Pam Bondi has tense exchanges with lawmakers during House Judiciary hearing over Epstein files

[0:00] Attorney General Pam Bondi is testifying at a House committee with House members elects expected [0:05] rather to grill her on a range of issues. There were some heated exchanges last year during a [0:10] congressional hearing between lawmakers and Bondi. Now some Democrats accused her of deflecting [0:16] questions with personal attacks, but tensions could run high again with issues like the Epstein [0:20] files and the Fulton County FBI raid over the 2020 election, as well as the killings of Renee [0:26] Goode and Alex Petty. Here's some of what we've heard in that testimony so far. [0:29] How many of Epstein's co-conspirators have you indicted? How many perpetrators are you even [0:36] investigating? First, you showed it. I find it. How many have you indicted? Excuse me. I'm going to [0:50] answer the question. Answer my question. No, I'm going to answer the question the way I want to [0:54] answer the question. Your theatrics are ridiculous. Chairman Jordan, I'm not going to get in the gutter [0:59] with these people, but I'm going to answer the question. How many of you indicted? Again, the [1:03] time belongs to me. I think it's very interesting. I think it's very interesting that he talks [1:10] about they indicted. The president said they indicted him twice. Mr. Chairman, please stop [1:15] the clock and restore his timing. Oh, okay. Here we go with these theatrics. The time belongs to the gentleman from New York. We will give you a few more seconds. We will do that. But when you ask a question, the witness gets to answer. You may not like the answer, but she gets to answer. The question was, how many of Epstein? They don't like the answer? [1:33] Mr. Chairman, because it's honest. So he asked a four-minute question. [1:39] Restore 45 seconds, Mr. Navarro, please, Mr. Chairman. You can let her filibuster all day long, but not on [1:44] our watch. Not on our time. No way. And I told you about that, Attorney General, before you started. [1:50] You don't tell me anything. Yeah, oh, I did tell you because we saw what you did in the Senate. [1:54] He's a lawyer. Not even a lawyer. Committee will be in order. I should get back at least 45 seconds. We will give you a few more seconds. I said that already. 45 seconds. Okay. I'm timing right now, Mr. Navarro. All right. [2:04] If you're ruining my time, the answer to my question, how many of Epstein's co-conspirators has she indicted, is zero. You have been the Attorney General for a whole year, and your DOJ fired the lead prosecutor of this case, sat on evidence this entire time, and claimed falsely last July that there were no more leads. It took an act of Congress for you to finally release part of the Epstein files, and when you did, you included personal information about the victims while protecting the names of abusers. [2:33] Time of the gentleman has expired. None of the perpetrators have been brought to justice, but enormous resources. Time of the gentleman has expired, and obviously. It's clear that under your leadership, the Department of Justice no longer works. There was no question in there. It works. Donald Trump. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. All right. So certainly seems like things were once again heated this time around. Let's bring in CBS News Congressional Reporter Torian Small, who's live on Capitol Hill following today's hearing for us. Torian, that was quite something listening to all of that. What a lawmaker [3:03] focused on when it comes to their questions about the Epstein files. Yeah, Mugo, as long as that thought was, that's a pretty accurate snapshot of this hearing so far as it relates to the crossfire conversation between Democrats on this panel and Attorney General Pam Bondi. The root of their concerns, the liberal members of this committee, has been her department's handling of the release of the Epstein files. [3:36] It's been a start. It's been a start. It's only been going on for just under an hour. We heard in the opening statement of Pam Bondi a direct call to or address to victims of Jeffrey Epstein in attendance at this hearing today. She offered her condolences and said that her department is willing to work with them for any justice that they're seeking. [4:06] who called out Attorney General Bondi and said that she believed she should turn around to those victims and apologize for what she's calling the botched rollout of the release of those Epstein files, saying, as we just heard Representative Natler say there in that exchange, [4:24] that they believe that they believe that they believe that the department deliberately mishandled the release unredacting victims names and identities while redacting their so-called abusers and doing so potentially in a deliberate way, though, as this continues, we're likely to see more of this as Bondi's response to this has been to draw a distinction between the department's transparency now on this matter and what she's calling the lack of transparency. [4:53] lack of transparency from the previous administration. Okay. Well, Torian, what other topics do you think will likely dominate today's hearing? Yeah, so far, we've heard just bits about the department's handling of law enforcement as it relates to immigration enforcement around the country. Minnesota was invoked by both the witness and Democrats on this panel. We're likely to hear more of that, especially because Democrats are negotiating with the Trump administration around a funding [5:25] measure or efforts to fund the Department of Homeland Security in lieu of funding being included in the minibus that passed a couple of weeks ago. They have until Friday to figure something else or else there will be a partial shutdown specifically for the Department of Homeland Security. Right now, what we know is that Democrats are asking for a number of things as it relates to reforms for immigration enforcement. That includes removing [5:55] removal of masks for ICE agents as well as a strict code of conduct across the board as it relates to any interactions between protesters and those law enforcement agents who go.