Over the span of five hours on Wednesday, United States lawmakers questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi over the US Justice Department's (DOJ) handling of documents related to convicted late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Bondi, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, defended the DOJ's handling of the release of the Epstein records and said there are pending investigations in the case.
I get the concerns that AG Bondi and FBI Director Patel may try to scrub all Trump references and images in the Epstein files before they are released. Well, there are nearly 1,000 FBI/DOJ staff who looked at the files in March with no compartmentalizing, limits, or controls.
The Justice Department said in a social media post that federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the FBI "have uncovered over a million more documents" that could be related to the Epstein case - a stunning 11th hour development after department officials suggested months ago that they had undertaken a comprehensive review that accounted for the vast universe of Epstein-related materials.
He did not go quite as far as he could have: he has the power to order the disclosure of these files without Congress's permission. The documents could reveal the involvement in Epstein's sexual trafficking network of dozens of wealthy and influential men, as well as the complicity of financial institutions, judicial bodies, and failures by authorities that allowed him to act with impunity.
We're now five days from a government shutdown, with no negotiations between the two parties in sight. At one point, President Trump agreed to meet with Democratic congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, but then called the meeting off, saying their "unserious and ridiculous demands" meant it wouldn't accomplish anything. You'd still think that for the sake of appearances, the Republican leaders who control Congress would keep their troops in town in case of a last-minute deal to avoid a shutdown.
