The House Oversight Committee on Thursday released a transcript of its interview with former Attorney General Pam Bondi on the Justice Department’s handling of the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Bondi appeared before the panel last week after skipping the April 14 hearing she had been subpoenaed to attend before President Donald Trump fired her that month. Her interview was not video recorded, but Rep. James Comer, the committee chairman, said it would be transcribed.
The 111-page transcript reveals the extent to which Bondi addressed — and often, dodged — questions from the committee about the department’s missteps in the redactions and release of the files. Here are some of the most significant details from the interview. Scroll to the bottom to read the full transcript.
Bondi put the onus on Blanche
Throughout the interview, Bondi repeatedly pointed to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was deputy attorney general at the time of the Epstein files release. She said she had put him in charge of complying with the Epstein Files Transparency Act:
- On the role she played in ensuring the DOJ complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act: “Todd Blanche supervised that entire process.”
- Who determined whether a document was considered privileged and therefore redacted or withheld: “Todd Blanche, while following the law.”
- What the DOJ’s redaction process was for documents released: “I believe that is listed in one of Todd Blanche’s memos, and he was in charge of the process and the entire release of the Epstein files.”
- Whether there was a team tasked with checking and correcting errors made in the release of the files: “Yes, done at the direction of Todd Blanche.”
- Whether the DOJ contacted any Epstein survivors to follow up on any investigative leads contained in the documents: “That would be a question for [FBI Director Kash] Patel and … Deputy Attorney General at the time, now Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.”
- On Blanche’s interview with Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell: “He was leading the Epstein matter and the release of everything from the beginning.”
Bondi also took issue with public comments made by the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia, during a break in the interview that accused the former attorney general of pushing “all the mistakes” onto Blanche.
“Representative Garcia is outside saying that I, quote, threw Todd — I’m placing blame on Todd Blanche. That is 100% incorrect. Todd Blanche is one of the most highly ethical individuals I know, and I think he is making an incredible acting attorney general,” Bondi told the committee. “And he managed this investigation — and it was a Herculean task — with very little error. And Todd did an excellent job, in my opinion, and is doing an excellent job as our attorney general. I’m not blaming anything on Todd.”
Bondi said she spoke to one attorney representing Epstein survivors
Bondi said she could not recall how many Epstein survivors reached out to the DOJ when she became attorney general, but she said “there were multiple victims, and many of which — I believe the majority — are represented by attorneys.”
She said she spoke only to one attorney, a former prosecutor whose name she could not recall.
“I spoke to her, and I believe I referred her to the FBI,” Bondi said.
DOJ lawyers spoke to other survivors’ attorneys and the FBI spoke to multiple victims, she added, directing the lawmakers to Blanche and Patel.
A DOJ official interjected repeatedly to tell Bondi if and how she could respond
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who, along with another DOJ official, sat in on Bondi’s interview, interjected multiple times to object to committee members’ questions and to advise Bondi how to respond.
At one point, Dhillon objected repeatedly to a lawmaker asking Bondi to identify 10 people named as potential “co-conspirators” in the 2019 federal case against Epstein.
When Dhillon was asked why she was objecting on Bondi’s behalf considering the assistant attorney general’s role representing the DOJ, Dhillon responded: “Because we want clear testimony coming from the Department of Justice concerning what — any witness from the Department of Justice, and that is the basis on which this witness is here, concerning her tenure as attorney general, and so that’s the scope that we’ve agreed to today.”