Liz Stein, an advocate for sexual abuse survivors who has publicly spoken out about abuse at the hands of the overdue Jeffrey Epstein, spoke to U.S. House Democrats at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC on Friday, May 29, 2026 (Photo: Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — Former Attorney General Pam Bondi was on Capitol Hill Friday for a closed-door interview with lawmakers about her role in the release of federal investigation files into Jeffrey Epstein — the overdue wealthy sex offender who surrounded himself with influential business leaders, academics and celebrities, including President Donald Trump.
But Democrats who spoke to reporters outside the session criticized Republicans for not conducting the interview under oath or on camera, said Bondi did not answer many questions and blamed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for the tumultuous release of Epstein-related files. Bondi later denied on social media that he had dodged questions or tried to target Blanche.
Bondi sat for a transcribed, hour-long interview before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as the panel continues its investigation into the government’s handling of the Epstein case and sexual abuse survivors.
Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told reporters before the early morning interview began that the panel “continues to move forward and hopefully will be of use today.”
Subpoena to the Epstein estate
The Committee Lower store garden Epstein’s estate in August 2025 and made all documents obtained public, Comer said. He said the committee has since conducted more than a dozen interviews and planned six more over the summer, including with Epstein’s former assistant Lesley Groff, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and private equity investor Leon Black.
“The government has failed survivors. There is no question about it, and it has done so for five presidential administrations,” Comer said.
Comer praised Bondi for his second appearance before the committee and criticized Democrats who he said “got up and walked out” at the first meeting in March while Republicans “asked questions for a couple of hours.”
Reps. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., and Summer Lee, D-Pa., who sit on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, spoke to reporters on Friday, May 29, 2026, ahead of the committee’s closed-door interview with former Attorney General Pam Bondi. (Video by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
The Democrats on the committee were extremely critical.
The panel’s ranking member, Robert Garcia of California, said the ground rules for interviews, banning videotaping and allowing Bondi to speak without an oath, were a “disservice to the American people.”
After their questioning, House Oversight Democrats and an Epstein abuse survivor spoke to reporters outside the committee room for about 30 minutes.
The minority members said Bondi refused to answer questions about Trump’s knowledge of how the Justice Department handled the Epstein documents and that a current Justice Department lawyer was in the room with Bondi and chose which questions she would answer.
They also said Bondi shirked responsibility for improperly releasing the files, which initially revealed the victims’ names.
“She continues to place all investigations and blame on Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. She said, and I quote, ‘Acting Attorney General Blanche led the entire investigation,'” Garcia said.
Blanche, whom the president appointed acting attorney general after Bondi’s departure, was Trump’s personal lawyer before his second term. Democrats on the committee said they plan to ask Blanche to come before the panel for questioning.
Bondi shoots back
Bondi disputed Garcia’s statement to reporters that she blamed Blanche for the release of the Epstein files.
In two posts on Friday afternoon
She also denied it Remarks to reporters from panel member Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., that she had not commented on the president’s knowledge of Epstein’s actions.
“MISREPRESENTATION by Walkinshaw. What the world knows to be true is that President Trump banned Epstein from Mar a Lago decades ago when Epstein was a despicable idiot!!” Bondi wrote.
The state’s newsroom contacted the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response. Trump has denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed in a written statement to States Newsroom that department employees accompanied Bondi to the interview.
“Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and other Justice Department staff participated in former Attorney General Bondi’s transcribed interview to help the Committee understand the Department’s role in implementing and complying with the Epstein Files Transparency Act during her tenure,” the statement said.
The spokesperson continued, “As former Attorney General Bondi supervised the Department at the time of passage and implementation of the Act, the DOJ’s presence was solely to ensure an accurate representation of the Department’s processes, facilitate any necessary clarifications, and support a complete record of facts for the Committee.”
“As with any congressional engagement involving prior Department actions, DOJ routinely provides staff with relevant institutional knowledge to support transparency, accuracy, and collaboration in oversight tasks.”
The survivor speaks out
Epstein survivor Liz Stein, now a human trafficking specialist and advocate for World Without Exploitation, told the committee room that the Trump administration must do more to bring justice to victims.
“These files contain clues, names, connections, friendships, patterns, witnesses, travel records, financial relationships and institutional failures,” Stein said. “In any other sex trafficking case of this magnitude, these leads would be aggressively pursued, but in this case that is not the case.”
