Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / The Pam Bondi Congressional Oversight Committee Epstein Related Transcript (Part 2) (6/6/26)

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The Pam Bondi Congressional Oversight Committee Epstein Related Transcript (Part 2) (6/6/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

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  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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  Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to get right
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  back to the Pam Bondi transcript. Emmer, So, at the
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  time that you directed this review, was there any sort
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  of plan of what the review would consist of? Bondi? Well, initially, again,
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  we only received several hundred documents and they were released
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  upon redaction by the FBI. Then, once Director Buttell assumed disposition,
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  we found many more documents and as we receive those,
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  those were reviewed and released. And we have always made
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  it very clear that if anyone is the victim of
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  Jeffrey Epstein, and I count Clain Maxwell in there too,
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  she's just as evil as Jeffrey Epstein was, that they
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  come forward to us the FBI. Many of these victims
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  are represented by lawyers and talk to us. Emmer. Upon
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  taking office, did any victims or victim attorneys reach out
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  to the department Bondi, yes, Emmer, how many BONDI I
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  can't recall how many, ultiple there were multiple victims and
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  many of which I believe the majority are represented by attorneys. Emmer,
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  did you meet with them personally or would that have
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  been something that Todd Blanche would have done, answer, BONDI, No,
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  I spoke to one attorney. I can't recall her name.
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  She was a former prosecutor, and she seemed to deeply
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  care about these victims, of course, and I spoke to her,
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  and I believe I referred her to the FBI. You know,
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  when a victim is represented, you go through their attorney,
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  and I spoke to her directly, and then I know
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  many of the lawyers in my office spoke to other attorneys,
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  and I believe the FBI spoke to multiple victims as well,
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  But I would direct that to Deputy Attorney General now
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  Acting Attorney General Blanche, and also director of Bttel. Emmer,
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  you would have been briefed on these meetings with victims
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  and their attorneys, Is that right, BONDI, I have not been.
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  After the fact question, Okay, do you have any idea
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  what the victims and their attorneys were concerned about during
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  the time period of February and spring of twenty twenty five?
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  BONDI only the attorney that I spoke to, and she
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  was just concerned about being heard and these victims being heard. Emmer,
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  Uh huh? Were they interested in files being released? At
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  the time. Answer, I don't recall question. Okay, you mentioned
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  Director Bateel and the FBI. Were there any other agencies
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  that were involved in the review of documents during this period? Bondi,
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  the FBI, the DOJ, multiple components of the DOJ, my
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  National Security Division at the time, and then ultimately we
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  received multiple documents. We used attorneys from around the country,
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  including Florida and New York. Emmer, and I know I
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  asked you about potential co conspirators earlier, but when you
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  were reviewing these initial documents in the spring of twenty
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  twenty five, were there ever any plans to pursue investigations
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  into potential co conspirators? Answer? I'm sorry, what month did
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  you say? Emmer? Upon assuming office and during the spring
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  of twenty twenty five, BONDI, if there were co conspirators
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  or evidence that anyone committed a crime that could be
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  proven in a court room, it's any prosecutor's duty to
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  pursue that. Emmer, Attorney General Bondi. On February twenty first,
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  twenty twenty five, just over two weeks after you were
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  sworn in as AG, you responded to a question in
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  an interview about a purported list of Epstein's clients by
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  saying it's sitting on my desk right now. Is that
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  an accurate characterization of your statements during that interview, Bondi,
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  if you listened to the entire interview, I was referring
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  to the file, and I also included I don't have
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  a copy of the transcript of that interview. But I
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  kept going and said the question was I believe a
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  list of clients, and I said, it's sitting on my
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  desk to review, along with JFK files MLK files. I
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  wasn't I meant the files to review. I had not
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  reviewed them at the time, and I made that clear. Emmer.
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  And I'm assuming you did ultimately review those files, is
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  that right, Bondi? Yeah, along with multiple attorneys in my office.
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  Emmer And were those files the ones that you referred
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  to previously that the FBI produced to the DOJ upon
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  assuming office? Answer? Yes, question, thank you, Bondi, And I
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  think you clarified something for me. It was within two
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  weeks of assuming office that I received those so really
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  within just a week or more, I had requested all
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  the Epstein documents question and during this period, upon the
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  assuming office, you were interested in whether or not there
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  was a client list of Epstein. Bondy yes, Emmer, and
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  you directed the department to review whether there was a
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  client list Bondy yes, question by Emmer. And those documents
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  that you referred to that were sitting on your desk
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  were those ultimately produced publicly? Bond Y yes, Emmer. A
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  week later, on February twenty seventh, twenty twenty five, a
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  group of select individuals left the White House holding white
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  binders that contained the DOJ seal and were labeled the
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  Epstein Files Phase one. Do you recall this occurring Bondi, yeah,
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  and that would include the approximately I'm saying approximate three
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  hundred pages, and I believe that included flight logs and
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  other things. But those were the initial documents that we received. Emmer.
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  Were you involved in providing these documents to these individuals?
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  Bondi yes. Question and ultimately, whose decision was it to
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  release the documents? Bondy ultimately mine to release as much
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  as we could while protecting victim's identities. Emmer. How were
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  the recipients of this Phase one release selected? Answer? We
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  were seeing them that day. They were at the White
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  House and we handed them the binders, and then it
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  was released to the general public as well. Emmer. Were
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  these recipients of the Phase one release also provided an
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  opportunity to review the documents at DOJ headquarters? Bondi, I
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  don't believe so, Emmer. So the label Epstein Files Phase
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  one at that point, was it presumed that there would
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  be a Phase two? Answer? Yeah, because I didn't believe
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  that there were only three hundred approximately pages of Epstein documents.
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  And I had sent the FBI a letter demanding everything
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  they had, and that meant around this country on Epstein,
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  and that was all we received, Emmer. And to be clear,
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  was there any other release of documents prior to this
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  Committee's investigation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act? Answer? Yes,
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  multiple ones, multiple ones, Emmer. At this time, I'd like
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  to introduce what will be marked as majority Exhibit number one,
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  and I'll give you a moment to review. Attorney General Bondi,
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  do you recognize this letter, Bondi? Yes, this is the
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  letter that I referred to earlier, dated February twenty seventh,
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  twenty twenty five, that I sent a director Patel and
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  to clarify, I had said that we released approximately three
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  hundred maybe earlier documents, there were about two hundred pages
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  according to the letter that I sent them. Emmer. So,
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  in the letter, you claim that you learn from a
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  source that the FBI Field office in New York was
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  withholding thousands of pages of Epstein documents, despite the FBI's
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  assurances that all relevant documents had been delivered to the
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  Department of Justice already. In this letter, you say that
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  you only received about two hundred pages and requested an
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  investigation into the document shortfall. Is that an accurate summary
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  of what occurred? Answer? Yes, Emmer. Why do you think
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  that this field office was withholding documents? BONDI? I asked
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  Bettel to look into that. Emmer. Who told or who
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  told you or brought these concerns to you that they
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  may be withholding documents? Bondie, I believe it was one
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  of the attorneys in my office who said. I believe
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  it was a career prosecutor who said, I think there
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  are more documents, and they're in New York. I don't
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  believe it was an FBI agent. And then that's when
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  I contacted Director Patel, who by that time had assumed office. Emmer.
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  You also stated in the letter that the FBI failed
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  to disclose the existence of these documents after your repeated
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  requests to turn over all documents. Is that correct, Bondi?
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  That is correct, and I said by eight am tomorrow,
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  the FBI will deliver the full and complete Epstein files
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  to my office, including all records, documents, audio and video recordings,
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  and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein and his clients, regardless
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  of how such information was obtained. There will be no
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  withholdings or limitations to my or your access. The Department
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  of Justice will ensure that any public disclosure of these
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  files will be done in a manner to protect the
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  privacy of victims and in accordance with the law, as
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  I've done my entire career as a prosecutor. And the
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  letter continues, question and you already mentioned that you discussed
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  this with Director Btel. Did you also discuss it with
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  Deputy Director of Bongino. Answer? I don't know if Deputy
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  Director of Bongino had assumed his office at that point. Emmer,
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  and pursue into your letter. Did Director Betel initiate and
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  investingation into that field office? Bondi, I believe he did. Emmer.
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  Do you know what the results of that investigation were. Bondy,
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  I don't recall Emmer, given this letter, what other steps
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  did you take to ensure the FBI turned over any
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  end all of the remaining withheld documents? Bondi. I relied
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  on Patel and Deputy Attorney General Blanche. Question by Emmer,
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  so you yourself did not ever confirm that the FBI
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  turned over all relevant documents following this incident. Answer by Bondi,
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  you would have to ask Director Patel. Question At this time,
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  I would like to introduce what will be marked as
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  majority exhibit number two. Question Emmer, Attorney General Bondi, do
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  you recognize the statement? Answer by Bondi, yes. Question what
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  role did you have in issuing the statement? Bondy, this
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  was I did not have a role in issuing the statement.
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  I believe it was done by Deputy Attorney General Blanche
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  in conjunction with the FBI. I believe. Question and for
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  the record, this is the July seventh, twenty twenty five
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  DOJ and FBI joint statement. The statement said that there
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  was no evidence that Epstein kept a client list of
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  associates whom he blackmailed or conspired with to victimize dozens
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  of women. Do you know which documents the DOJ and
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  FBI relied on in issuing the statement, Bondi, I do not.
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  You'd have to ask Deputy Attorney General now Acting Attorney
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  General Blanche and Director of Btel Emmer, prior to this
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  statement being issued, where you briefed on the reviews finding
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  that informed the statement? Bondi yes. Question what were you told, Bondy,
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  I don't recall other than what's in the letter Emmer.
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  As far as conclusions of the letter itself, did you
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  have concerns Bondy at the time, No, We relied on
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  the documents that the FBI and DJ received. Question and
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  the letter says that there was DJ was not able
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  to locate a client list. Did DOJ compile a list
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  of individuals as far as its review that may have
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  been associated with Epstein and Maxwell? Answer? Not, to my knowledge,
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  they didn't compile a client list to my knowledge. Question
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  by Emmer, So for the record, is it your testimony
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  today that the Department of Justice never had a list
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  of Epstein's clients or associates in its possession, Bondie not,
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  to my knowledge. All right, folks, we're gonna wrap up
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  right here and in the next episode dealing with the topic,
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  we're gonna pick up where we left off. All the
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  information that goes with this episode can be found in
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  the description box.