Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi launched right into a wide-ranging, passionate defence of U.S. President Donald Trump, repeatedly shouting at Democrats throughout a combative listening to through which she postured herself because the Republican’s chief protector and tried to show the web page from persistent criticism of the Justice Division’s dealing with of the Jeffrey Epstein information.
Besieged by questions over Epstein and accusations of a weaponised Justice Division, Ms. Bondi aggressively pivoted in a rare speech through which she mocked her Democratic questioners, praised Mr. Trump over the efficiency of the inventory market and brazenly aligned herself as in sync with a president whom she painted as a sufferer of previous impeachments and investigations.
“You sit right here and also you assault the president and I’m not going to have it,” Ms. Bondi mentioned. “I’m not going to place up with it.” With victims of Epstein sitting behind her within the listening to room, Ms. Bondi defended the division’s dealing with of the information associated to the rich financier’s intercourse trafficking investigation which have dogged her tenure. However she repeatedly refused to immediately reply questions from Democrats who’ve accused her of perpetuating a cover-up and ignoring victims.
In her opening remarks, Ms. Bondi instructed the victims to come back ahead to regulation enforcement with any details about her abuse and mentioned she was “deeply sorry” for what they’d suffered.
“Any accusations of felony wrongdoing can be taken critically and investigated,” Ms. Bondi mentioned.
Ms. Bondi’s look earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee comes a 12 months into her tumultuous tenure that has amplified considerations that the Justice Division is utilizing its regulation enforcement powers to focus on political foes of the President.
Only a day earlier, the division had sought to safe fees towards Democratic lawmakers who produced a video urging navy service members to not comply with “unlawful orders”. However in a rare rebuke of prosecutors, a grand jury in Washington refused to return an indictment.
The committee chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, opened the listening to by repeating speaking factors that the Justice Division, beneath Democratic President Joe Biden, was weaponised towards Donald Trump and conservatives. Democrats and plenty of good-government advocates say it’s Mr. Trump’s personal administration that has politicised regulation enforcement.
“What a distinction a 12 months makes. Below Legal professional Basic Bondi, the DOJ has returned to its core missions — upholding the rule of regulation, going after the unhealthy guys and maintaining People protected,” Mr. Jordan mentioned.
Democrats excoriated Ms. Bondi over haphazard redactions within the information which have stored secret the names of abusers however uncovered non-public and intimate particulars about victims and likewise included nude pictures.
“Your division has proven a sample of redacting the names of highly effective predators,” mentioned Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat, studying from an electronic mail involving a withheld identify and referencing a “torture video.”
She requested victims of Epstein’s abuse to boost their hand if they’d been unable to fulfill with the Justice Division. Jayapal famous that “each single survivor has raised their hand.”
Ms. Bondi has struggled to maneuver previous the backlash over her dealing with of the Epstein information since distributing binders to a bunch of social media influencers on the White Home in February 2025. The binders included no new revelations about Epstein, resulting in much more calls from Mr. Trump’s base for the information to be launched.
Members of Congress had been on the division earlier this week to look via unredacted variations of the information. As a part of an association with the Justice Division, lawmakers got entry to the over 3 million launched information in a studying room with 4 computer systems and had been allowed to take handwritten notes.
Democrats have accused the division of redacting data that ought to have been made public, together with data that would result in scrutiny of Epstein’s associates. In the meantime, survivors have slammed the division for inconsistent or nonexistent redactions that allowed for the inadvertent launch of nude pictures and different non-public data.
Division officers have defended their dealing with of the information, saying they took pains to guard survivors, however that errors had been inevitable given the amount of the supplies and the velocity at which the division needed to launch them. The Related Press and different media organisations are nonetheless reviewing hundreds of thousands of pages of paperwork, a lot of them beforehand confidential.
An AP overview of data reveals that whereas investigators collected ample proof that Epstein sexually abused underage women, they discovered scant proof the well-connected financier led a intercourse trafficking ring serving highly effective males. Movies and pictures seized from Epstein’s properties in New York, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands didn’t depict individuals being abused or implicate anybody else in his crimes, a prosecutor wrote in a single 2025 memo.
The case involving lawmakers’ video to navy service members might present further fodder for Democrats to hammer Ms. Bondi and query how the Justice Division is utilizing its investigative authority.
The video, that includes Democrats who’re veterans or have expertise within the intelligence group, angered the administration — Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, particularly.
The Justice Division opened an investigation into the video through which Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, together with 4 different Democrats, urged US service members to comply with established navy protocols and reject orders they consider to be illegal.
A grand jury in Washington on Tuesday (February 10, 2026) declined to subject any indictments. It wasn’t instantly clear whether or not prosecutors had sought indictments towards all six lawmakers or what cost or fees prosecutors tried to carry. But it surely marked the newest occasion of a grand jury rebuffing the Justice Division in circumstances involving critics of the administration.
Revealed – February 11, 2026 11:38 pm IST