House Dems to GRILL Bondi on Epstein files: ‘Why didn’t they follow the law?’

[0:00] Former Attorney General Pam Bondi set to give closed-door testimony this morning over her [0:04] handling of the federal government's investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and [0:09] his former girlfriend and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. As head of the DOJ, [0:13] Bondi faced heavy criticism over the release of millions of documents pertaining to Epstein, [0:17] some that actually revealed personal information and images of abused survivors that should have [0:22] been redacted. The committee voted back in March to subpoena Bondi, with lawmakers telling the AG [0:26] she possessed valuable insight into the agency's release of the files. Who better than her? [0:31] When she declined to appear for an April 14th deposition, though, Democrats on the committee [0:35] filed contempt charges, arguing she was obligated to testify, despite President Trump ousting her [0:41] from her role earlier that month. Lawmakers say they'll ask Bondi about what decisions prosecutors [0:46] made about investigating Epstein's associates, how the DOJ handled the congressional mandate to [0:51] release those files, and whether the president himself was involved in that process at all. [0:56] I want to bring in Democratic Congressman James Walkinshaw of Virginia. He's a member of the [1:00] House Oversight Committee. He'll be with Bondi later today. There's a lot of directions that [1:05] this could go, and I wonder for you what the top question or questions you have for the former [1:11] attorney general are. Well, I want to understand why they didn't follow the law. They didn't release [1:15] the files on time. They didn't release all the files. Still haven't. They illegally redacted files, [1:20] including files embarrassing to Donald Trump. Why did they do that? What conversations took [1:25] place between Pam Bondi and President Trump or folks at the White House about those decisions? [1:31] And why was Ghislaine Maxwell transferred to a low-security, cushy prison camp after her [1:39] conversation with Todd Blanch? So those are just a few of the questions that I want answers to. [1:45] We're going to try to get those answers today. And I think we should also point out that this is [1:49] someone who, in bipartisan fashion, people on the Oversight Committee wanted to speak to. So this [1:55] is not going to be, though it will be friendly from some Republicans, not necessarily across the [2:00] board. And I think that that will potentially breed some interesting moments. We expect that we're going [2:04] to see a transcript of this at some point. So we'll have some insight, but it's not on video. [2:09] That makes it different, for example, than the way the Clintons were interviewed. And you can argue [2:14] about who has more insight here. But the head of the DOJ was the person who was in charge of DOJ [2:18] releasing these documents in the first place. So for folks who are wondering, hey, why am I not [2:23] seeing this on camera? Can you just remind us how we got to this place? Well, it's all part of the [2:27] cover-up, unfortunately. And we see Republicans in Congress, including our chairman James Comer, [2:33] facilitating that cover-up. The American people deserve to see Pam Bondi on video, just like they saw [2:39] Bill and Hillary Clinton on video. And as we discussed before, Hillary Clinton didn't have anything to do [2:44] with the Epstein files or the crimes that were committed. The subpoena was for a deposition, [2:51] which meant it would have been on video, under oath. Chairman Comer made the decision in negotiations [2:56] with Pam Bondi to downgrade that to a closed door, behind the scenes, transcribed interview, [3:05] so the American people will never see it. They'll be able to read it at some point in the future, [3:09] but they'll never see it. And unfortunately, that adds to the feeling out there across the country [3:14] that there's been a cover-up here. [3:16] And at the same time, Bondi, when put in front of cameras, has been, we'll say, fiery, to put it [3:22] in one way. She's also obfuscated on many of the key questions around the release of the Epstein files, [3:29] though. And so I wonder, whether it's on camera, off camera, transcribed, what have you, [3:33] can you trust what she's saying? Well, if she lies to us today, she'll be violating the law. [3:40] I think the challenge might be getting answers out of her. She might refuse to answer questions. [3:45] She'll try to evade questions. As you noted, she gets combative and aggressive when asked difficult [3:51] questions that she doesn't have good answers for. But we're going to press and pin her down. [3:55] I don't think she's going to get away with telling us whatever the Dow is at today, [3:58] as she did in previous public hearings. Yeah, that was quite the moment. I also think it's striking [4:03] that you've got one of the top DOJ officials in Harmeet Dhillon coming as part of Bondi's [4:09] counsel. I wonder your reaction to that news and how it's not a conflict of interest or how DOJ is [4:15] saying it's not. Well, Pam Bondi is a private citizen today. So the fact that DOJ officials, [4:21] including Harmeet Dhillon, will be there, what I read into that is they're there to make sure she [4:26] stays in line. They want to make sure that she doesn't say anything that could embarrass [4:31] President Trump. That's what this is all about. I think Harmeet Dhillon is also auditioning [4:36] for the job of attorney general. There's a competition going on between her and Todd Blanche. [4:41] I think you'll see her come out before the cameras today and try to make a spectacle [4:44] of herself to get Donald Trump's attention and hopefully secure that role for herself as attorney [4:50] general. Where does it go next, though? I mean, the fact that you have Bondi in front of you was such [4:54] a focal point for Democrats like you on the committee. Now that you're getting her, [4:59] what's the next step? Well, we're going to continue our interviews. You know, we had a, [5:05] you know, I think, interesting interview with Tova Noel, the prison guard, a couple of weeks ago. [5:09] Each interview we have is revealing small bits of information that lead to more questions. [5:17] My hope ultimately is that our investigation, the Oversight Committee's investigation, [5:21] when we get all the documents and we will ultimately get all the documents, [5:25] even if the administration tries to prevent that from happening, we will, leads to a future [5:30] Department of Justice, most likely reopening the investigation when they realize that there's a [5:35] lot of questions that need to be asked. Yeah. And finding more accountability for the survivors at [5:40] the center of this, several of whom are going to be speaking, is my understanding, before Bondi comes [5:45] to testify. So we'll see some of that this morning. We'll keep the focus on this. I'm very interested [5:50] to see what you guys come out with. Democratic Congressman James Walkinshaw of Virginia, [5:54] thank you for coming on for this very important preview.