- Former Attorney General Pam Bondi told the House Oversight Committee during a closed-door deposition that her successor, Todd Blanche, was to blame for the chaotic release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, Democrats say.
- Democratic lawmakers, including Robert Garcia, said Bondi attributed mistakes in the document release, such as improper redactions and failure to protect survivors, to Blanche.
- “It was Todd Blanche, the current acting AG, that was leading the Epstein investigation,” Garcia said of her testimony, which was underway Friday. “And quite frankly, all of the mistakes that we saw — the redactions, not protecting survivors — she continues to push that back onto the acting AG Todd Blanche, who by the way was Donald Trump's personal lawyer.”
- Lawmakers asked Bondi five times about her conversations with Trump about the Epstein case and “she refused to answer any questions” about him, according to Garcia. “In fact, she said she would not speak or respond to any questions that had anything to do with President Trump,” he added.
- She also claimed to have no prior knowledge of the controversial prison transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's convicted trafficker associate, only becoming aware of it after the fact.
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