<\/p>\nSurvivors in the room \u2014 and a refusal to apologise
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One of the most powerful moments came early, when Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal asked Epstein survivors seated in the hearing room to stand. She then pressed Bondi to apologise not only for the abuse they endured \u2014 which Bondi had acknowledged in her opening remarks \u2014 but for the Justice Department\u2019s failure to properly redact sensitive information in the released files.Bondi declined to apologise for the redaction failures. Instead, she accused Jayapal of engaging in \u201ctheatrics\u201d and said officials had done their \u201cvery best in the time frame allotted\u201d under the legislation mandating release of the files. She insisted that any information released inadvertently had been \u201cimmediately redacted\u201d once identified.At one point, when urged again to address the survivors behind her, Bondi refused to turn around, saying she would not \u201cget in the gutter\u201d. The moment underscored the central tension of the hearing: whether the department had prioritised speed and politics over victims\u2019 dignity.<\/p>\nThe Massie clash: ‘Bigger than Watergate’
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While Democrats hammered Bondi, one of the most striking exchanges came from Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who helped push the legislation forcing disclosure of the Epstein files.Massie accused the department of improperly redacting names of individuals who were not legally entitled to protection. He specifically raised the case of billionaire Les Wexner, whose name had initially been blacked out in a section referencing potential criminal conduct.Bondi responded that Wexner\u2019s name had been restored \u201cwithin 40 minutes\u201d. Massie shot back: \u201cWithin 40 minutes of me catching you red-handed.\u201dCalling the issue \u201cbigger than Watergate\u201d, Massie argued the handling of the files reflected a cover-up spanning multiple administrations. Bondi dismissed his line of questioning as a \u201cpolitical joke\u201d and accused him of being a \u201cfailed politician\u201d with \u201cTrump derangement syndrome\u201d.The exchange cut through the broader partisan noise. Unlike many Democratic attacks that dissolved into shouting matches, Massie\u2019s questioning directly challenged the department\u2019s credibility on specific redactions \u2014 and left Bondi on the defensive.<\/p>\nTrump takes centre stage
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Though the hearing was about Epstein, it frequently became a platform for Bondi to defend President Trump.\u201cYou sit here and you attack the president and I\u2019m not going to have it,\u201d she told lawmakers. At another point she declared, \u201cThere is no evidence that Donald Trump has committed a crime. Everyone knows that.\u201dWhen Democratic Representative Ted Lieu referenced unsubstantiated tips in the files mentioning Trump, Bondi angrily replied: \u201cDon\u2019t you ever accuse me of committing a crime,\u201d after Lieu suggested she was misleading the committee.Bondi also praised the stock market\u2019s performance under Trump, citing record highs in the Dow and Nasdaq, and suggested lawmakers should focus on that instead. Critics quickly noted that market performance was not the Judiciary Committee\u2019s remit.Her repeated alignment with Trump marked a departure from traditional Justice Department distance from the White House. Rather than positioning herself as an independent law enforcement official, Bondi openly cast herself as the president\u2019s defender.<\/p>\nMisfires and walkouts
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Bondi\u2019s aggressive approach did not always land cleanly.In one exchange, she criticised Democratic Representative Becca Balint over a vote related to antisemitism. Balint responded that she was the granddaughter of a Holocaust victim and shouted, \u201cAre you serious?\u201d before storming out of the hearing.Bondi also sparred with Jamie Raskin, the committee\u2019s top Democrat, calling him a \u201cwashed-up loser lawyer\u201d during a heated exchange over time limits and questioning tactics.Meanwhile, Democrats repeatedly accused her of running a \u201cmassive Epstein cover-up\u201d and siding with perpetrators over victims. They also pointed to the department\u2019s recent attempt \u2014 rejected by a grand jury \u2014 to indict Democratic lawmakers, fuelling claims of political weaponisation.Bondi insisted the department was focused on reducing violent crime and restoring its \u201ccore missions\u201d after what she described as years of politicisation. But by the end of the session, it was clear she had not come to concede ground.<\/p>\nA rare moment of unity over threats
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Amid the rancour, there was a brief pause in hostilities.Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell shifted the focus to threats made against him and his family. He asked Bondi whether they were being investigated and appealed for help in protecting lawmakers\u2019 families in an increasingly volatile political climate.Bondi responded: \u201cNone of you should be threatened ever. None of your children should be threatened. None of your families should be threatened, and I will work with you.\u201d<\/div>\n\nSource link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Attorney General Pam Bondi\u2019s appearance before the House Judiciary Committee was meant to steady the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[967,5537,5536,5538,5535],"class_list":["post-1903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-donald-trump","tag-house-judiciary-committee","tag-jeffrey-epstein-files","tag-justice-department","tag-pam-bondi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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