A House Judiciary Committee hearing descended into chaos on Wednesday while Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal shouted at Attorney General Pam Bondi about the files regarding sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Jayapal asked the victims of Epstein’s trafficking ring to stand and then asked Bondi if she would apologize to them over her handling of releasing the files. Bondi accused Jayapal of playing politics, specifically because she did not press former Attorney General Merrick Garland on this exact issue when he could have released the files.
“No, I’m gonna reclaim my time because IÂ asked you a specific question that I would like you to answer, which is will you turn to the survivors? This is not about anybody that came before you,” Jayapal said. “It is about you taking responsibility for your Department of Justice and the harm that it has done to the survivors who are standing right behind you and are waiting for you to turn to them and apologize for what your Department of Justice has done.”
“Because she doesn’t like the answer,” Bondi responded. “Why didn’t she ask Merrick Garland this twice?”
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Jayapal continued interrupting Bondi and demanded that her time be reclaimed. Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, allowed Jayapal to continue speaking during the final 17 seconds of her time.
“I’m not going to get in the gutter with this woman. She’s doing theatrics,” Bondi said.Â
Jayapal accused Bondi of engaging in a “massive coverup” by not releasing all of the files by its initial Dec. 19 deadline, which would have been in compliance with The Epstein Files Transparency Act. She stated that Bondi had not been transparent on information relating to Epstein and even transferred Epstein’s former business partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, to a minimum security prison after she sat down for a deposition with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in August.
Bondi said in February 2025 that she possessed Epstein’s client list on her desk, though the DOJ later concluded that no such client list existed. The administration later stated that she referred to documents related to several cases rather than the client list itself.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) released more than 3 million files related to Epstein on Feb. 1, which showed that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick remained in contact with Epstein as recently as 2018 and revealed thousands of texts and emails between Epstein and former White House strategist Steve Bannon from 2018 and 2019, where they discussed a variety of topics such as foreign policy, pop culture and European coalitions.
The files further showed that President Donald Trump called the Palm Beach Police Department on Epstein and informed them of his inappropriate behavior while Epstein was under investigation for sexual misconduct in 2006.
The files also showed a photograph of former Prince Andrew leaning over a woman on all fours and contained an unsent email where Epstein alleged that Bill Gates contracted a sexually transmitted disease from a Russian prostitute.
Republican California Rep. Darrel Issa told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Jayapal’s behavior during the hearing was a political “stunt.”
“Well, look, she has been just terrible. Has been single issue, disruptive and irreverent on this subject forever. But the stunt she pulled was just that. It was a stunt,” Issa said.
Andi Shae Napier contributed to this report.Â
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