Former attorney general Pam Bondi has defended her handling of the release of documents tied to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, testifying behind closed doors to the House Oversight Committee. Bondi, whom President 
Donald Trump removed as attorney general in April, told the panel the justice department had shown "an unprecedented commitment to transparency," producing nearly three million pages of material.
What is the committee examining? Republican chairman James Comer had summoned Bondi in March — just before Trump announced her ouster — to investigate the "possible mismanagement" of the Epstein investigation and compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. That law, signed by Trump, required the department to publicly release unclassified records. The department has been widely criticised over accusations that documents were withheld and that some files were published in a way that made Epstein's victims identifiable. Comer wrote in the subpoena letter that the panel was probing whether the department had complied with the act, and Bondi appeared voluntarily after being formally summoned in March.
What did Bondi concede? Bondi admitted to "redaction errors" in the released files while defending the overall effort, the Guardian reported. "I am proud of the department's record and commitment to transparency under my leadership," she said, calling it an "enormously complicated and labour-intensive process" in which the department "produced everything required" under the act.
Why it matters: The files tied to Epstein have been a recurring political flashpoint, and Friday's closed-door session renewed scrutiny of how the Trump administration managed their release, the PBS NewsHour reported.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
