Former Attorney General Pam Bondi arrives with her entourage, including Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, and a police escort for a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee interview as part of the committee's ongoing probe into the Justice Department's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on May 29, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi's testimony with the House Oversight Committee was released on Thursday, revealing new details about the Department of Justice's rollout of the Epstein files.
Bondi was interviewed by House lawmakers on Capitol Hill last week and responded to questions about criticisms of how the department handled the release of documents and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators.
Here are five things to know about Bondi's testimony.
Lawmakers showed Bondi an email from the 2019 Epstein case in the Southern District of New York and asked her to comment.
At one point, Bondi's attorney, Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Justice Department, told the lawmakers, "She's not going to answer that."
"I don't recall ever reviewing this document, so I don't know who's in it, and that came from the FBI New York," Bondi said.
Bondi said that Blanche was responsible for overseeing the Department of Justice's release of the documents and materials.
“He was in charge of the process and the entire release of the Epstein files," Bondi said.
She also said he briefed her on the case as soon as she joined the DOJ as attorney general in January 2025.
"I believe Deputy Attorney General, now-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, has said on several occasions that Epstein, by that time, was dead and no one had taken — had made an effort to interview Ghislaine Maxwell to see if she had evidence of co-conspirators and other crimes, and that was why he interviewed her," Bondi said.
She said she did not recall how the interview was prompted or whether Maxwell reached out first.
"I believe — I don't believe who initiated it. If she reached out to us, I believe — I don't want to speculate, but I believe Deputy Attorney General Blanche, at the time, reached out to them because there was someone, still living, in prison, who had potential information about other co-conspirators and crimes," Bondi said.
"He may, and I'm not sure if he'd addressed that publicly. Probably. But transferring a prisoner is the decision of the Bureau of Prisons," Bondi said.
"I believe she should die in prison," Bondi said.
"She was a monster, just like Jeffrey Epstein," Bondi added. "She recruited these young women to a life of prostitution and abuse. And I often think the women that do that are just as bad, if not worse, than the men, because she participated in it."