Pam Bondi Declines to Directly Apologize to Epstein Victims During Capitol Hill Testimony

Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to turn and apologize directly to victims of Jeffrey Epstein for how the Department of Justice has handled the late convicted sex offender’s case when pressed to do so during a contentious House hearing on Wednesday.

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While questioning Bondi at the House Judiciary Committee hearing, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington asked victims of Epstein who were present in the audience to “please raise your hand if you have still not been able to meet with this Department of Justice,” after which she noted for the record that “every single survivor has raised their hand.”

Jayapal then turned back to Bondi and asked: “Will you turn to them 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 did not turn to address the victims, instead beginning to talk about her predecessor, Merrick Garland. After Jayapal again asked her to turn and apologize, the Attorney General refused, and said, “I’m not going to get in the gutter for her theatrics.”

Bondi did acknowledge the victims in her opening remarks earlier in the hearing, during which she defended her actions in the Epstein case. 

“I’m a career prosecutor and despite what the ranking member said, I have spent my entire career fighting for victims, and I will continue to do so,” she said. “I am deeply sorry for what any victim, any victim, has been through, especially as a result of that monster.”

Read more: Trump Administration Removes Some Redactions From Epstein Files After Outcry From Lawmakers

Other Democrats similarly focused their remarks in the hearing on Epstein’s victims and pressed Bondi on the Justice Department’s handling of the case. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the panel, accused the Attorney General of “siding with the perpetrators” and “ignoring the victims” in his own opening statement.

“That will be your legacy, unless you act quickly to change course,” Raskin said. “You’re running a massive Epstein cover-up right out of the Department of Justice.”

Raskin introduced Bondi to the victims and family members of late victims who were present at the hearing before remarking, “You’re not showing a lot of interest in the victims, Mrs. Attorney General.”

Later in the hearing, Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida again directly addressed the victims in the room, asking them to stand and answer a series of questions. Moskowitz asked the victims to raise their hands if they had met with the Justice Department and provided testimony and evidence, to which no one raised their hand. He then asked if they had reached out “individually, or through a lawyer or representative to offer to provide testimony and evidence,” to which all of the victims raised their hands. They all also raised their hands when asked if they had consequently been “denied or ignored” by the Justice Department and if they were still willing to speak to the department.

The Department of Justice has been criticized by lawmakers and survivors of Epstein’s abuse for its delayed release of files related to the late sex offender despite a law requiring that it make all government files related to the case public by Dec. 19, and for redacting the names of multiple alleged associates of the disgraced financier in the released files while failing to redact some personal information and photos of survivors.

The department took down thousands of documents from its Epstein files website earlier this month after outcry from victims and their attorneys about the haphazard redaction of potentially identifying information. Earlier this week, after lawmakers said the names of several high-profile figures had been concealed in the documents without clear legal reasons, the department also moved to un-redact more than a dozen additional names.

Bondi last testified before Congress in October, when she similarly sparred with Democratic lawmakers and gave little information over the course of a four-hour Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.