Pam Bondi sidesteps questions on Jeffrey Epstein, blasts Democrats for asking

Emily Goodin, Miami Herald on Oct 7, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to answer questions about Jeffrey Epstein during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, instead attacking Democratic senators who asked her about it.

Bondi raised her voice as she blasted the lawmakers for their queries. Using quippy attack lines and loudly defending President Donald Trump, the attorney general sidestepped any inquiry about her handling of Epstein files and, at times, flatly refused to answer.

“I’m not going to discuss anything about that with you,” Bondi told Senator Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, when he asked her who gave the order to tell the president his name was in the Epstein files.

“Eventually you’re going to have to answer for your conduct in this, you won’t do it today, but eventually you will,” Durbin responded.

The attorney general was in fight mode during the hearing, pushing back on questions about national guard deployments in American cities and accusations that she has used the Justice Department for political purposes.

Bondi also strove to change the focus to the Democrats, repeatedly asking senators why they didn’t release any Epstein files when they were the majority party in power and raising ties the lawmakers have to Reid Hoffman, the venture capitalist and LinkedIn founder who has donated millions to Democratic causes.

Hoffman — in the early 2000s — worked with Epstein in raising funds for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. He has publicly apologized for association with Epstein.

But Bondi brandished his name repeatedly as she bashed Democrats who asked about the late millionaire, who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

When Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, inquired about a report that Epstein had photos of President Trump with “half naked young women, ” questioning if those photos were in the Justice Department’s Epstein files, Bondi pivoted to attack mode.

“You know Senator Whitehouse? You sit here and make salacious remarks, once again, trying to slander President Trump, left and right, when you’re the one who was taking money from one of Epstein’s closest confidants,” she said.

The attorney general used the same tactic when Durbin quizzed her about a July memo from her department announcing no new information had been found in its Epstein files.

“I’m not going to discuss anything about that with you,” Bondi told Durbin.

She then referenced a conspiracy theory pushed by Trump’s MAGA supporters, which claims Democrats didn’t push for the release of the Epstein files when they were the majority party because their own supporters were named in them.

“I find it very interesting that you refused repeated Republican request to release the Epstein flight logs in 2023 and 2024 you fought that. Did you take money from Reid Hoffman campaign donations, who was a huge Epstein friend? Why did you fight for years? Why did you fight to not disclose the flight log,” she said.

Hoffman’s name was in the flight logs for when he traveled to Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean for a fundraiser for the MIT research laboratory. He disavowed Epstein after his arrest.

“My last interaction with Epstein was in 2015. Still, by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice. For this, I am deeply regretful,” Hoffman told Axios in 2019.

Bondi has come under fire for her handling of the Epstein files. She and the Trump administration have been criticized for their refusal to release all of the case files.

The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed the information. Some files have become public but they contained little new information. The committee has said there are more files to come.

Trump and Epstein were friends for years but the president said the two men had a falling out sometime before the allegations against Epstein were made public.

The president has tried to move past the case but it came back into the spotlight on Monday when the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in prison for her role in helping Epstein traffic young women.

Maxwell has denied the charges. Her attorneys argued she should not have been tried because of a non-prosecution agreement Epstein signed with the government in 2007, which saw him plead guilty to one state charge and gain immunity for himself and any “co-conspirators” on future charges.

The Southern District of New York claimed that agreement — made in Florida — didn’t apply to their jurisdiction. Epstein was taken into custody and charged there, as was Maxwell.

In refusing to hear Maxwell’s case, the Supreme Court left her only one way to get out of prison - a pardon or clemency from President Trump.

Trump didn’t rule out the possibility.

“I would have to take a look,” he told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “I wouldn’t consider it or not consider it.”