justice against Trump’s enemies, which have been rebuked by juries and judges across the country: “Yesterday it was reported that six Members of Congress had indictments sought against them, and they were not returned by a grand jury.” 
   
• Rep. Jasmine Crockett said: “Y’all actually had a judge that rejected y’all for trying to arrest Don Lemon before. Just like the grand jury rejected y’all as it relates to Sen. Kelly. Just like a grand jury rejected y’all as it relates to Sen. Slotkin. Just like the case against Tish James was dismissed, and the case against Mr. Comey was dismissed. I completely don’t get how it is that you’re sitting at the top of DOJ because you don’t seem to be good at your job.”