By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON, May 29 (Reuters) – Former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared on Friday before a closed meeting of a Republican-led congressional committee to testify on the Justice Department’s release of documents related to its investigation of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“We will be asking today about why documents still are not released….what documents remain and why they haven’t been turned over,” House of Representatives Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told reporters beforehand.
He said that no documents should be held back from the committee.
Under Bondi, the Justice Department released more than 3 million pages of records but faced criticism for holding some of that material from the public. DOJ officials said they would not release information that exposed victims or compromised ongoing investigations, but Democrats and some Republicans accused Bondi of trying to shield President Donald Trump from scrutiny. Trump opposed the release of the information until shortly before Congress overwhelmingly passed a law ordering their release.
Trump fired Bondi on April 2, in part due to her handling of the Epstein files.
Trump and Epstein socialized in the 1990s and early 2000s, but Trump has repeatedly said he ended the relationship before Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor.
He was arrested again in 2019 and charged with sex trafficking of minors, accused of recruiting and abusing underage girls in New York and Florida. His death that year in a New York jail cell was ruled a suicide.
The Epstein files revealed the financier’s ties to powerful people including Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Duke of York. All have said they had no knowledge of Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking.
Democratic Representative Robert Garcia of Texas criticized Comer’s decision to not videotape Bondi’s interview, which he said would have allowed the public to gauge her demeanor.
Garcia also said Democrats have questions about the incomplete release of the files, and why some containing private information about Epstein survivors were released to the public, which he said put them in danger.
One survivor of Epstein’s abuse also was on hand to criticize Bondi’s handling of the material.
“It boggles my mind that the Department of Justice released nude photos…the Department of Justice released pornography. That is unacceptable,” survivor Charlene Richard told reporters outside the committee hearing room.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan and Doina Chiacu; editing by Andy Sullivan and Chizu Nomiyama )
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