Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said Sunday he does not have confidence in Attorney General Pam Bondi after a combative congressional hearing during which she sparred with lawmakers over her handling of the Epstein files.
Massie, who led the charge to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act along with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), said Bondi failed to provide any of the answers he sought from her during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday.
"I don't think Pam Bondi has confidence in Pam Bondi,” Massie told host Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week.” “She wasn't confident enough to engage in anything but name-calling in a hearing. And so no, I don't have confidence in her.”
During the hearing, Bondi repeatedly refused to answer questions about the Justice Department’s release of millions of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, instead resorting to ad hominem attacks on lawmakers who challenged her.
When pressed on redactions in the public release of files that failed to comply with the law passed by Congress last year, Bondi called Massie a “failed politician” with “Trump derangement syndrome.”
Massie said Sunday serious questions remain about the DOJ’s handling of the files, including the decision not to prosecute billionaire Leslie Wexner, a former client of Epstein’s whose name appears several hundred times in the Epstein files.
Wexner was one of six “wealthy, powerful men” whose names were originally redacted in the Epstein files, Khanna and Massie revealed Tuesday after reviewing unredacted copies of the files at the Justice Department.
The DOJ later unredacted Wexner’s name on a 2019 FBI document listing several potential “co-conspirators” of Epstein’s, including his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for child sex trafficking charges.
Wexner has maintained for years that he cut ties with the disgraced financier several decades ago when he realized that Epstein had illicitly taken money from him.
“The Assistant U.S. Attorney told Mr. Wexner’s legal counsel in 2019 that Mr. Wexner was being viewed as a source of information about Epstein and was not a target in any respect,” a legal representative for Wexner said in a recent statement. “Mr. Wexner cooperated fully by providing background information on Epstein and was never contacted again.”
Bondi sent a legally required report to Congress on Saturday in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which mandated the DOJ supply lawmakers with a summary of all redactions made, including the legal basis for doing so, and a list of government officials named in the documents.
In the letter, Bondi cited “deliberative-process privilege” as one justification for redacting certain documents, a common-law principle that allows the federal government to withhold documents revealing internal decisionmaking.
“The problem with that is the bill that Ro Khanna and I wrote says that they must release internal memos and notes and emails about their decisions on whether to prosecute or not prosecute, whether to investigate or not investigate,” Massie said on ABC. “It's important they follow that, because then we could find why they didn't prosecute Leslie Wexner. What was the decision tree there?”
The release of unredacted prosecutorial and investigative documents could also shed light on the 2008 plea deal under which Epstein avoided severe federal charges and pleaded guilty to lesser state charges in Florida, Massie added.
The Kentucky Republican also criticized Bondi for refusing to face several victims of Epstein’s abuse who attended the hearing. When Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) asked Bondi to turn around and apologize to the victims for what the Justice Department had put them through during the hearing, Bondi replied: “I’m not going to get in the gutter for her theatrics.”
At one point, Jayapal also asked the victims if they had not been able to meet with the Justice Department to share their stories, and each of them raised their hand.
"I think that was kind of cold on her part. I think she was afraid to,” Massie said. “These survivors would love to have a meeting. It's not about Bill Clinton, and it's not about Donald Trump. This Epstein Files Transparency Act was about getting these survivors justice."
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