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 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 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 his former girlfriend and confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell. The Justice Department moved Maxwell to a prison camp in Texas last August.
“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.”
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 Trump’s orbit even after being ousted from her job in early April.
Trump appointed her to a White House panel on artificial intelligence this week, and Bondi 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.
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 Trump’s orbit even after being ousted from her job in early April.
Trump appointed her to a White House panel on artificial intelligence this week, and Bondi 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.
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, 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, 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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.