WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Pam Bondi launched into a wide-ranging, passionate defense of President Donald Trump, repeatedly shouting at Democrats during a combative hearing in which she postured herself as the Republican's chief protector and tried to turn the page from persistent criticism of the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Besieged by questions over Epstein and accusations of a weaponized Justice Department, Bondi aggressively pivoted in an extraordinary speech in which she mocked her Democratic questioners, praised Trump over the performance of the stock market and openly aligned herself as in sync with a president whom she painted as a victim of past impeachments and investigations.
“You sit here and you attack the president and I’m not going to have it," Bondi said. "I am not going to put up with it.”
With victims of Epstein sitting behind her in the hearing room, Bondi defended the department's handling of the files related to the wealthy financier's sex trafficking investigation that have dogged her tenure. But she repeatedly refused to directly answer questions from Democrats who have accused her of perpetuating a coverup and ignoring victims.
In her opening remarks, Bondi told the victims to come forward to law enforcement with any information and about her abuse and said she “deeply sorry” for what they had suffered.
“Any accusations of criminal wrongdoing will be taken seriously and investigated,” Bondi said.
Bondi’s appearance before the House Judiciary Committee comes a year into her tumultuous tenure that has amplified concerns that the Justice Department is using its law enforcement powers to target political foes of the president.
Just a day earlier, the department had sought to secure charges against Democratic lawmakers who produced a video urging military service members not to follow “illegal orders.” But in an extraordinary rebuke of prosecutors, a grand jury in Washington refused to return an indictment.
The committee chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, opened the hearing by repeating talking points that the Justice Department, under Democratic President Joe Biden, was weaponized against Donald Trump and conservatives. Democrats and many good government advocates say it is Trump's own administration that has politicized law enforcement.
“What a difference a year makes. Under Attorney General Bondi, the DOJ has returned to its core missions -- upholding the rule of law, going after the bad guys and keeping Americans safe,” Jordan said.
Democrats excoriated Bondi over haphazard redactions in the files that has kept secret the names of abusers but exposed private and intimate details about victims and also included nude photographs.
“Your department has shown a pattern of redacting the names of powerful predators,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat, reading from an email involving a withheld name and referencing a “torture video.”
She asked victims of Epstein’s abuse to raise their hand if they had been unable to meet with the Justice Department. Jayapal noted that “every single survivor has raised their hand.”
Bondi has struggled to move past the backlash over her handling of the Epstein files since distributing binders to a group of social media influencers at the White House in February 2025. The binders included no new revelations about Epstein, leading to even more calls from Trump’s base for the files to be released.
Members of Congress were at the department earlier this week to look through unredacted versions of the files. As part of an arrangement with the Justice Department, lawmakers were given access to the over 3 million released files in a reading room with four computers and were allowed to take handwritten notes.
Democrats have accused the department of redacting information that should have been made public, including information that could lead to scrutiny of Epstein’s associates. Meanwhile, survivors have slammed the department for inconsistent or nonexistent redactions that allowed for the inadvertent release of nude photos and other private information.
Department officials have defended their handling of the files, saying they took pains to protect survivors, but that errors were inevitable given the volume of the materials and the speed at which the department had to release them. The Associated Press and other media organizations are still reviewing millions of pages of documents, many of them previously confidential.
An AP review of records shows that while investigators collected ample proof that Epstein sexually abused underage girls, they found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men. Videos and photos seized from Epstein’s homes in New York, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands did not depict people being abused or implicate anyone else in his crimes, a prosecutor wrote in one 2025 memo.
The case involving lawmakers' video to military service members could provide additional fodder for Democrats to hammer Bondi and question how the Justice Department is using its investigative authority.
The video, featuring Democrats who are veterans or have experience in the intelligence community, angered the administration — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in particular.
The Justice Department opened an investigation into the video in which Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, along with four other Democrats, urged U.S. service members to follow established military protocols and reject orders they believe to be unlawful.
A grand jury in Washington on Tuesday declined to issue any indictments. It wasn’t immediately clear whether prosecutors had sought indictments against all six lawmakers or what charge or charges prosecutors attempted to bring. But it marked the latest instance of a grand jury rebuffing the Justice Department in cases involving critics of the administration.