Attorney General Pam Bondi declined to answer a direct question at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday about who instructed FBI agents to flag documents mentioning President Donald Trump during a review of investigative files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Senator Dick Durbin asked Bondi to clarify who had issued the purported order. Bondi responded: “I’m not going to discuss anything about that with you, senator.”
Durbin warned that Bondi would eventually have to answer for her conduct, though not during the hearing.
The inquiry stems from a July letter Durbin sent to the Justice Department, which noted that hundreds of personnel in the FBI’s New York field office were assigned to review Epstein-related files in March.
The letter also referenced a 2002 quote by Trump published in New York magazine, in which he described Epstein as a “terrific guy” who liked young women.
Bondi also addressed a February claim that the so-called Epstein client list was sitting on her desk.
She stated that she had not reviewed the files, adding that a joint Justice Department and FBI memo released in July found there was no client list and reaffirmed that Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while in federal custody.
Criticism and ongoing scrutiny of Epstein files
The Trump administration has faced criticism from both parties for not releasing the Epstein files despite prior assurances by Bondi and FBI officials.
Some Trump supporters have speculated about the existence of a client list containing names of powerful individuals allegedly involved with Epstein, though official investigations have found no such list.
Epstein had long-standing connections with Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell, the latter convicted in 2022 of procuring and grooming underage girls for Epstein.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence, and the Supreme Court recently declined to hear her appeal.
The hearing also touched on Bondi’s defense of the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.
When questioned by Sen. Amy Klobuchar about whether career prosecutors found insufficient evidence to indict Comey, Bondi stated that she would not discuss pending cases, noting that the indictment came from a “liberal grand jury” in Alexandria, Virginia.
Comey faces allegations of lying to Congress in 2020 about authorizing leaks during his tenure as FBI director.
Trump’s public statements and DOJ pressure
Bondi was asked about a social media post by Trump in September, in which he criticized the Justice Department for not prosecuting several Democrats and a former federal official.
Trump wrote: “They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done. We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility.”
Klobuchar questioned whether this post constituted a directive to the Justice Department.
Bondi responded that Trump is “the most transparent president in American history” and suggested his statements were consistent with previous comments he has made over the years.
When questioned about the removal of US Attorney Erik Siebert, who resigned after Trump requested his departure, Bondi stated: “I’m not going to discuss personnel decisions.”
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