A hearing before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on February 11 turned contentious as Democratic lawmakers accused Pam Bondi of covering up records related to Jeffrey Epstein and turning the Department of Justice (DOJ) into a “tool of retaliation” for Donald Trump.

According to Agence France-Presse, Bondi defended the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein file disclosures during the hearing, insisting the department complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress in November 2025. The law requires the full release of all documents related to Epstein within 30 days.

Bondi said hundreds of attorneys spent thousands of hours reviewing millions of pages to ensure legal compliance.
“We had just 30 days to review, redact, and unredact millions of pages. Our error rate is very low,” she told lawmakers.

She added that if any individual names were improperly redacted, or if victims’ identities were not adequately protected, the DOJ would immediately correct the issue once notified.

However, Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the committee, argued that the DOJ has released only about three million of the six million documents required by law. He accused the department of excessive redactions that go beyond what the statute allows.

“You are running a massive cover-up of Epstein inside the Department of Justice,” Raskin said, alleging that the names of “abusers, enablers, and accomplices” were concealed to avoid reputational damage. He also criticized instances in which some victims’ identities were not fully redacted.

Meanwhile, according to Reuters, Republican Representative Thomas Massie accused the DOJ of a “serious failure” to comply with the law mandating disclosure of the Epstein files.

Massie specifically questioned why the name of billionaire Leslie Wexner was redacted in an FBI document listing individuals who may have been connected to Epstein’s sex trafficking network. He argued that the redaction raised suspicions the DOJ was deliberately shielding powerful figures.

In response, Bondi said Wexner’s name appears multiple times in other released documents and that the redaction in the FBI file was removed “within 40 minutes” after it was discovere

Bondi also acknowledged that there are still “ongoing investigations” related to the Epstein case but declined to provide details. Her deputy, Todd Blanche, has previously stated that no additional prosecutions are expected.

The hearing grew more heated as Democratic lawmakers continued to criticize the DOJ for prosecuting individuals viewed as political opponents of Trump, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Raskin accused Bondi of “turning the people’s Department of Justice into Donald Trump’s instrument of revenge.”

“Trump orders prosecutions the way people order pizza, and you deliver every time he asks,” Raskin said.

Jeffrey Epstein—who maintained extensive ties with politicians, business leaders, and celebrities—was found dead in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors. To date, only his former partner Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in the operation.