Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel are expected to testify before Congress on the Trump administration’s handling of the so-called Epstein Files, according to a report.
Patel is scheduled to give testimony on September 17, while Bondi is scheduled for October 9, Politico reported. They were invited to testify as part of the House Judiciary Committee’s general oversight work, according to the outlet.
The Trump administration has been grappling with the fallout of the Epstein Files for more than a month. On July 6, the Justice Department issued a memo stating that it had determined the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide behind bars in 2019, while awaiting his sex trafficking trial. The memo also concluded that Epstein kept no “client list” of rich and powerful people involved in his alleged sex trafficking, and stated no further investigation was warranted.
The memo sparked widespread outrage, providing an unsatisfying conclusion to years-long conspiracy theories and unanswered questions about Epstein’s sudden death, and his relationships with rich and powerful figures.
While the congressional hearings will also include questions about Trump’s “comprehensive crime bill,” they are expected to mostly focus on the handling and fallout of the high-profile case, according to Politico. The Independent has asked DOJ for comment.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel are reportedly scheduled to testify before Congress in the coming months (Reuters)Prominent voices from both sides of the aisle have called for increased transparency on the Epstein Files.
Last week, the DOJ released a tranche of documents to the House Oversight Committee after the panel subpoenaed the files. Democrats on the committee later said only 3 percent of the documents contain information that was not previously publicly available.
DOJ shared 33,000 pages, 97 percent of which are already public, said California Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.
The Republican-led committee issued a subpoena on August 5 demanding all communications and documents related to the criminal cases of Epstein, and Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. The 63-year-old disgraced British socialite is serving 20 years in federal prison after she was convicted in 2021 for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse minors with Epstein.
She was interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and other top DOJ officials last month. The Justice Department last week released hundreds of pages of transcripts and hours of audio recordings from their meetings with her.
As part of the administration’s efforts to quell uproar, Bondi had asked federal judges overseeing the criminal cases of Epstein and Maxwell to unseal the transcripts which experts warned would provide little new information. The judges overseeing the cases refused the attorney general’s requests.
One federal judge stated that the content of grand jury transcripts “pales in comparison to the Epstein investigative information and materials” already in the hands of the DOJ.
Bondi, especially, has been the subject of a barrage of criticism surrounding the case. Earlier this year, the attorney general said she had a “truckload” of files to review from the FBI, and suggested that the “client list”was sitting on her desk.
In February, she released “Phase 1” of the files, a tranche of documents that included mostly publicly available information. Then came the July 6 memo, decisively putting an end to any additional disclosures.
The memo sparked an uproar, seemingly putting to bed conspiracy theories around Epstein that have swirled for years. Epstein’s sudden death and previous ties to wealthy and powerful individuals — including Donald Trump and Prince Andrew — inspired a deluge of conspiracy theories, including one alleging that the “client list” could implicate other high-profile figures.
Another claims Epstein didn’t die by suicide. Maxwell, in her interview with DOJ officials, also cast doubt on the FBI’s determination, although she said she had no idea who could have killed him.
On week after the memo was released, President Donald Trump came to her defense, telling reporters in July: “The attorney general has handled that very well. She’s really done a very good job, and I think that when you look at that, you’ll understand it.”
