What we covered
• Key hearing: Attorney General Pam Bondi testified today at a heated House Judiciary Committee amid ongoing controversies related to the Jeffrey Epstein files release, investigation into President Donald Trump’s political foes and the handling of the fatal shootings of two US citizens in Minnesota by immigration enforcement officers.
• Clashes with lawmakers: Bondi called Rep. Jamie Raskin — a former constitutional law professor and the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee — a “washed-up loser lawyer,” as the clash between her and committee Democrats escalated over her approach to their questions.
• Democrats focus on Epstein: Bondi directly addressed Epstein survivors present, telling them that she is “deeply sorry” for the abuse they suffered. Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal asked survivors in the room to stand up and raise their hand if they had not been able to meet with the DOJ about the abuse they faced. She said every victim raised their hand.
Our live coverage has ended. You can read more about Bondi’s testimony here.
5 takeaways from Bondi's heated testimony
Bondi’s testimony wrapped Wednesday after more than five hours of often-heated exchanges between the attorney general and mostly Democrats. Here are some of our main takeaways from the hearing:
- Bondi’s strategy of being combative to avoid answering Epstein questions was a dicey one.
- While Democrats struggled to get her on the record on Epstein, an exchange with GOP Rep. Thomas Massie landed.
- There was a brief reprieve from the nastiness, as the subject turned to concerns about threats against lawmakers of both parties.
- Bondi clearly sought to avoid direct answers, which reflected how many problems she and the administration face.
- And a few of her attempts to attack Democrats fell flat.
Read more about our takeaways here.
GOP Rep. Mace says she "lost all faith" in DOJ over lack of Epstein prosecutions
Rep. Nancy Mace, one of the Republicans who forced the House to vote on the legislation to compel the release of the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein files, railed against the DOJ for not going after the convicted sex offender’s alleged co-conspirators more aggressively.
Mace said she was going to view the unredacted Epstein files for a second time, calling the DOJ’s set up for lawmakers “insulting” and remarking “some of the documents you can’t even find within the system.”
“There is no effort, not at all to prosecute predators in the Epstein cases. And it is devastating, but it is important that we get that list out of potential co-conspirators,” she added.
Asked about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick revealing that he had lunch on Epstein’s island after the financier pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor, despite his claims that he had cut ties, Mace responded, “Well I am concerned with anyone who would hang out with a convicted pedophile.”
“Jeffrey Epstein did not see political affiliation. He preyed on the vulnerable on the girls who were underaged, who were abused, who were poor, who were in and out of juvenile, who were runaways, he preyed on them. And he abused them and he groomed them. And anyone who hangs out with a guy like that, I’m sorry but I’m not hanging out with you,” she continued.
Democrat unloads on Bondi for implying she is unconcerned about antisemitism
A Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee who said her grandfather was killed in the Holocaust unloaded on Pam Bondi after the attorney general implied that the lawmaker was unconcerned about antisemitism.
After Rep. Becca Balint pressed Bondi on her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein affair, the attorney general responded by taking a swipe at the Vermont Democrat for not supporting a House resolution condemning the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as antisemitic.
“With this antisemitic culture right now, she voted against a resolution condemning ‘from the river to the sea’ as antisemitic,” Bondi said.
“Do you want to go there, attorney general?” an enraged Balint shouted in response. “Are you serious? Talking about antisemitism to a woman who lost her grandfather in the Holocaust.”
“Really? Really?” the lawmaker sarcastically asked. She left the hearing room shortly thereafter but later returned.
Massie: Bondi's responses were "kind of crazy to me"
Rep. Thomas Massie, who led the push to require DOJ to release the Epstein files, said that Attorney General Pam Bondi’s responses to him in Wednesday’s hearing were “kind of crazy to me.”
“She didn’t answer anything. She came here just ready to talk about the Dow Jones and the … NASDAQ. It sounds kind of crazy to me,” the Republican told reporters.
Asked about Bondi attacking him as a “hypocrite,” Massie indicated he wasn’t surprised.
“I think that’s part of the culture of this administration. When they don’t have a good argument, they just go to name calling. That’s what her boss does to me, so I just let that roll off,” Massie said.
Pressed on why he has not publicly recounted the names he’s been able to view in the unredacted documents lawmakers have gained access to, Massie said that the DOJ’s responsibility is to provide the evidence.
“The victory is forcing them to release their own documents that show they listed them as co-conspirators. I could go read the names, but I don’t have the evidence with me. They hold the evidence attached to the names,” he told reporters.
He added, “My question to Pam Bondi, that she wouldn’t answer, is: Do you have any structure in your organization? Do you know who the individual was who put the black ink over the one most incriminating document there is on Les Wexner? That’s the name I want. That’s the person I want to come in front of oversight.”
Asked about having survivors of Epstein’s abuse in the room, Massie replied, “I think it’s helpful. I mean, they’re the reason this bill got passed. People are saying, ‘When will you be satisfied?’ I’ll be satisfied when those victims are satisfied, the survivors who are here today. And until then, I’m going to, you know, work my butt off trying to get the DOJ to comply with this law.”
“May I have 20 seconds?” Bondi’s defection playbook
It’s clear that Bondi has a playbook for responding to questions she doesn’t want to answer.
She showed up to Wednesday’s hearing with background on the committee’s lawmakers to bring up when faced with unfriendly — or even — basic questions.
“Let’s hear the opposition research,” Rep. Jesús G. “Chuy” García, a Democrat of Illinois, quipped, when she asked for 20 additional seconds of hearing time to take a swipe at him.
Multiple times, instead of answering the question before her, Bondi has described a crime that was committed — often by an immigrant — in the member’s district.
She has also frequently brought up a vote or a position that lawmaker has taken opposing a piece of anti-crime legislation.
Sometimes, instead of answering a Democrat’s question related to the Jeffrey Epstein probes, she asked them why they didn’t raise those concerns to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
And occasionally, when things have gotten especially heated with Democrats, she’s pleaded to the Committee Chairman, Republican Jim Jordan: “I’m not going to get in the gutter with these people.”
Rep. Jared Moskowitz didn’t even formulate a proper question based on a monologue he gave on the Trump administrtaion’s Epstein ties. He said he was going to give Bondi 25 seconds to “flip to the Jared Moskowitz section of the binder.”
“I’m interested to see what staff provided on the oppo on me. And because we’re in the Olympics, I’m going to give a grade on how good it is,” he said.
Democrat brings up son's murder to press Bondi on treatment of ICE protest shooting victims
Rep. Lucy McBath praised Attorney General Pam Bondi for how prosecutors working under her when she was Florida Attorney General handled the investigation into the murder of her son. Then McBath used that experience to press Bondi on how Trump administration officials smeared the victims of deadly shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis.
McBath recalled that the Florida prosecutors protected the name of her son — who was shot and killed at 17 years old — from allegations from his murderer that he was a thug.
“The compassion and respect that my family received throughout that ordeal were critical in helping us keep faith in the rule of law and justice,” the Georgia Democrat said.
McBath recounted how administration officials called Alex Pretti and Renee Good “domestic terrorists.” She asked Bondi to protect their names like the Florida prosecutors who protected her son’s name.
During most of McBath’s colloquy, Bondi refrained from interjecting — a major shift in the contentious tone she has taken with most Democrats on the committee.
She told McBath that the department is “looking at everything to shed light on what happened that day.”
McBath, however, pushed back against those assurances, noting how the investigations had been slow walked and that an investigator resigned from Good’s case because of the pressure from top DOJ officials.
Bondi: Ghislaine Maxwell will "hopefully die in prison"
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday that Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to abuse minors, will “hopefully die in prison,” as President Donald Trump has left open the possibility of granting her clemency.
The comment from Bondi came as she was fielding questions from a Democratic lawmaker about the Trump administration’s approach to Maxwell, who was moved last summer from a Florida prison to a lower-security prison camp in Texas after she sat for a two-day interview with one of Bondi’s deputies.
The attorney general insisted that Maxwell’s new facility was on equal footing with her old one, and claimed she had no involvement in the decision to transfer her between the two, a move with which she said she disagreed.
More recently, Maxwell has said that if Trump granted her clemency, she would clear his name of any wrongdoing as it pertains to Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in 2019 as he awaited trial on child sex abuse charges.
“Should Donald Trump pardon or commute her sentence?” Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross asked Bondi. “You said you hope she dies there so I’m hoping the answer is ‘no.’”
“I already answered that question,” Bondi replied.
Trump has not ruled out the possibility of offering Maxwell a pardon or commutation.
Bondi pressed on why Justice Department hired Capitol rioter
When pressed on why the Justice Department employs a man who encouraged others to kill law enforcement on January 6, 2021, Attorney General Pam Bondi explained it away — noting that President Donald Trump had issued commutations and pardons for those who stormed the Capitol.
Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse played a video of the man, ex-FBI agent Jared Wise, from the Capitol riot shouting “Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em!” at law enforcement during the attack.
Neguse noted that a “federal grand jury indicted (Wise) for two felonies and four misdemeanors related to his participation in the attack on January 6,” including assaulting or resisting police.
Bondi confirmed that Wise was a DOJ employee — having been hired as a senior adviser last summer.
“I believe he was pardoned by President Trump,” Bondi said.
“Oh, he was pardoned. You’re right. You’re right, pardoned by President Trump for his offense, pardoned for yelling ‘kill him’ at police officers,” Neguse said. “And yet you expect hard working police officers across the country to believe that you take law enforcement seriously.”
The trial against Wise was set to conclude, but prior to a verdict President Donald Trump pardoned those involved in the attack and the case was dismissed at the request of Trump’s Justice Department.
Wise, during trial, claimed that his comments urging people to kill law enforcement “was just an angry reaction,” according to NPR.
Bondi grilled on Trump domestic terrorism order aimed at left-wing groups
Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to answer a lawmaker’s yes-or-no questions about the work the Justice Department is doing to comply with President Donald Trump’s controversial “domestic terrorism” order that takes aim at left-wing groups.
Rep. Mary Scanlon noted that Trump’s September 25, 2025 order has been criticized for being “designed to silence those who disagree with the administration.”
The Pennsylvania Democrat pointed to a command in the executive order that the Justice Department submit to Trump and White House aide Stephen Miller a list of groups that could meet the definition of a domestic terrorist group. She asked Bondi whether the department had compiled the list, requesting a yes or no response.
Bondi indicated she would not answer with a yes or no, attempting to pivot to a response about antifa, and Scanlon quickly moved on.
She asked if Bondi would commit to providing to the committee any list of organizations the department was recommending for domestic terrorism designations.
“I’m not going to commit to anything to you, because you won’t let me answer questions,” Bondi said.
Trump’s order said it was targeting violent “anti-facism” movements, which it described in broad terms as “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”
Scanlon noted that the department is legally required to notify Congress when it designates a group as a foreign terrorism organization.
“No, you don’t get anything,” Bondi shot back.
Hearing breaks for House vote
Lawmakers are breaking for House votes.
Among the legislation being weighed by House members today is a push to curb Trump’s authority on tariffs and stricter voting rules.
Bondi touts effort to "protect" protesters who advocate conservative causes
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday touted the Justice Department’s efforts to “protect” protesters advocating on behalf of conservative causes as a “Weaponization Working Group” intended to focus on the issue is expected to ramp up its work.
“That was one of the main focuses of President Trump and this administration,” she told lawmakers Wednesday.
CNN reported earlier this month that the working group established by Bondi last year is now expected to meet daily in an effort to produce results in coming months.
Among the group’s priorities are probing allegations that the department, under former President Joe Biden, discriminated against religious adherents, and a memo meant to protect school board members against threats from parents.
CNN’s Casey Gannon contributed to this report.
Massie tells Bondi he caught her "red handed" over Les Wexner redaction
Rep. Thomas Massie, one of the only Republicans to address Jeffrey Epstein and the redacted files released by the Justice Department during Wednesday’s hearing, pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi on why names were redacted in an FBI document listing potential co-conspirators of Epstein.
“Are you able to track who it was that obscured Les Wexner’s name as a co-conspirator in an FBI document?” Massie asked in regard to the billionaire business magnate.
“Within 40 minutes, Wexner’s name was added back,” Bondi said of the FBI document, which was partially unredacted after Massie noted the issue when he reviewed unredacted versions of DOJ documents earlier this week.
“In 40 minutes of me catching you red handed,” Massie shot back.
Bondi defended herself, saying “there was one redaction.”
“He’s listed as a co-conspirator!” Massie said.
Lawyers for Wexner said in December that the Assistant US Attorney in charge of the Epstein investigation “stated at the time that Mr. Wexner was neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect.”
Read more about the FBI document here.
Massie also noted that in several documents he was able to review without redactions, redactions still existed — including large white-blocks in FBI files.
“This guy has Trump derangement syndrome,” Bondi said after Massie’s time to question her expired.
Video of Trump talking to Epstein plays at hearing
After Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu played a decades old clip of Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump speaking at a party, Attorney General Pam Bondi said “there is no evidence that Donald Trump has committed a crime.”
Lieu then accused Bondi of lying under oath, saying that a witness reported they talked to a woman who said she was raped by Trump.
“Don’t you ever accuse me” of committing a crime, Bondi snapped back.
Trump has never been charged with an Epstein-related crime and has denied any wrongdoing tied to his relationship with the accused sex trafficker.
More people should be charged with Epstein related crimes, lawmakers say
Lawmakers have repeatedly asked Attorney General Pam Bondi about men who appeared in the Epstein files, questioning why additional people are not facing charges for his alleged sex trafficking operation.
Among the people who are photographed in the files is former Prince Andrew, who attended various parties with Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats have also mentioned President Donald Trump’s appearance in some of the documents.
But appearing in the files is not enough evidence for the department to bring charges, Bondi has pointed out.
In a memo from last summer, the Justice Department and FBI said that investigators “did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”
Neither Trump nor former Prince Andrew have been charged with an Epstein-related crime and both have denied any wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, Democratic congressman in "illegal orders" video threatens DOJ with legal action
An attorney for Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, one of the Democrats targeted by the Justice Department over their “illegal orders” video, went on offense in a letter to US attorney Jeanine Pirro, saying he will take legal action if prosecutors try again to indict him.
“The baseless and absurd allegations by Donald Trump, followed by your carrying out of the President’s political retribution campaign has already gone too far, and are evidence of yet another abuse of power directed at those who dare speak out and criticize this Administration,” wrote Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Crow.
Lowell said in the letter that the Justice Department should preserve all records and documents.
Crow’s lawyer said potential legal action could include claims that the lawmaker’s rights were violated, including his First Amendment protections and Speech or Debate Clause protections, among others.
The letter was sent a day after a federal grand jury declined to indict the Democratic lawmakers related to the video released in November. The six, who are veterans or former intelligence officials, urged service members and intelligence officials in the 90-second video to disobey any illegal orders from the Trump administration.
Democrat accuses Bondi of doing a "Jekyll and Hyde kind of routine" in testy hearing
A Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee accused Pam Bondi of doing a “Jekyll and Hyde kind of routine” as the attorney general’s testy exchanges with members of his party contrast heavily with her more measured responses to questions from Republicans.
“You do a Jekyll and Hyde kind of routine around here and I just want you to answer my questions,” Rep. Hank Johnson, of Georgia, said as Bondi refused to field some of his queries.
“What does Jekyll and Hyde mean? Can you explain that?” Bondi shot back.
“It means you’re nice to the Republicans and you turn like Hyde on Democrats,” the congressman responded.
Wednesday’s hearing has featured tense exchanges between Bondi and Democrats on the panel, with the attorney general hurling insults at several of them and repeatedly refusing to engage on topics concerning Jeffrey Epstein and the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, among others.
Republicans, meanwhile, have seen no such tension as they’ve lobbed largely softball questions at Bondi and praised her leadership at the Justice Department.
Testimony highlights threats to lawmakers
During Bondi’s testimony, Democrats and Republicans found a rare spot of agreement: Threats to lawmakers are bad.
Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell highlighted several threatening messages and calls he has received, including against his family, and pressed Bondi on why some have not yet faced charges.
“We never expected that the Department of Justice would not seek to prosecute and investigate those who are making threats against us, and that would include those on that side of the aisle,” Swalwell said. “I’m just asking for your help to protect life, because life is at risk with the environment we’re in right now.”
On those threat, Bondi said several direct investigations “are very active.”
“I believe one has been charged publicly, and that’s something I would be happy to talk to you about off camera, but I can assure you that they are very serious,” Bondi said. “They are being looked into, and I can give you more details on those. None 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.”
Chairman Jim Jordan followed up, saying he was “sorry for what the gentleman and his family have had to go had to go through.”
Threats against lawmakers have skyrocketed in recent years, with the United States Capitol Police reviewing hundreds of potential threats each day.
Bondi's testimony so far marked by repeated screaming matches with Democrats
Bondi’s first hour of testimony was combative, devolving into personal attacks on Democrats and screaming matches over whose turn it is to speak.
The strategy lines up with Bondi’s testimony several months ago in front of the Senate: Engage on questions about cartels, immigration and alleged weaponization of justice, launch ad hominem criticisms of democrats, and laud President Donald Trump.
The tension came almost immediately after Bondi refused to apologize for the department’s treatment of Epstein survivors and mistakes in redactions. Bondi was quick to accuse Rep. Pramila Jayapal of trying to drag her “into the gutter.”
The attorney general made the same accusation against Rep. Jerry Nadler, who similarly asked about her treatment of Epstein survivors. When Rep. Jamie Raskin jumped into the exchange to criticize what he said was an effort to avoid the question, Bondi shouted that he was a “washed up loser lawyer.”
Bondi also caught Democrats off guard with some of her answers, pivoting to the Dow numbers and ominously telling two of them, “you’re a great stock trader.”
The Democratic lawmakers haven’t shied away from the fights, repeatedly shouting over the attorney general and accusing her of wasting their questioning time.
“I think it’s pathetic that she can’t answer the questions,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren said.
Bondi calls top House Judiciary Democrat a "washed up, loser lawyer"
Attorney General Pam Bondi called Rep. Jamie Raskin — a former constitutional law professor and the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee — a “washed up loser lawyer,” as a clash between her and committee Democrats escalated over her approach to their questions.
“Not even a lawyer,” Bondi added of Raskin, a Maryland Democrat.
The jabs came after fellow committee Democrat, New York Rep. Jerry Nadler asked Bondi how many of Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirators were being indicted or investigated.
She did not immediately answer directly, prompting Democrats’ accusations of evading their questions. Raskin jumped in to warn her against filibustering, adding “I told you about that Attorney General before we started.”
“You don’t tell me anything,” Bondi shouted.
