Live updates: Bondi faces questions from lawmakers amid fallout over Epstein files

Attorney General Pam Bondi will be questioned by lawmakers Wednesday over the Department of Justice’s management of files related to Jeffrey Epstein that have exposed sensitive confidential information about victims despite redaction efforts.

Bondi’s appearance marks the first time she is appearing before Congress since an October 2025 hearing where she deflected questions and opposed Democrats’ criticism of her actions.

Here are the latest updates from Wednesday's hearing:

Bondi sidesteps questions about a Trump list of ‘domestic terrorists’

12:45 p.m. ET: Attorney General Bondi dodged questions from Democratic Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon about whether the Trump administration is maintaining a secret "enemies list."

"I’m not going to commit to anything to you because you won’t let me answer questions," Bondi told Scanlon in a heated exchanged.

The Associated Press reported that Scanlon was pressing Bondi over whether the Department of Justice has given President Donald Trump and top White House aide Stephen Miller a list of targeted groups and individuals the president’s September 2025 order for his administration to crack down on supporters of what it described as "left-wing terrorism."

Bondi tried to shift the question to the antifa movement before Scanlon repeated that she wanted a "yes or no" answer.

"We will comply with the law in all matters," Bondi said.

Scanlon compared Trump’s order to McCarthyism during the early years of the Cold War and the "enemies list" compiled by Richard Nixon’s White House, the AP noted.

Republican Massie gets into fiery exchange with Bondi

12 p.m. ET: Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing tough questions from Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky legislator who broke with his political party to advance the legislation that forced the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Massie questioned Bondi over the release of victims’ personal information, telling her, "Literally the worse thing you could do to survivors, you did."

Accordiing to the Associated Press, Massie also questioned her why more men seemingly connected to Epstein’s abuse are not under investigation.

Bondi responded in the way she has to most Democrats who brought up the Epstein files, by pushing back that he was only focused on the files because President Donald Trump is mentioned in them.

Several Epstein victims decline to express confidence in Bondi

11:30 a.m. ET: The Associated Press reported that Democratic Rep. Lou Correa asked several survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse who are attending Attorney General Pam Bondi’s hearing to stand and raise their hand if they felt that the Department of Justice would support them.

None raised their hand. Correa stressed the importance of law enforcement supporting victims and making sure they are heard as they seek justice.

Bondi responded to Correa’s point by saying she wanted victims to come forward.

"We want to work with them," she said.

Bondi responds to Democrat’s video of Trump and Epstein with ridicule

11 a.m. ET: Attorney General Pam Bondi to an old video of President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein at a party together by saying it was "ridiculous" for Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu to ask her whether she would investigate Trump’s connections to Epstein.

"They are trying to deflect from all the great things Donald Trump has done," Bondi exclaimed.

Bondi goes on a wide-ranging, shouting defense of Trump

10:30 a.m. ET: Attorney General Pam Bondi at one point in the hearing went on a wide-ranging, animated, minutes-long defense of President Trump in which she portrayed herself as the president’s chief protector and strayed far beyond her actual job as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.

"You sit here and you attack the president, and I am not going to have it and I am not going to put up with it," Bondi shouted during an extended speech that even praised the president for a recently surging Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Associated Press reported that Bondi painted Trump as a victim of baseless impeachments and investigations, incorrectly stating at one point that former special counsel Robert Mueller had not found foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Democrats press Bondi to investigate more people connected to Epstein

10 a.m. ET: Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren used her time to highlight several emails released in the case files on Jeffrey Epstein that seem to refer to others being involved in the abuse of underage girls and asked Attorney General Pam Bondi whether she would open investigations, the Assoociated Press reported.

"We will look and investigate any case, involving any victim," Bondi responded, adding, "We will look into anything."

However, Bondi quickly raised her tone as she accused Lofgren of filibustering her time for questioning.

Democratic legislators and the public are demanding follow-up investigations into a number of individuals who were connected to Epstein, but the FBI last year released a memo saying no one else would be charged. Also, an Associated Press review of internal Justice Department records shows investigators found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men.

Bondi hearing on Epstein files

Dig deeper:

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are expected to question Attorney General Bondi on how the Department of Justice decided what documents should and should not be made public under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The Associated Press reported that the act was passed by Congress after the DOJ announced in July2025 that no more files would be released.

FILE-Attorney General Pam Bondi testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on October 07, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Wednesday’s hearing comes several days after lawmakers visited the Justice Department office to examine unredacted versions of the Epstein files. Legislators were granted access to the over 3 million files released in a room with computers and were permitted to take notes.

On Feb.5, a collection of Epstein documents released by the DOJ, which included nude photos, names, faces, bank accounts and Social Security numbers of Epstein’s victims.

The files were released to comply with a law that required the federal government to make Epstein’s case documents public, but the redactions meant to protect his victims have been sloppy, inconsistent, or nonexistent.

Their names were supposed to be blocked out. Their faces and bodies were supposed to be hidden. Despite the Justice Department’s efforts to repair the blatant mismanagement, nude photos were on the site.

Who was Jeffery Epstein?

The backstory:

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, was known for socializing with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and the academic elite, including Trump and Clinton.

Epstein was first accused of sexually abusing underage girls in 2005, but Epstein made a secret deal with the U.S. attorney in Florida to avoid federal charges. In 2019, Manhattan federal prosecutors revived the case and charged Epstein with sex trafficking. He killed himself in jail a month after his arrest.

Epstein, with help from his longtime friend and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, sexually abused at least 1,000 women and children, according to USA Today. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping recruit some of his underage victims.

The Source: Information for this story was provided by previous LIVENOW from FOX reporting and the Associated Press. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.

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