‘Redaction errors’ made in Epstein files release, admits Pam Bondi | US News

Former attorney general Pam Bondi has admitted that the Justice Department made “redaction errors” during the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. 

Ms Bondi, who was fired by President Donald Trump in April, made the comments in a closed-door congressional interview where she refused to answer questions on the president’s involvement in the release of the files.

The 60-year-old, who was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer, said that deputy attorney general Todd Blanche, now the acting attorney general, had overseen the process to release the Epstein case files.

The release of the files, totalling almost three million pages of material, was mandated by a law passed by Congress and eventually signed by Mr Trump last year.

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Bondi’s appearance gave politicians a chance to dig for information on the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files and other related matters, including the prison sentence of Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell.

However, Democratic lawmakers claimed that Ms Bondi said she wouldn’t speak about the president, and consulted with a lawyer from the Department of Justice before citing her ability to decline questions, because she had agreed to appear voluntarily.

Ms Bondi told lawmakers on House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that releasing the files was “an enormously complicated and labour-intensive process”.

She mostly defended the Justice Department’s work, saying that it had complied with the law and demonstrated “an unprecedented commitment to transparency”.

Several survivors of Epstein’s abuse also gathered outside the Capitol office where the interview was taking place.

They tried to make their presence known to Ms Bondi as she entered the room, but several said they were shoved aside by police officers.

Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in a New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.

Maxwell, a British socialite, was convicted in 2021 of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein, but has protested her innocence, arguing that she never should have been prosecuted.

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The Justice Department controversially moved Maxwell from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas last August.

Politicians are trying to find out what decisions prosecutors have made about investigating Epstein’s associates, how the Justice Department handled the mandate to release the Epstein files – and whether President Donald Trump was involved in the process.

Ms Bondi, who has stayed within the Republican president’s orbit even after being ousted from her old job, was appointed by Mr Trump to a White House panel on artificial intelligence this week.