Attorney General Pam Bondi is taking heated questions from lawmakers in a combative congressional hearing over the Justice Department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein that have exposed sensitive private information about victims despite redaction efforts.
The hearing passed the two-hour mark before taking a recess, and Bondi has spent the majority of it trying to turn the page from persistent criticism of the Justice Department by aggressively pivoting.
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The attorney general launched into a wide-ranging, passionate defense of President Donald Trump, mocked her Democratic questioners and refused to directly respond to their accusations that she is perpetuating a cover-up and ignoring victims, several of whom are sitting behind her in the hearing room.
Bondi also defended the department’s handling of the files related to Epstein, even as its political saga continues to dog her term. It’s the first time the attorney general appears before Congress since a similarly tumultuous hearing in October.
Here's the latest:
Democrat mocks Bondi for referring to ‘burn book’
Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz mocked the researched notes that Bondi has been been using in her come backs against Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee.
He told the attorney general that in the spirit of the Olympics, he would score the quality of the political insult and held up a small whiteboard.
Bondi responded by saying that Moskowitz had mocked the Bible by earlier holding up a copy of the book and saying that “Trump’s name appears more in the Epstein files than God appears in the book about God.”
Moskowitz shot back, “I want it from the burn book.” When Bondi declined to engage, he wrote a “0” on his whiteboard.
Garcia scolds Bondi and brings up impeachment and resignation
Illinois Rep. Jesus Garcia, a Democrat, launched into an intense litany of complaints against Bondi, asking her no clear questions, bringing up the prospect of impeachment and telling her she should resign.
Garcia tweaked Bondi by entering into the record a Wall Street Journal article that suggested Trump has complained privately about Bondi being ineffective.”
Bondi responded by bringing up Garcia’s controversial retirement announcement after Illinois’ deadline to file campaign paperwork — and after his chief of staff had quietly filed to run for the seat. The House adopted a resolution condemning Garcia’s maneuver.
Garcia called it a state political matter and told Bondi her job is to investigate federal crimes.
Trump-Netanyahu meeting at the White House concludes with no ‘definitive’ outcome on Iran
Trump-Netanyahu meeting at the White House concludes with no ‘definitive’ outcome on Iran
Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu concluded Wednesday afternoon after the two allies spent almost three hours in the White House discussing the recent developments with Iran and the war in Gaza.
The Israeli leader left out of the view of reporters and provided a broad outline of the meeting, saying he discussed “Israel’s security needs in the context of the negotiations, and the two agreed to continue their close coordination and relationship.”
But Trump said in a social media post that it was a “good meeting” but indicated that Washington would continue on the path toward reaching a deal with Tehran.
“There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated,” the Republican president said. “If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference. If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be.”
A fiery exchange over Trump administration officials referenced in the Epstein files
Among the feistiest and most bitter exchanges came with Rep. Becca Balint, a Vermont Democrat who tried to ask Bondi whether the Justice Department had questioned different Trump administration officials about their ties to Epstein.
Bondi declined to answer directly, instead saying that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had already answered questions on the issue.
As Balint tried to press further, Bondi responded, “Shame on you.” That touched off a furious response from a frustrated Balint, who said: “This is pathetic. I am not asking trick questions. The American people deserve to know. These are senior Trump officials.”
The situation became even more tense when Bondi referenced “antisemitic culture” and a resolution that she said Balint voted against.
The question was cut off by a shouting Balint, who said: “You want to go there? Are you serious? Talking about antisemitism to a woman who lost her grandfather in the Holocaust!”
Trump says he insisted to Netanyahu that US negotiations with Iran continue
President Donald Trump said he insisted to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their White House meeting Wednesday that negotiations with Iran continue as the United States pushes for a nuclear deal with Tehran.
“It was a very good meeting, the tremendous relationship between our two Countries continues.” Trump said in a social media post. “There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated.”
Bondi says she doesn’t know why Ghislaine Maxwell received prison transfer
The attorney general distanced herself from a decision last year to transfer Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and confidant of Jeffrey Epstein, to a federal prison camp in Texas.
That transfer last year by the Bureau of Prisons, which sits under the Department of Justice, has been widely criticized. Bondi said she agreed that Maxwell should not receive any comforts while she serves out a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking minors.
“I was not involved in that at all,” she told lawmakers.
Sens. Slotkin and Kelly praise grand jury for refusing to indict them
The two Democratic senators were among six lawmakers investigated by the Justice Department after appearing in a video urging U.S. military members to resist “illegal orders.”
On Tuesday, a grand jury declined to indict them over the video.
“If things had gone a different way, we’d be preparing for arrest,” Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin told reporters Wednesday. “A group of anonymous Americans upheld the rule of law.”
Slotkin said the lawmakers sent a letter Wednesday asking the Justice Department to confirm the investigation is closed. She and Kelly said they were never told what charge or charges prosecutors sought.
“This is not a good news story,” said Kelly. “This is a story about how Donald Trump and his cronies are trying to break our system in order to silence anyone who lawfully speaks out against them.”
Democrat questions Bondi for hiring of Jan. 6th defendant
Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi on why she had hired Jared Wise, who was charged in connection to the Jan. 6th 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol and was captured on a police-worn body camera urging people to “kill” officers.
Bondi acknowledged that Wise was working at the Justice Department, noting that he had been pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Neguse responded, “This is who you choose, as the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America, to hire at the Department of Justice,” and added, “and yet you expect hard-working police officers across the country to believe that you take law enforcement seriously?”
Pentagon-FAA dispute over lasers to thwart cartel drones led to airspace closure, AP sources say
The sudden and surprising airspace closure over El Paso, Texas, stemmed from the Pentagon’s plans to test a laser for use in shooting down drones used by Mexican drug cartels, according to three people familiar with the situation who were granted anonymity to share sensitive details.
That caused friction with the Federal Aviation Administration, which wanted to ensure commercial air safety and the two agencies sought to coordinate, according to two of the people.
Despite a meeting scheduled later this month to discuss the issue, the Pentagon wanted to go ahead and test it, prompting the FAA to shutter the airspace. It was not clear whether the laser was ultimately deployed.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said earlier that a response to an incursion by Mexican cartel drones had led to the airspace closure and that the threat had been neutralized. Drone incursions are not uncommon along the southern border.
Bondi sidesteps questions about a Trump list of ‘domestic terrorists’
Bondi sidestepped questions from Democratic Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon about whether the administration is maintaining a secret “enemies list.”
“I’m not going to commit to anything to you because you won’t let me answer questions,” Bondi told Scanlon in a heated exchanged.
Scanlon was pressing Bondi over whether the Justice Department has given Trump and top White House aide Stephen Miller a list of targeted groups and individuals the president’s September 2025 order for his administration to crack down on backers of what it described as “left-wing terrorism.”
Bondi tried to shift the question to the antifa movement before Scanlon repeated that she wanted a “yes or no” answer.
“We will comply with the law in all matters,” Bondi said.
Scanlon compared Trump’s order to McCarthyism during the early years of the Cold War and the “enemies list” compiled by Richard Nixon’s White House.
Republican Massie gets into fiery exchange with Bondi
Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing some of the toughest questioning from Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky lawmaker who broke with his party to advance the legislation that forced the released of the case files on Jeffrey Epstein.
Massie took Bondi to task for the release of victims’ personal information, telling her, “Literally the worse thing you could do to survivors, you did.”
He also questioned her why more men seemingly connected to Epstein’s abuse are not under investigation.
Bondi responded in the way she has to most Democrats who brought up the Epstein files, by shooting back that he was only focused on the files because President Donald Trump is mentioned in them.
She accused Massie of having “Trump-derangement syndrome” and called him a “hypocrite.”
Several Epstein victims decline to express confidence in Bondi
Democratic Rep. Lou Correa asked a handful of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse who are attending Attorney General Pam Bondi’s hearing to stand and raise their hand if they felt that the Department of Justice would support them.
None raised their hand.
Correa underscored the importance of law enforcement supporting victims and making sure they are heard as they seek justice.
Bondi responded to Correa’s point by saying she wanted victims to come forward.
“We want to work with them,” she said.
Bondi responds to Democrat’s video of Trump and Epstein with ridicule
She was responding to an old video of Trump and Epstein at a party together by saying it was “ridiculous” for Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu to ask her whether she would investigate Trump’s connections to Epstein.
“They are trying to deflect from all the great things Donald Trump has done,” Bondi exclaimed.
Former Senate GOP leader McConnell discharged from hospital after weeklong stay
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell has been discharged from the hospital after checking himself in a week ago with flu-like symptoms.
A spokesperson for the former Senate Republican leader said McConnell is “feeling better” and will work from home the rest of the week as the Senate is in session.
McConnell’s office did not give any further details on the reasons for his hospital stay.
Bondi insists the Justice Department takes seriously threats against members of Congress
Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, complained to Bondi that the Trump administration’s Justice Department had declined to bring criminal charges over death threats against him and his family and other Democrats.
Bondi said she could reassure Swalwell that such threats are being taken seriously and are the subject of active investigations.
She told members of the committee that none of them should ever feel threatened and said anyone who felt that way should feel empowered to come to her office.
Republican highlights Democrats’ past comments on illegal immigration during Bondi hearing
Republican Rep. Scott Fitzgerald handed Attorney General Pam Bondi an alley-oop of a questioning session by playing a video of past comments from top Democrats stating their opposition to illegal immigration.
Bondi used the opportunity to praise President Trump’s handling of illegal immigration.
“President Trump closed our borders on day one,” she said, arguing that it protected Americans from violent crime and illegal drugs.
Bondi declines to comment about investigation into former CIA director
Asked by Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, if former CIA Director John Brennan was going to be indicted in connection with the years-old Trump-Russia investigation, Bondi declined to confirm or deny that he was under investigation.
But, she added: “No one is above the law.”
Brennan’s lawyers disclosed in a letter made public in December that they’ve been informed Brennan is a target of an investigation in Florida. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Bondi goes on a wide-ranging, shouting defense of Trump
Bondi at one point went on a wide-ranging, animated, minutes-long defense of Trump in which she portrayed herself as the president’s chief protector and strayed far beyond her actual job as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.
“You sit here and you attack the president, and I am not going to have it and I am not going to put up with it,” Bondi shouted during an extended speech that even praised the president for a recently surging Dow Jones Industrial Average.
She painted the president as a victim of baseless impeachments and investigations, incorrectly stating at one point that former special counsel Robert Mueller had not found foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the White House
Around 11 a.m. ET, a vehicle with Israeli flags drove along West Executive Avenue, which separates the White House from the neighboring Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Netanyahu is staying at Blair House, located across the street from the White House where foreign leaders often stay.
Democrats press Bondi to investigate more people connected to Epstein
Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren used her time to highlight several emails released in the case files on Jeffrey Epstein that seem to refer to others being involved in the abuse of underage girls and asked Attorney General Pam Bondi whether she would open investigations.
“We will look and investigate any case, involving any victim,” Bondi responded, adding, “We will look into anything.”
But Bondi quickly raised her tone and volume as she accused Lofgren of filibustering her allotted time for questioning.
Democratic lawmakers and the public are demanding follow-up investigations into a number of individuals who were connected to Epstein, but the FBI last year released a memo saying no one else would be charged. Also, an Associated Press review of internal Justice Department records shows investigators found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men.
‘I’m not going to get in the gutter with this woman,’ Bondi says
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington state Democrat, excoriated Bondi over a haphazard redaction that withheld the names of “powerful predators” 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,” 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.
“For the record,” Jayapal said, “every single survivor has raised their hand.”
Jayapal asked Bondi if she would apologize to the victims, prompting a fiery back-and-forth with raised voices in which the attorney general demanded to know why the congresswoman had not asked her predecessor, Merrick Garland, the same question.
“I’m not going to get in the gutter with this woman,” Bondi said.
Pam Bondi addresses victims of Jeffrey Epstein
The attorney general addressed the victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse during the House Judiciary Committee, saying she was “deeply sorry” for what they had suffered.
Bondi has been severely criticized by survivors of Epstein’s abuse, including several who were in attendance at the committee hearing Wednesday, for failing to redact personal information, including nude photos, of victims in the release of over 3.5 million case files on Epstein.
Bondi did not explicitly apologize for that failure, but said the Justice Department has taken down files when they were made aware that they included victims’ information and that staff had tried to do “our very best in the time frame allotted by the legislation” mandating the release of the files.
“Any accusations of criminal wrongdoing will be taken seriously and investigated,” the attorney general added.
Gabbard ends intelligence reform task force
After a little less than a year, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is ending the work of a task force she created to look at big changes to America’s intelligence community.
The panel known as the Director’s Initiative Group was formed in April and charged with rooting out what Gabbard called the politicization of intelligence gathering. The group also studied ways to reduce spending on intelligence and whether reports on high-profile topics like COVID-19 should be declassified.
In announcing the end of the group’s work in a statement Wednesday, Gabbard said it was always intended to be a temporary effort as she began her work coordinating the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies.
Bondi is running a ‘vendetta factory’ out of the Justice Department, Rep. Jamie Raskin says
The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee lambasted Attorney General Pam Bondi for her leadership of the Justice Department.
“Grand juries of American citizens have repeatedly rejected your vendettas and baseless indictments brought by the hacks left at DOJ,” Raskin said.
He also criticized her for pursuing the president’s retribution campaign, replacing experienced prosecutors with what he said were weaponized “stooges” willing to do Trump’s bidding instead of actual justice.
“Trump orders up prosecutions like pizza and you deliver every time,” he said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s hearing is underway
She opened the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in a packed room at the Capitol with a defense of how she’s “keeping America safe.”
“Crime is declining, this did not happen by accident,” she said, pointing to declining rates of violent crimes.
Bondi is facing questioning from Congress as the Justice Department faces scrutiny, mostly from Democrats, on multiple fronts: how it is handling the investigations of two fatal shootings in Minneapolis by federal officers; how it has handled the mandated release of case files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; and the department’s investigation of lawmakers who produced a video urging U.S. military members not to follow “illegal orders.”
The committee chair, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, praised how Bondi has implemented President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Meanwhile, the top Democrat on the Judiciary committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, opened his portion of the hearing by introducing several survivors of Epstein’s abuse who are in the committee room.
Mexico and US security officials slated to meet in Washington, says Mexican president
Mexican defense and navy secretaries will meet with Northern Command officials in Washington on Wednesday in a meeting attended by several other countries, said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in her morning news conference. Sheinbaum said the Mexican officials would “listen” in the meeting.
“They are not taking any position other than the one we already know, which is the defense of sovereignty,” she said. “We will inform you in due course.”
She noted that Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch, who has spearheaded her government’s strategy to combat cartels, will also meet with American security officials Thursday.
The meetings are part of ongoing security talks between the two governments.
Vance sidesteps questions about commerce secretary and Epstein
The vice president cited his foreign travel for not being aware of calls for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to resign after acknowledging meetings with Jeffrey Epstein.
“I’ve been pretty occupied the last couple of days,” Vance told reporters Wednesday in Azerbaijan.
Lutnick told lawmakers Tuesday that he’d met with Epstein twice after the late financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a child. Lutnick previously said he’d cut ties with Epstein after 2005.
Vance used the question to attack Democrats.
“Certainly, you had a lot of very wealthy and powerful people who are involved in some very disgusting behavior,” Vance said, throwing out former President Bill Clinton’s name at one point. “But I do find it’s interesting that the congressional Democrats are so focused on attacking” Trump with “completely unsubstantiated attacks” about his Epstein association.
Trump deserves credit for the redacted Epstein case files being publicly available, Vance said.
Vance says Trump owes no apology for racist Obama video
Vance seemed to downplay the now-deleted video while also distancing himself from the controversy and making clear that Trump owes no further explanation or apology.
“It was one of those things where, either because the time zone changed or because we were so busy, the controversy had started and then died out by the time I even paid attention to it,” Vance told reporters in Azerbaijan.
He was traveling last week, too, when Trump posted the video that included former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama depicted as jungle primates.
Vance said the U.S. should focus on “real” problems.
Pressed multiple times on whether Trump should apologize for a video that even many Republicans criticized as racist, the vice president said no.
“I think people post things on social media, and if you post something you don’t like it, you can just take it down,” he said.
Vice President JD Vance says Olympic athletes should not ‘pop off about politics’
But he also said it “happens every Olympics.”
Vance stopped short of echoing President Trump’s assessment that administration critics on the U.S. team are hard to cheer for.
“My advice to them would be to try to bring the country together. And when you’re representing the country, you’re representing Democrats and Republicans,” Vance said Wednesday in Azerbaijan. “You’re there to play a sport, and you’re there to represent your country and hopefully win a medal.”
U.S. skier Hunter Hess drew Trump’s ire when he said being an Olympian “doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.” Trump called Hess “a real loser.”
Vance argued that “when Olympic athletes enter the political arena, they should expect some pushback.”
The vice president attended Milan’s opening ceremonies and has continued traveling in Europe and Asia.
Trump administration official says El Paso airspace closure was tied to Mexican cartel drones
The Federal Aviation Administration reopened the airspace around El Paso International Airport in Texas on Wednesday morning, just hours after it announced a 10-day closure that would have grounded all flights to and from the airport.
The FAA said in a social media post that it has lifted the temporary closure of the airspace over El Paso, saying there was no threat to commercial aviation and that all flights will resume.
A Trump administration official told The Associated Press that the airspace over El Paso was closed after Mexican cartel drones breached the airspace, but that the Defense Department took action to disable the drones.
Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the Defense Department have determined there is no threat to commercial travel, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a national security issue.
The official did not say how many drones were involved or what specifically was done to disable them.
— Darlene Superville