WASHINGTON DC – Former US Attorney General Pam Bondi has defended her handling of the release of documents related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Bondi, who in April was removed from her post as America's top law enforcement officer by US President Donald Trump, testified behind closed doors on Friday in Washington DC.

"We demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to transparency in the Department's search for, collection, and review of the Epstein files, producing nearly 3 million pages of material", she said in opening remarks to the US House Oversight Committee. Bondi was formally summoned by the panel in March, just before Trump announced her ouster as his administration's top prosecutor.

As attorney general, Bondi was tasked with implementing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, legislation signed into law by Trump that mandated the US Department of Justice publicly release unclassified records. But Bondi and the US Justice Department have been widely criticised, with accusations that documents were withheld and files were published that made victims of Epstein's crimes publicly identifiable.

"I am proud of the Department's record and commitment to transparency under my leadership", she said. "This was an enormously complicated and labor-intensive process. To the best of my knowledge, the Department produced everything required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act". The committee's Republican chairman, James Comer, wrote in a subpoena letter that they are investigating the "possible mismanagement" of the Epstein investigation and compliance with the act.

Ahead of the meeting, Comer told reporters that successive governments had failed Epstein's victims and that Bondi will be pressed about her handling of the release of the documents. "We're going to try to determine whether or not there could be more documents legally turned over", Comer said. "I want every document. I don't want anything held back, and I think the majority of the committee's the same way". But three hours into the congressional interview, Democrats emerged accusing Bondi of being evasive in her answers, deferring responsibility to her former deputy, and said government lawyers stepped in to prevent her from answering questions. "She said she would not speak or respond to any questions that had anything to do with President Trump", said Robert Garcia, the committee's leading Democrat.

Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told the BBC the process was a cover-up and Republicans on the committee set the interview up with voluntary transcription and no video tape. "She was simply not wanting to answer questions or wanting to not take any responsibility for how poorly she handled the entire situation", Subramanyam said. "I believe a lot of it was because the president himself told her not to, but she refused to answer any questions about her conversations with the president or anyone else in the administration". (BBC)

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