WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Pam Bondi will face questions from lawmakers Wednesday over the Justice Department's handling offiles related to Jeffrey Epsteinthat have exposed sensitive private information about victimsdespite redaction efforts.
Bondi is confronting a new wave of criticism stemming from thepolitical saga that has dogged her termafter the release of millions of additional Epstein disclosures that victims have slammed as sloppy and incomplete.
It will be the first time the attorney general appears before Congress sincea tumultuous hearing in Octoberin which she repeatedly deflected questions and countered Democrats' criticism of her actions with her own political attacks.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are expected to grill Bondi on how the Justice Department decided what should and should not be made public under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was passed by Congress after the department abruptly announced in July thatno more files would be releasedeven though it had raised the hopes of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists.
Bondi has continuouslystruggled to move past the backlashover her handling of the Epstein files since distributing binders to a group of social media influencers at the White House last February. The binders included no new revelations about Epstein, leading to even more calls from President Donald Trump's base for the files to be released.
The hearing comes days after some lawmakers visited a Justice Department office to look throughunredacted versions of the files. As part of an arrangement with the Justice Department,lawmakers were given accessto the over 3 million released files in a reading room with four computers and were allowed to take handwritten notes.
Democrats have accused the Justice Department of redacting information that should have been made public, including information that could lead to scrutiny of Epstein's associates. Meanwhile, victims have slammed the department for inconsistent or nonexistent redactions that allowed for the inadvertent release of nude photos and other private information about victims.
The department has defended the latest rollout of more than 3 million pages of documents along with more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. The Associated Press and other media organizations are still reviewingmillions of pages of documents, many of them previously confidential.
An AP review of recordsshows 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 Virgin Islands didn't depict victims being abused or implicate anyone else in his crimes, a prosecutor wrote in one 2025 memo.
