Attorney General Pam Bondi may have to testify on claims that the Department of Justice made "deliberate attempts to intimidate survivors" of late financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to reports Tuesday.
Bondi was scheduled to testify on Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee, and survivors of Epstein have written 15 questions for her ahead of the hearing, Newsweek reported. Bondi was expected to be asked about redactions, records management and the DOJ's compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the department to turn over the high volume of materials.
The move comes as survivors have demanded answers and criticized the DOJ over its lack of reductions and why some of their names and personal information were not redacted, while the names of some of Epstein's inner circle were heavily redacted. DOJ officials had claimed that part of why the full files were not immediately released was due to redacting and the goals of protecting survivors.
"Bondi, who is set to appear before House investigators this week, has defended the department’s process while acknowledging instances of missed redactions," Newsweek reported. "She and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche have said the department employed more than 500 reviewers to process millions of pages and removed files identified by survivors or counsel for further review, according to official correspondence."
In the letter for Bondi issued ahead of the hearing, the survivors said the following:
"We must be clear: this release does not provide closure. It feels instead like a deliberate attempt to intimidate survivors, punish those who came forward, and reinforce the same culture of secrecy that allowed Epstein's crimes to continue for decades," Newsweek reported.
They asked this first question: "Who approved the release of the documents that exposed survivors' names and identifying information?"
