Bondi Clashes With Democrats Over Epstein Files During Heated Hearing

WASHINGTON (AP) � In an aggressive hearing where she positioned herself as the Republican president's top defender, Attorney General Pam Bondi launched into a passionate defense of Donald Trump on Wednesday, trying to turn the page from her constant criticism of the Justice Department's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Bondi repeatedly yelled at Democrats. Tormented by inquiries concerning Epstein and In an extraordinary speech, Bondi aggressively shifted course in response to accusations of a weaponized Justice Department. She openly aligned herself with a president she portrayed as a victim of previous investigations and impeachments, praised Trump for the stock market's performance, and made fun of her Democratic questioners. "I will not tolerate it if you sit here and attack the president," Bondi said to members of the House Judiciary Committee. "I will no longer tolerate it.".

Derek Mallory

Bondi vehemently defended the department's handling of the files pertaining to the well-connected financier, a problem that has plagued her career, while Epstein's victims sat behind her in the hearing room. Even though Republicans started the commotion over the Epstein files and Bondi herself stoked the fire by giving binders to conservative influencers at the White House last year, she blamed Democrats of manipulating the files to divert attention from Trump's accomplishments.As Bondi continually insulted Democrats and said she wasn't "going to get in the gutter" with them, the session swiftly turned into a partisan squabble. In one especially heated exchange, the attorney general referred to the senior Democrat on the committee as a �washed-up loser lawyer � not even a lawyer� when Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland accused Bondi of not answering his questions.

The session quickly devolved into a partisan argument.
Bondi repeatedly insulted Democrats during the exchange.
She claimed she would not �get in the gutter� with them.
The discussion became especially heated between Bondi and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland.
Raskin accused Bondi of not answering his questions.

Partisan Clashes Dominate Hearing as Bondi Deflects Democratic Criticism**

Aiming to help Bondi amid an onslaught of Democratic criticism, Republicans tried to keep the focus on bread-and-butter law enforcement issues like violent crime and illegal immigration. Bondi, for her part, repeatedly deflected questions from Democrats, responding instead with attacks seemingly gleaned from news headlines as she sought to cast them as disinterested in violence in their districts. Democrats grew exasperated as Bondi declined time and again to directly answer.

Bondi has struggled to move past the backlash over the Epstein files since she handed out the binders to a group of social media influencers 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. In her opening remarks, Bondi told Epstein victims to come forward to law enforcement with any information about their abuse and said she was �deeply sorry� for what they had suffered. She told the survivors that �any accusation of criminal wrongdoing will be taken seriously and investigated.�

Steven T Stone

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