ISTANBUL
Attorney General Pam Bondi told US lawmakers Wednesday that the Justice Department is pursuing active investigations involving associates of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, urging victims to come forward as congressional scrutiny intensifies.
According to The Washington Times, Bondi told the House Judiciary Committee, “We have pending investigations in our office,” adding that “the FBI is waiting to hear from you” and that any credible allegations would be pursued.
She referred to Epstein as “that monster” and said his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a prison sentence, “will hopefully die in prison.”
The hearing grew contentious as Democrats accused the department of mishandling the release of millions of pages of Epstein-related files, including redaction errors that exposed victims’ names.
Bondi defended the disclosures, saying officials “did the best we could” under tight deadlines and arguing that President Donald Trump’s approval of the transparency law reflected a commitment to openness.
Lawmakers from both parties questioned her testimony, with Democrats pressing for accountability and Republicans pointing to what they described as procedural failures.
Bondi rejected the criticism and said there is “no evidence that Donald Trump has committed a crime,” while pledging to review any new evidence submitted to investigators.
Epstein files
The US Justice Department recently released more than 3 million pages, 2,000 videos and 180,000 images under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law last November.
Epstein was found dead in his New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He pleaded guilty in a court in the state of Florida and was convicted of procuring a minor for prostitution in 2008, but critics call the relatively minor conviction a “sweetheart deal.”
His victims have alleged that he operated a sprawling sex trafficking network that was used by members of the wealthy and political elite.