Former A.G. Pam Bondi to testify in house committee’s Epstein investigation; lawmakers spar with DOJ

[0:00] Friday promises to be a big day in the Epstein case. Former AG Pam Bondi is set to testify [0:05] before the House Oversight Committee on Friday. Her testimony comes as lawmakers are still [0:09] clashing with the DOJ over how it is handling the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. [0:14] Scripps News Senior National Correspondent Alex Miller is live in New York with the latest on [0:18] this. And Alex, I want to get to what we hear from Pam Bondi in just a moment. But first, [0:22] we learned of an update regarding the Epstein investigation in New Mexico. What can you tell [0:27] us? Well, Del, just a couple of minutes ago, the sitting attorney general Raul Torres putting out [0:33] an open letter talking about his investigation, which he reopened in Chisauro Ranch back in [0:39] February. They searched the property the first time ever in March. Now he is asking survivors to come [0:45] forward. He put forward this letter talking about the importance of their voices and wanting to hear [0:50] from him. And this is in line with what I have heard personally from the people investigating what [0:57] happened in Chisauro Ranch. There is a truth commission happening right now in the New Mexico [1:01] legislature. And I spoke with one of the four members on that commission. And she said they are [1:07] getting information from survivors. Survivors are reaching out to this truth commission, but that [1:13] the commission is directing them straight to the DOJ. Representative Andrea Reeb, she says that they want the [1:20] DOJ to get the first look at these survivors to be able to interview them to find out if there was [1:26] anything that they can do in terms of prosecution for these survivors to get their stories before they [1:32] go back to the truth commission. So this is what we are hearing also now from the attorney general [1:36] asking these survivors to come forward. Right now, there is really only one known New Mexico resident [1:42] who is a survivor. But we know from talking to people on the ground, I was on the ground very recently [1:48] there. They have many survivors who have come forward over the years to sexual assault survivor [1:55] networks to come forward about their stories, but they have not yet been heard by the government. [2:00] Yeah, and there were those unconfirmed reports that there might have been bodies buried on the [2:05] Zorro Ranch in New Mexico. But I want to go to former AG Pam Bondi. She set to sit for her deposition on [2:11] Friday. Lots of members are going to want to hear whether she takes the fifth after her last [2:16] appearance before Congress. What are we expecting from her? Well, Doug, we were supposed to hear from [2:21] her nearly two months ago. She was supposed to sit for a deposition in early April right before [2:26] she lost her job as the sitting attorney general. There's a lot of questions about what we will or will [2:31] not hear from her. If you remember that hearing back in February was one of the most contentious. I covered Capitol Hill [2:37] for many years. I had not seen something so hostile, not only from Democrats and Republicans, but from [2:42] Bondi herself. There was a lot of frustration there. There was also frustration from the survivors. There [2:48] were a handful of them in the room that day sitting right behind her. They stood up and raised their hands [2:54] when they were asked about whether they wanted to speak with the DOJ, whether they had been contacted by [2:58] the DOJ. None of them, they say, had been contacted by the Department of Justice. And she, for her part, [3:05] dodged a lot of questions from Democrats on this issue. And she had some notes. If you look at the [3:11] screen right now, there was there's some binders in front of her. And she had what looks like [3:17] information about the different Democrats, their search histories at the Department of Justice when [3:22] they went there to look at the unredacted files. And so there are a lot of questions about what we are [3:27] going to hear from her, particularly because of her loyalty to the president. We have seen her be [3:33] incredibly loyal. Obviously, he fired her. So there's questions about whether she will maintain [3:38] that loyalty. She has been in hot water, Dell, over the Epstein files really since she assumed this [3:45] position. In February 2025, right after inauguration, she handed a bunch of binders to pro-Trump influencers [3:53] at the White House saying that this was part one of the Epstein files. It turned out those were [3:58] files that had already been released. She said that she had a client list sitting on her desk. Turns out, [4:03] she says there is no client list. And of course, during her tenure as attorney general, [4:08] she did not release all of the files. And by the way, they still have not yet been released. [4:15] Alex, from the file of revenge is a dish best served cold, Republican Congressman Thomas Massey, [4:21] who led the fight to get the Epstein files transparency bid in Congress, lost his seat in [4:28] Congress a week ago, but he will still be in office until January. What are we learning about his plans [4:34] while he is still in office? Yeah, he's not planning to go quietly into the good night. He says that [4:39] he's going to be identifying more names on the House floor. We've already seen him do it at least [4:45] three times. And he says what he's going to do is name some other people. This is something that members [4:52] of Congress can do because they are covered by basically a provision that allows them to avoid [4:59] liability for what they say on the House floor. And so he's planning to give more names. Sounds like [5:05] he's planning to continue to push for more files to be released. Right now, the prevailing theory is [5:14] that about half of the Epstein files have been released. He says that the current acting attorney [5:21] general deputy attorney general, attorney general, Todd Blanche has violated the law by not releasing [5:26] these files by also saying that there's nothing in there for them to prosecute. And he said that he [5:32] and Cash Patel have effectively perjured themselves by saying that there's nothing in the files. But there [5:38] are Democrats that are still also pushing for the release of more information, including Congressman Dan [5:43] Goldman, who has been going back and forth with the DOJ on X talking about wanting survivors to come forward, [5:50] survivors themselves trying to come forward before the Department of Justice. They're asking to be [5:56] heard, according to the congressman you see right here. He says there are Epstein victims who want to [6:03] provide evidence to the DOJ but are not being allowed to. The DOJ says that's not true, that they've met [6:08] with victims' counsel about this. Now, this is something that Dan Goldman is disputing. It's something [6:15] that survivors have disputed as well. The survivors that I've talked to have said that they've never been [6:20] contacted by the DOJ. But remember, there are hundreds and hundreds of survivors. That means [6:26] not all of them are getting the same treatment. That means not all of them are represented by [6:30] counsel or the same counsel. So there is a lot of gray area here about the discussions with survivors. [6:36] Our Senior National Correspondent Alex Miller, Live Force of New York. Alex, thank you.