How Pam Bondi and the Democrats turned a hearing into hysteria, right in front of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims

The overwhelming media consensus is that Pam Bondi turned in an atrocious performance at a House hearing in which she hurled personal insults at Democratic lawmakers.

And sure, she succeeded in virtually avoiding questions by repeating, like a mantra, "Merrick Garland" – as in, why did they never question Joe Biden’s AG about the Jeffrey Epstein case? (Some members conceded she had a point but couldn’t get an answer about her own tenure.)

Still, the Democrats played a major role in the meltdown as well. Members repeatedly used four minutes out of their allotted five to make angry speeches, then clashed with Bondi as she tried to deflect their questions while the final seconds ticked off.

In short, they treated the proceedings as a circus on steroids as well – yet were largely let off the hook by the mainstream media.

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Everyone looked awful. And yet, in this hyperpartisan age, neither side believed that substantive information would be unearthed. The goal these days is to create a viral moment that can be replayed on television, online, or on videos they post on social media and YouTube.

No one loves the mortal combat more than cable news producers, who milk these moments for days as anchors, hosts and guests debate them – just as the endless Bad Bunny arguments were finally starting to fade.

Despite the gravity of the subject – a child sex-trafficking ring led by a man who traded favors with supposedly upstanding members of the establishment, aided by his enabler Ghislaine Maxwell – the substance was all but lost in the shouting.

The Democrats got to call Bondi a liar and the perpetrator of a grand coverup who should immediately resign. The attorney general got to call Jamie Raskin a "washed-up loser" and Thomas Massie, a Republican, as suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome." She said of Pramila Jayapal, "I’m not going to get in the gutter for her theatrics."

When Jerry Nadler delivered a lengthy lecture about how many people have been prosecuted in the Epstein probe, he only had time to answer his own question: Zero. 

Perhaps the lowest moment came when Rep. Becca Balint, a Jewish Democrat who has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, had her turn. 

"With this antisemitic culture," Bondi said, "she voted against a resolution condemning –"

The Vermont congresswoman cut her off. "You're talking to a woman who lost her grandfather in the Holocaust," Balint proclaimed, storming out of the room.

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In a few high-decibel hours, we got a master class in screechy partisanship by both sides. But there’s a long history here, even dating to the days when the two parties weren’t devoted to the politics of personal destruction. 

Theater has always been embedded as an art form. At the 1973 Senate Watergate hearings, a deputy assistant to Richard Nixon, Alexander Butterfield, revealed the existence of a White House taping system, as top committee officials knew he would, completely transforming the investigation and leading to the panel’s bipartisan vote to impeach the president.

The 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings, about accusations of Communist infiltration, reached their peak when Army counsel Joseph Welch confronted Joe McCarthy: "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you no sense of decency?" This was at the dawn of the television age – and led to the censure of the reckless Wisconsin senator.

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Bondi was playing to an audience of one. She said more than once that Donald Trump was the greatest president in history. And he posted on Truth Social that she had been "fantastic" against the "Trump Deranged Radical Left Lunatics" and "SLIMEBALL Democrats."

What seemed especially absurd was when Bondi declared that the Epstein uproar was designed to steer attention from the Dow breaking 50,000.

For all the histrionics, it was a silent moment that carried the day.

Eleven of Epstein’s victims were seated in the audience, behind the witness. Bondi, who has never met with them, said her Justice Department was happy to immediately take meetings with any of them.  

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That’s when Jayapal – and this was a bit of a stunt – asked Bondi to turn around and apologize to these women, whose lives had been devastated by Epstein when they were girls. Pam Bondi ignored the offer.

The Democrat asked the women to stand and raise their hands if they had not yet been able to meet with the Trump Justice Department. Every one of them stood up, sending an unmistakable message.