Jake Tapper tore into Attorney General Pam Bondi for a bizarre answer she gave when defending her department’s handling of the files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Bondi went to great lengths on Wednesday to deflect from answering questions on Capitol Hill as Democrats accused her of lying under oath over the documents.
She was grilled days after the January release of millions of documents related to the disgraced financier, who died by suicide while in federal custody in New York City in August 2019, as he was awaiting trial on new sex trafficking charges.
In an absurd rant, President Donald Trump’s handpicked chief lawmaker yelled at members of Congress about the stock market, going into full deflection mode.
“The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P is at almost 7,000. The Nasdaq is smashing records,” Bondi exploded at one point. “Americans’ 401Ks and retirement savings are booming. That’s what we should be talking about. We should be talking about making Americans safe.”
On CNN’s The Lead on Thursday, anchor Tapper played a 2014 campaign ad when Bondi ran for a second term as Florida attorney general. In the video, she vowed to “fight to put human trafficking monsters where they belong, behind bars.”
“Where’s that fight?” Tapper asked. “Where is it? Where was it yesterday when Democrats pressed the attorney general on why the Justice Department hadn’t prosecuted anyone else in the Epstein case?”
The stunned CNN host added: “You were asked about a child rape sex ring. Why would we talk about the Dow?”
Bondi also accused members of Congress of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as she refused to answer questions.
It marked a huge contrast to an opening statement she gave in which she extended her apologies to Epstein survivors, telling them: “I am a career prosecutor, and despite what the ranking member said, I have spent my entire career fighting for victims, and I will continue to do so.”
“I am deeply sorry for what any victim, any victim, has been through, especially as a result of that monster,’ Bondi added.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.
The January release of millions of documents followed legislation passed in November mandating the disclosure of Epstein-related files.
The Trump administration has faced mounting criticism for its handling of the saga. Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin alleged in an interview with Axios on Tuesday that Trump’s name came up in the unredacted Epstein files “more than a million times.”
Trump, meanwhile, has consistently claimed the files were a “hoax.”
The White House did not address Raskin’s allegations when asked for comment.
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