Former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Friday to answer questions regarding the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation files. The closed-door testimony follows months of bipartisan backlash over a botched January 2026 document rollout, which exposed the unredacted personal information and explicit photographs of survivors while withholding millions of other pages.
The hearing marks Bondi’s first formal congressional appearance since President Donald Trump removed her from the Justice Department in April.
Bondi delivered an opening statement defending her leadership during the disclosure process, which was mandated by the November 2025 Epstein Files Transparency Act. “To the best of my knowledge, the Department produced everything required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” Bondi said in her opening remarks outlining her recent thyroid cancer diagnosis and the exact scope of the 3 million released files. She did acknowledge that redaction errors occurred during the rollout.
Outside the hearing room on Capitol Hill, Epstein survivors Sharlene Rochard and Dani Bensky gathered to protest the DOJ’s earlier negligence. The advocates chanted “tell the truth” and expressed anger over the failure to protect victim identities in the previous document dumps.
House Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer told reporters the committee intended to press Bondi on the location of the withheld documents and the reasons for their delay.
The decision to conduct the interview behind closed doors drew immediate criticism from committee Democrats. Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia objected to the lack of video recording, as only a written transcript of the proceedings will be made public. Bondi’s appearance Friday resolves a standoff that began when she missed an initial April 14 deposition, prompting House Democrats to file civil contempt charges to compel her cooperation.