Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors felt like their trauma was once again center stage. At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files’ release. But behind Bondi were the very people those files were meant to protect. By the end of the four-hour session, survivors felt “dehumanized.”
At the oversight hearing Democrats grilled Bondi over what redactions in more than 3 million pages of Epstein-related documents were released under congressional mandate. Republicans mostly defended her and tried to move on to immigration.
In the beginning, Bondi called Epstein a “monster” and told survivors she was “deeply sorry” for the abuse. She even added that “any accusations of criminal wrongdoing will be taken seriously and investigated.”
However, when Rep. Pramila Jayapal asked Bondi to directly apologize to the survivors for redactions that exposed private information (including “n–e images” of survivors), Bondi refused. She dismissed the “theatrics” and said,
“I’m not going to get in the gutter with this woman.”
Epstein survivors raise their hands to signal they’ve been ignored by Trump’s DOJ as AG Pam Bondi refuses to look at them
(Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty) pic.twitter.com/jzbA02cFKt
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 11, 2026
Some time later, Bondi told Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin, “You don’t tell me what to do!” Raskin had just accused her of “siding with the perpetrators and ignoring the victims” when this heated exchange took place.
Bondi called another Democrat a “washed-up loser,” according to the BBC. One lawmaker stormed out by then, while survivors stood in the background. Marina Lacerda, one of Epstein’s survivors, told NewsNation they “expected more.”
Lacerda said:
“She really dehumanized us today. I think she has become a circus act.”
Another survivor, Marijke Chartouni, posted a statement shared by attorney Aaron Parnas on social media. “The Epstein files transparency act is a non-partisan issue,” she wrote. “Bondi’s only contribution to this very serious matter was playground theatrics.”
Critics say some victims’ names and sensitive details were exposed while the names of “powerful predators” were blacked out. But Bondi and DOJ officials soon explained that the staff had been working under tight deadlines. “Any names brought to us that have been released inadvertently have been immediately redacted,” she said.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky helped push legislation mandating the files’ release. He told Bondi, “Literally the worst thing you could do to survivors, you did.” He has described the whole Epstein saga as “bigger than Watergate.”
Thomas Massie is the reason we have seen these Epstein files.
And he’ll be the reason we see more.
They’re trying to get rid of him for it. pic.twitter.com/dTrGUIVxwo
— ADAM (@AdameMedia) February 1, 2026
Meanwhile, the DOJ had once promised transparency in 2025, but in July, it said it found no Epstein “client list,” and there was no need to release additional materials. Congress later mandated the disclosure of the 3 million–plus files we now have out.
The hearing also went into the ICE shootings in Minneapolis and high-profile figures in the files.
