By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is testifying before House lawmakers investigating Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse cases, a long-awaited appearance that brings fresh scrutiny of the Trump administration’s botched release of the Epstein case files.
Bondi was defiant in previous public testimony when she was confronted by lawmakers about the Epstein investigation. It’s unclear whether she’ll bring the same approach Friday, now that she is no longer in charge of the Justice Department. The session will be held behind closed doors.
The transcribed Bondi interview will give lawmakers a chance to dig for information on the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files and other related matters, including the prison sentence of Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell.
“I think she absolutely could clear up many missing pieces if she wanted to,” said Rep. Yassamin Ansari, an Arizona Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. “Now it’s a question of whether or not she is willing to be transparent.”
Epstein killed himself in a New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. Maxwell, a British socialite, was convicted in 2021 of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein but has insisted she’s innocent, arguing she never should have been prosecuted. The Justice Department moved Maxwell from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas last August.
Lawmakers are trying to find out what decisions prosecutors have made about investigating Epstein associates, how the Justice Department handled the congressional mandate to release the Epstein case files and whether President Donald Trump was involved in the process.
Bondi, who revealed this week that she is being treated for thyroid cancer, has stayed within the Republican president’s orbit even after being ousted from her job in early April.
Trump appointed Bondi to a White House panel on artificial intelligence this week, and she will be accompanied Friday by Justice Department officials, including Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the department’s Civil Rights Division, acting as her counsel.
Democrats say that arrangement is a conflict of interest.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department said the officials were there to help lawmakers understand the department’s process for releasing the case files.
Bondi was central to the Epstein saga
Bondi has been central to the political firestorm over Epstein, initially raising expectations for the full release of what’s known as the Epstein files, only to later backtrack. That reversal prompted Congress to step in and pass a law requiring the release.
Bondi faced even more backlash when the Justice Department’s release of the files was delayed and then included personal information of several potential victims. She has insisted in congressional hearings that she was trying to follow the law.
The House Oversight Committee, meanwhile, has been conducting a wide-ranging investigation into Epstein that spans multiple presidential administrations.
The interview format is already contentious
Bondi was subpoenaed by the committee in March in a bipartisan vote, but she tried to head off that demand by holding a closed-door meeting with lawmakers that month. The maneuver only added to the enmity between Bondi and Democrats on the committee.
Bondi’s departure from the Justice Department also raised doubts about the enforcement of the congressional subpoena. After the committee’s Democrats maneuvered to press for a civil contempt of Congress resolution against Bondi, she agreed to sit for a transcribed interview rather than a sworn deposition.
Democrats on the Oversight panel have criticized that arrangement, saying that it allows Bondi to decline to answer questions. They have also pressed the Republican chair of the committee, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, to record the interview on video.
“A failure to film and release a video of Ms. Bondi’s testimony would present a grave injustice to the American people and survivors of Epstein’s crimes,” the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, wrote to Comer.
Comer has said he is allowing Bondi to sit for a transcribed interview rather than a deposition as an incentive to cooperate. Previously, he had enforced a subpoena on former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after they resisted the demand. Both of their depositions were video-recorded.
Still, Comer said Bondi could face prosecution if she lies to Congress. He said the committee would also release a transcript of the interview.
“Hopefully that will be good enough,” he said.