Attorney General Pam Bondi desperately refused to answer questions about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday in a combative hearing where she personally attacked Democrats looking for answers about her department’s handling of documents in the case.
“Who gave the order to flag records related to President Trump?” asked Senator Dick Durbin, ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“To flag records for President Trump?” Bondi asked.
“To flag any records which included his name?” Durbin clarified.
“I’m not going to discuss anything about that with you,” Bondi declared defiantly.
It was reported in July by the Wall Street Journal that Bondi, who previously served as Trump’s personal attorney, briefed the president that his name appeared in the Epstein files multiple times.
On Tuesday, the nation’s top law enforcement official repeatedly refused to answer questions on the disgraced financier and her failed promise to release more information. Bondi came into the hearing prepared with her own accusations to lob against Democratic senators who raised questions about Epstein and Trump.
“Eventually, you’re going to have to answer for your conduct in this. You won’t do it today, but eventually you will,” the senator blasted her.
When Durbin asked why the July 7 memo from the FBI and Justice Department stating there would be no further charges related to Epstein or a client list was unsigned, Bondi insisted that FBI Director Kash Patel had already answered and would not elaborate before going after Durbin personally.
“I find it very interesting that you refused repeated Republican requests to release the Epstein flight logs in 2023 and 2024. You fought that,” she accused the Illinois lawmaker.
“Did you take money from Reid Hoffman, campaign donations, who was a huge Epstein friend? Why did you fight for years? Why did you fight to not disclose the flight logs, Senator Durbin?” she continued to fire back.
Durbin denied refusing requests to release logs. He said the senator who requested it never put it in writing as directed. He also denied knowing Hoffman, the Silicon Valley billionaire and major Democratic political donor.
Durbin was not the only Democrat to press the attorney general. She received pushback from other lawmakers over the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files.
When Senator Sheldon Whitehouse brought up the convicted pedophile, Bondi countered with allegations against the senator’s wife while refusing to answer.
The Rhode Island senator asked how many Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) compiled by the Treasury Department on Epstein, the Justice Department, and the FBI had investigated.
“I’m not sure if you’re concerned because you took money, I believe, did you from Reid Hoffman?” the attorney general countered.
She also fired back over whether he had asked the previous Attorney General Merrick Garland about it or former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta.
Whitehouse noted that Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel specifically stated they would look into Epstein when they took office.
“There’s been public reporting that Jeffrey Epstein showed people photos of President Trump with half-naked young women. Do you know if the FBI found those photographs in their search of Jeffrey Epstein’s safe, for premises or otherwise?” the senator asked.
“You know Senator Whitehouse, you sit here and make salacious remarks once again trying to slander President Trump left and right when you’re the one taking money from one of Epstein’s closest confidants, I believe, I could be wrong, correct me, Reid Hoffman, who was with Jeffrey Epstein on multiple occasions.”
A review of Federal Election Commission files does not show Hoffman making direct donations to either Durbin’s or Whitehouse’s campaigns.
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