    [House Hearing, 119 Congress]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                     OVERSIGHT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
    =======================================================================

                                    HEARING

                                   BEFORE THE

                           COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

                         U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                        ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS

                                 SECOND SESSION

                                   __________

                          WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2026

                                   __________

                               Serial No. 119-56

                                   __________

             Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary

    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT

                    Available via:http://judiciary.house.gov
                                   __________

                      U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
    62-874                  WASHINGTON : 2026
    =======================================================================

                           COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

                            JIM JORDAN, Ohio, Chair

    DARRELL ISSA, California             JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland, Ranking
    ANDY BIGGS, Arizona                      Member
    TOMMcCLINTOCK, California            JERROLD NADLER, New York
    THOMAS P. TIFFANY, Wisconsin         ZOE LOFGREN, California
    THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky              STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
    CHIP ROY, Texas                      HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr.,
    SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin              Georgia
    BEN CLINE, Virginia                  ERIC SWALWELL, California
    LANCE GOODEN, Texas                  TED LIEU, California
    JEFFERSON VAN DREW, New Jersey       PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington
    TROY E. NEHLS, Texas                 J. LUIS CORREA, California
    BARRY MOORE, Alabama                 MARY GAY SCANLON, Pennsylvania
    KEVIN KILEY, California              JOE NEGUSE, Colorado
    HARRIET M. HAGEMAN, Wyoming          LUCYMcBATH, Georgia
    LAUREL M. LEE, Florida               DEBORAH K. ROSS, North Carolina
    WESLEY HUNT, Texas                   BECCA BALINT, Vermont
    RUSSELL FRY, South Carolina          JESUS G. ``CHUY'' GARCIA, Illinois
    GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin            SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE, California
    BRAD KNOTT, North Carolina           JARED MOSKOWITZ, Florida
    MARK HARRIS, North Carolina          DANIEL S. GOLDMAN, New York
    ROBERT F. ONDER, Jr., Missouri       JASMINE CROCKETT, Texas
    DEREK SCHMIDT, Kansas
    BRANDON GILL, Texas
    MICHAEL BAUMGARTNER, Washington

                   CHRISTOPHER HIXON, Majority Staff Director
                    ARTHUR EWENCZYK, Minority Staff Director
                                     ------
                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------

                          Wednesday, February 11, 2026

                               OPENING STATEMENTS

                                                                       Page
    The Honorable Jim Jordan, Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary
      from the State of Ohio.........................................     1
    The Honorable Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on
      the Judiciary from the State of Maryland.......................     4

                                    WITNESS

    The Hon. Pamela J. Bondi, Attorney General, United States
      Department of Justice
      Oral Testimony.................................................     7
      Prepared Testimony.............................................    10

              LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC. SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING

    All materials submitted by the Committee on the Judiciary, for
      the record.....................................................    97

    Materials submitted by the Honorable Jasmine Crockett, a Member
      of the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Texas, for
      the record
        An article entitled, ``El Paso airspace reopened after FAA
            quickly rescinds 10-day flight restrictions,'' Feb. 11,
            2026, The Texas Tribune
        An article entitled, ``Donald Trump's Approval Rating
            Implodes On His Strongest Issue,'' Feb. 11, 2026,
            Newsweek
    Material submitted by the Honorable Andy Biggs, a Member of the
      Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Arizona, for the
      record
        An article entitled, ``Bombshell New Docs Show Trump Called
            Police About Epstein in 2006: `Thank Goodness You're
            Stopping Him,' '' Feb. 10, 2026, Red State
        An article entitled, ``Kamala Harris defends Biden
            administration decision not to release Epstein files,''
            The Hill
        An article entitled, ``Why weren't they released during the
            Biden administration?'' Nov. 18, 2025, NewsNation Now
        An article entitled, ``House Democrat Stacey Plaskett
            exchanged texts with Epstein during 2019 congressional
            hearing,'' Nov. 15, 2025, CNN
        An article entitled, ``N.Y. judge allows Epstein victims'
            claims against Plaskett to proceed,'' Mar. 24, 2025,
            Virgin Islands Daily News
        An article entitled, ``Hakeem Jeffries solicited funding from
            Epstein in 2013--after financier was convicted child sex
            offender,'' Nov. 18, 2025, The Post Millennial
        An article entitled, ``Jeffrey Epstein was invited to Dem
            fundraising dinner and to `get to know' Hakeem Jeffries
            by firm working with `Brooklyn's Barack,' '' Nov. 19,
            2025, New York Post
        An article entitled, ``Epstein File Says Biden Was Replaced
            in 2019!?'' Feb. 4, 2026, WABC Radio
    Materials submitted by the Honorable Thomas Massie, a Member of
      the Committee on the Judiciary from the State Kentucky, for the
      record
        A page of the Epstein Files, FBI, Feb. 23, 2021
        A page of the Epstein Files, FBI, Sept. 16, 2021
        A page of the Epstein Files, FBI, Mar. 11, 2015
        A page of the Epstein Files, FBI, May 29, 2020
        A page of the Epstein Files, FBI, Jun. 25, 2020
        A page where Les Wexner is mentioned, Epstein Files, FBI,
            Jul. 5, 2013
        An article entitled, ``The Government Published Dozens of
            Nude Photos in the Epstein Files,'' Feb. 1, 2026, The New
            York Times
        A letter to Director Patel, from the Hon. Pamela J. Bondi,
            Attorney General, United States Department of Justice,
            Feb. 27, 2025
        A list entitled, ``17 People have resigned due to the fallout
            of the Epstein Files.''
    An article entitled, ``Inside Trump's DOJ: Punitive firings,
      public scoldings and pressure to prosecute foes,'' Oct. 16,
      2025, MSNow, submitted by the Honorable Ben Cline, a Member of
      the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Virginia, for
      the record
    Materials submitted by the Honorable Lucy McBath, a Member of the
      Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Georgia, for the
      record
        An article entitled, ``Alex Pretti's Friends and Family
            Denounce `Sickening Lies' About His Life,'' Jan. 26,
            2026, The New York Times
        An article entitled, ``JD Vance refuses to apologize to Alex
            Pretti's family after spreading ICE `assassin' claim,''
            Feb. 4, 2026, Daily Mail--UK
        An article entitled, ``FBI Agent Resigns After Trying to
            Investigate ICE Officer in Renee Good Shooting,'' Jan.
            23, 2026, The New York Times
    An article entitled, ``Why Pam Bondi Didn't Publish All the
      Epstein Files in 30 Days,'' Jan. 23, 2026, Wall Street Journal,
      submitted by the Honorable Tom McClintock, a Member of the
      Committee on the Judiciary from the State of California, for
      the record
    Materials submitted by the Honorable Steve Cohen, a Member of the
      Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Tennessee, for the
      record
        A letter to the Honorable Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National
            Intelligence, from the Honorable James A. Himes, Ranking
            Member, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from
            the State of Connecticut, and the Honorable Mark R.
            Warner, Vice Chair, Select Comittee on Intelligence from
            the State of Virginia, Jan. 29, 2026
        A letter to the Honorable Mark R. Warner, Vice Chair, Select
            Comittee on Intelligence from the State of Virginia, and
            the Honorable James A. Himes, Ranking Member, Permanent
            Select Committee on Intelligence from the State of
            Connecticut, from the Honorable Tulsi Gabbard, U.S.
            Director, National Intelligence, Feb. 2, 2026
        An affidavit from the United States District Court, Northern
            District of Georgia, Jan. 28, 2026
        A study entitled, ``Undocumented Immigrant Offending Rate
            Lower Than U.S.-Born Citizen Rate,'' Sept. 12, 2024,
            National Institute of Justice
    Materials submitted by the Honorable Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member
      of the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Maryland,
      for the record
        An article entitled, ``Why is Trump granting clemency to
            convicted fraudsters?'' Jan. 26, 2026, The Guardian
        An article entitled, ``Trump's pardons forgive financial
            crimes that came with hundreds of millions in
            punishments,'' Jan. 20, 2026, NBC News
        An article entitled, ``Trump's pardons wipe out payments to
            defrauded victims,'' Dec. 19, 2025, The Washington Post
        An article entitled, ``Trump Found Guilty by Manhattan Jury
            on 34 Felony Counts in Fraud Case,'' May 30, 2024,
            Law.com
        An article entitled, ``Report: Record-Low Crime During the
            Biden-Harris Administration,'' Jan. 17, 2025, The
            American Presidency Project
        An article entitled, ``Crime down in every category in 2024,
            FBI report says,'' Aug. 5, 2025, CBS News
        An article enitled, ``Trump takes credit for violent crime
            drop where rates were already falling,'' Oct. 16,
            2025,Straight Arrow News (SAN)
        An article entitled, ``Trump administration targets ATF, with
            plans to cut jobs and ease gun restrictions,'' Jul. 2,
            2025, NPR
        A press release entitled, ``Raskin Joins Call for AG Barr to
            Re-open Epstein Case and Publicly Release Acosta
            Misconduct Investigation and Documents,'' Mar. 1, 2019,
            Representative Raskin's Office
        A press release entitled, ``Oversight Committee Plans Hearing
            with Acosta on Plea Deal with Epstein,'' Jul. 10, 2019,
            Representative Raskin's Office
        A press release entitled, ``68 House members Call for
            Resignation of labor Secretary Acosta,'' Jul. 10, 2019,
            Representative Raskin's Office
        An article entitled, ``Fraud focus: why is Trump granting
            clemency to convicted fraudsters?'' Jan. 26, 2026, The
            Guardian
    An article entitled, ``Trump Has Complained About Pam Bondi
      Repeatedly to Aides,'' Jan. 12, 2026, Wall Street Journal,
      submitted by the Honorable Jesus G. ``Chuy'' Garcia, a Member
      of the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Illinois,
      for the record
    Materials submitted by the Honorable Mary Gay Scanlon, a Member
      of the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of
      Pennsylvania, for the record
        A Presidential Memoranda entitled, ``Countering Domestic
            Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,'' Sept. 25,
            2025, The White House
        A memo from the Office of the Attorney General, Dec. 4, 2025
        An article entitled, ``DOJ Deletes Study Alleging Rise in
            Far-Right Terrorism in US,'' Sept. 18, 2025, Newsweek
        An article entitled, ``Trump's Directive on `Organized
            Political Violence' Could Lead to Increased Surveillance
            of His Critics,'' Oct. 3, 2025, NOTUS
        An article entitled, ``Trump targets domestic terrorists--but
            only mentions the `radical left,' '' Sept. 25, 2025, The
            Washington Post
        An article entitled, ``Rest Easy Idahoans. The No Kings
            Demonstrators are American Patriots,'' Oct. 18, 2025,
            Idaho Capital Sun
        An article entitled, ``Attacks on Freedom of Speech: What
            Nonprofits Need to Know,'' Sept. 29, 2025, Council of
            Nonprofits
        An article entitled, ``FFRF warns that Bondi memo weaponizes
            federal law enforcement against non-Christians and
            dissenting viewpoints,'' Dec. 11, 2025, Freedom From
            Religion Foundation
        A blog entitled, ``Exclusive: ICE's Secret Watchlists of
            Americans,'' Jan. 28, 2026, Ken Klippenstein
        An article entitled, ``Trump Calls His Enemies Terrorists.
            Does That Mean He Can Just Kill Them?'' Feb. 2, 2025, The
            Intercept
        An article entitled, ``What NIJ Research Tells Us About
            Domestic Terrorism,'' Jun. 2024, National Institute of
            Justice (NIJ)

                     QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES FOR THE RECORD

    Questions to the Hon. Pamela J. Bondi, Attorney General, United
      States Department of Justice, submitted by the Honorable Brad
      Knott, a Member of the Committee on the Judiciary from the
      State of North Carolina, the Honorable Darrell Issa, a Member
      of the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of California,
      the Honorable Michael Baumgartner, a Member of the Committee on
      the Judiciary from the State of Washington, the Honorable
      Harriet M. Hageman, a Member of the Committee on the Judiciary
      from the State of Wyoming, the Honorable Jamie Raskin, Ranking
      Member of the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of
      Maryland, and the Honorable Mary Gay Scanlon, a Member of the
      Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Pennsylvania, for
      the record
        No response at the time of publication

                          OVERSIGHT OF THE DEPARTMENT
                                   OF JUSTICE

                                  ----------

                          Wednesday, February 11, 2026

                            House of Representatives

                           Committee on the Judiciary

                                 Washington, DC

        The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in
    Room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, the Hon. Jim Jordan
    [Chair of the Committee] presiding.
        Members present: Representatives Jordan, Issa, Biggs,
    McClintock, Tiffany, Massie, Roy, Fitzgerald, Cline, Gooden,
    Van Drew, Moore, Kiley, Hageman, Lee, Fry, Grothman, Knott,
    Harris, Onder, Schmidt, Gill, Baumgartner, Raskin, Nadler,
    Lofgren, Cohen, Johnson, Swalwell, Lieu, Jayapal, Correa,
    Scanlon, Neguse, McBath, Ross, Balint, Garcia, Kamlager-Dove,
    Moskowitz, Goldman, and Crockett.
        Chair Jordan. [Presiding.] The Committee will come to
    order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a
    recess at any time. We welcome everyone to today's hearing on
    Oversight of the Department of Justice.
        The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr.
    Tiffany, to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
        All. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States
    of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one
    Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
    all.
        Chair Jordan. We will begin with opening statements. The
    Chair is now recognized.
        Eighteen cities, 11 States, three counties, and the
    District of Columbia are sanctuary jurisdictions--accounting
    for 31 percent of the population in this country. Thirty-one
    percent of the American people, almost one-third of the
    American people, live in a city, county, or State where the
    Left-wing leadership tells local law enforcement not to work
    with Federal law enforcement.
        Now, what does that mean in practice? Let's look at Abraham
    Gonzalez who, on September 20, 2023, was arrested by Border
    Patrol for illegally entering the United States. Of course, the
    Biden Administration released him into the country. Five months
    later, February 26, 2024, Mr. Gonzalez is charged with assault.
    Two weeks later, March 11, 2024, he is charged with felony
    motor vehicle theft--stole a car. On March 20, 2024, nine days
    later, he is arrested by the Denver police and placed in the
    Denver Justice
    Center.
        Six days later, March 22, 2024, ICE sends a detainer notice
    to the Denver Justice Center saying this: If you're going to
    release Mr. Gonzalez, can you give us a heads-up? Can you let
    us know maybe 48 hours before you're going to release this guy,
    so we can apprehend him there at the jail?
        Remember, a detainer is a final order of removal from a
    court, where this individual has committed some removable
    offense.
        On February 28, 2025, Abraham Gonzalez is released to the
    streets. In fact, we could put that up. I think you can see
    this. Released--we got the form from the Denver Justice Center.
        What kind of inmate was Mr. Gonzalez for those 345 days
    that he was in the Denver Justice Center? We have that, too.
    ``Violent to the staff; keep separate.'' This guy was so bad,
    you had to keep him away from other inmates. He had already
    assaulted some staff members. Denver released this guy to the
    streets instead of turning him over to ICE agents, who would
    have come to the jail and arrested him there.
        Of course, we all know what happens. When the officers did
    apprehend Mr. Gonzalez out on the street, he assaulted one of
    the officers. This is what happens when you have a sanctuary
    jurisdiction.
        Right now, in Minnesota, there are 1,360 detainer notices
    for violent offenders. Governor Walz and others have released
    470 criminal illegal aliens back to the streets.
        In New York State, it's 7,000. Nationwide, it is over
    17,000 that we know of, where a detainer was filed. Since
    President Trump has been in office, over 17,000 times a
    detainer was filed, and those individuals were released to the
    streets instead of turned over to Federal law enforcement.
        There has been 17,864 times the illegals who have been
    charged with a crime and have been released to the streets, and
    thereby, jeopardizing the safety of the public, the safety of
    law enforcement, and, of course, the migrants themselves, and
    frankly, helping create the environment that results in the
    tragic deaths like we saw with Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti.
        A few years ago, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said this
    in response to the State of Union Address. She said, ``The
    divide in America today is normal versus crazy.''
        It's true, because it is crazy not to have a border, which
    is what we had under the previous administration; it is crazy
    to abolish ICE, and it is crazy to release bad guys who are
    here illegally to the streets, when--with one phone call--
    Federal law enforcement will come to the jail and pick them up.
        The mindset that says it's OK to release these guys is the
    same Left-wing mindset that thinks it's OK to weaponize
    government against your political opponents. That is exactly
    what we had in the previous Justice Department.
        The Biden-Harris Department of Justice called parents
    domestic terrorists. The Biden-Harris Justice Department used
    FBI SWAT teams to arrest prolife advocates. The Biden-Harris
    DOJ targeted traditional Catholics. The Biden-Harris DOJ
    pressured social media companies to censor Americans, and the
    Biden-Harris Justice Department launched not one, but two
    investigations into President Trump--spending over $35 million
    to try to bring down their political opponent.
        To further this effort, they sought the phone records of
    over a dozen Republican Members of Congress. Even the Democrats
    said this was wrong. They got bank records for scores of White
    House officials. They even paid at least one confidential human
    source $20,000 for information on President Trump. Of course,
    while doing all this, they couldn't tell us who planted the
    pipe bombs, who leaked the Dobbs opinion, and who put cocaine
    in the White House.
        Thank goodness the American people saw through it all.
    Americans were tired of being targeted for their beliefs, tired
    of the lawfare, and tired of the rampant crime throughout this
    country. That's why they overwhelmingly elected President
    Trump.
        What a difference a year makes. What a difference a year
    makes. Under Attorney General Bondi, the DOJ has returned to
    its core missions--upholding the rule of law, going after the
    bad guys, and keeping Americans safe.
        The Trump Justice Department has restored the rule of law.
    Murders are down nationwide by 20 percent, and D.C. violent
    crime is down by 28 percent. The Federal surge in D.C. resulted
    in 8,000 arrests, the seizure of 800 illegal guns, and the
    recovery of 16 missing kids.
        The Trump Justice Department apprehended a suspect in the
    pipe bomb investigation, and they have arrested six of the
    FBI's top ten most wanted fugitives in just one year.
        Of course, they arrested narcoterrorist Nicolas Maduro and
    they seized a record number of drugs flowing into this country.
        The Trump Justice Department put an end to targeting
    Americans for their beliefs. Attorney General Bondi rescinded
    Attorney General Garland's antiparent memorandum.
        The Department of Justice ended the practices of using the
    FACE Act to target prolife Americans. They have refused to
    tolerate attacks on places of worship and investigations of
    traditional Catholics that we saw in the previous
    administration.
        On her first day, Attorney General Bondi disbanded the
    Foreign Influence Task Force that was pressuring social media
    companies to censor Americans. The Trump Justice Department has
    ended lawfare.
        Under Attorney General Bondi, along with Director Patel,
    they have worked to expose the political nature of Arctic Frost
    and the Jack Smith investigations.
        They have turned over hundreds of pages of documents to
    Congress, and that is why we know, for example, that Mr. Smith
    paid at least $20,000 to some confidential human source.
        That's why we know that Jack Smith knew it was
    unconstitutional to seek the toll records from Members, but
    since the litigation risk was low, and because Members would
    never find out about the subpoena until years later, they
    charged ahead and violated the Constitution.
        The Trump Justice Department has changed DOJ policy to
    require prosecutors to tell judges if NDOs relate to Members of
    the separate and equal branch of government, the Congress.
        To top it all off, the Trump Justice Department opened an
    investigation into conspiracy behind the Russian collusion
    hoax.
        The Justice Department has put commonsense ahead of
    politics. They sued to keep boys out of girls' sports. They
    secured deals with universities to stop race-based admissions
    and antisemitic practices.
        After discovering rampant fraud in Minnesota, the Justice
    Department, under the leadership of Attorney General Bondi, has
    a new National Fraud Division. In fact, I met with Colin
    McDonald, who will head that division, last week. I think he is
    going to do a great job.
        There's a lot of work to be done in that area, but I want
    to thank the Attorney General for her great work in the first
    year on the job, and I want to thank you for being here.
        With that, I would yield to the Ranking Member for an
    opening statement.
        Mr. Raskin. Thank you kindly, Mr. Chair. Welcome, Attorney
    General Bondi. You've got the best lawyer's job in America
    because your mission is justice and your clients are the
    American people.
        To promote justice for the people, you've got to listen to
    the victims, like the women seated behind you today. Those are
    just some of the hundreds of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's
    global sex trafficking ring who are demanding that the truth be
    told and are demanding accountability for the abusers who
    trafficked and raped them. You still haven't met with these
    survivors.
        With their permission, let me introduce to you the
    survivors and late survivors' family members who are present
    today. There's Theresa Helm and Jess Michaels; Lara Blume
    McGee, Dani Bensky, Liz Stein, and Marina Lacerda; Sky and
    Amanda Roberts, who are the family of the late Virginia
    Giuffre; Sharlene Rochard and Lisa Phillips.
        Now, you're not showing a lot of interest in the victims,
    Madam Attorney General. Whether it's Epstein's human
    trafficking ring or the homicidal governmental violence against
    citizens in Minneapolis, as Attorney General, you're siding
    with the perpetrators and you're ignoring the victims. That
    will be your legacy unless you act quickly to change course.
        You're running a massive Epstein cover-up right out of the
    Department of Justice. You've been ordered by subpoena and by
    Congress to turn over six million documents, photographs, and
    videos in the Epstein files, but you've turned over only three
    million.
        You say you're not turning over the other three million
    because they're somehow duplicative, but we know that there are
    actual memos of victims' statements in there. You also took
    down the Department of Justice's prosecution memo from 2019.
    It's clearly not all duplicative, but even if it were, why not
    release it? Just release all the duplicative stuff.
        In the half you did produce, you redacted the names of
    abusers, enablers, accomplices, and coconspirators, apparently,
    to spare them embarrassment and disgrace--which is the exact
    opposite of what the law ordered you to do.
        Even worse, you, shockingly, failed to redact many of the
    victims' names, which is what you were ordered to do by
    Congress. Some of the victims had come forward publicly, but
    many had not. Many had kept their torment private, even from
    family and friends, but you published their names, their
    identities, their images on thousands of pages for the world to
    see. You ignored the law, and even with over 100,000 employees
    at your disposal, you acted with some mixture of staggering
    incompetence, cold indifference, and jaded cruelty toward more
    than 1,000 victims raped, abused, and trafficked. This
    performance screams cover-up.
        Convicted sex trafficker and groomer Ghislaine Maxwell
    ``opened the gates of hell'' to Virginia Giuffre and hundreds
    of other victims, as Virginia recorded in her remarkable book
    Nobody's Girl. When Maxwell was subpoenaed to come testify
    before Congress, you and Todd Blanche quickly moved her from a
    higher-security prison to a minimum-security camp in Texas,
    where she's enjoyed five-star treatment, including catered
    meals, private gym time, and access to a therapy puppy--all
    because Todd Blanche, who has utterly failed to investigate the
    monstrous crimes of Epstein and Maxwell's coconspirators, spent
    nine hours with Maxwell and satisfied himself that she would
    have nothing untoward to say about Donald Trump, which is your
    only real interest in the matter, based on institutional
    performance.
        Abandoning victims and coddling perpetrators is what you do
    best. When the FBI opened a criminal investigation into the
    brutal killing in Minneapolis of Renee Good, a poet and 37-
    year-old mother of three, by Trump's masked paramilitary ICE
    agents, you shut it down. You claim you're investigating the
    cold-blooded murder of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at the VA, but
    how can we trust the administration, when the President and
    Kristi Noem call Pretti a ``domestic terrorist'' and Stephen
    Miller called him a ``would-be assassin''? Not only do you
    refuse to share evidence with the State and local investigators
    and prosecutors in Minnesota, you have blocked their access to
    the crime scene and the evidence.
        How are you seeking justice for Marimar Martinez, the
    Montessori school teacher in Chicago who was shot five times by
    a Border Patrol agent, who bragged about it on text? The family
    of Keith Porter, a father of two, shot and killed by an off-
    duty ICE agent in LA? The family of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez,
    shot and killed in Illinois minutes after he dropped his kids
    off at school? There's no sign of any movement at the
    Department of Justice. You even launched a criminal
    investigation into Renee Good's grieving widow. How sick is
    that?
        It's even worse. You have turned the people's Department of
    Justice into Trump's instrument or revenge. Trump orders up
    prosecutions like pizza, and you deliver every time. He tells
    you to go after James Comey; Letitia James; Lisa Cook, and
    Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve Board, and
    Members of Congress, like Adam Schiff, Mark Kelly, Elissa
    Slotkin, Chrissy Houlahan, Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, and
    Maggie Goodlander, to name a few. You snap to it. You replace
    real prosecutors with counterfeit stooges who robotically do
    the President's bidding. Nothing in American history comes
    close to this complete corruption of the justice function and
    contamination of Federal law enforcement.
        The good news is many serious lawyers at DOJ, including
    some of your own original appointees, have refused your lawless
    orders.
        Danielle Sassoon, your original pick for Acting U.S.
    Attorney in Manhattan, resigned rather than follow your corrupt
    order to quash an indictment against Mayor Eric Adams, as a
    political favor from Donald Trump. A Federalist Society member
    who clerked for Justice Scalia, U.S. Attorney Sassoon refused
    to participate in this blatantly corrupt scheme.
        Her top assistant, Hagan Scotten, an Iraqi War vet and two-
    time Bronze Star recipient who clerked for Chief Justice
    Roberts and then-Judge Kavanaugh, promptly resigned, too,
    writing to your office, quote,

            I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a
            fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was
            never going to be me.

        You and the President nominated Erik Siebert, a 15-year
    career prosecutor, to be your U.S. Attorney for the Eastern
    District of Virginia. After five months of investigating
    Letitia James and James Comey, he found no evidence to justify
    criminal charges. You forced him out. You replaced him with
    Lindsey Halligan, Trump's personal lawyer from the Mar-a-Lago
    documents case, who had zero prosecutorial experience and no
    qualifications. Then, you were humiliated when a Federal judge
    found that this corrupt appointment was blatantly unlawful and
    threw out Halligan's indictments entirely.
        Grand juries of American citizens have repeatedly rejected
    your vendettas and baseless indictments brought by the hacks
    left at DOJ now--with two different grand juries in Virginia
    voting down indictments against Letitia James in a single week.
        Just yesterday, another grand jury shut down your vendetta
    factory by rejecting indictments against the six Members of
    Congress who had spoken out to remind all service members that
    they have a duty to refuse illegal orders. You tried to get a
    grand jury to indict six Members of Congress who were veterans
    of our Armed Forces on charges of seditious conspiracy, simply
    for exercising their First Amendment rights. I hope you will
    heed the wisdom and the constitutional patriotism of those
    grand jurors and not try it again by doubling down on that
    humiliation.
        As your best lawyers are sacked for having participated in
    the January 6th case or just fled for the exits now, your new
    lawyers keep lying in court. In dozens of cases, they have been
    excoriated for lying to Federal judges.
        Chief Judge Boasberg, right here in D.C., suggested your
    Department of Justice perpetrated ``a fraud on the court.''
    Other judges found your statements to be, quote, ``inexplicably
    misleading,'' ``patently incredible,'' ``totally
    inconsistent,'' and ``so disingenuous that the court is left
    with little confidence that the [government] can be trusted to
    tell the truth about anything.''
        Now, as Ranking Member, I asked the Chair to add a few
    extra rounds of questions today, because we each have five
    hours of questions, not five minutes, but we're stuck with five
    minutes. That's clearly insufficient to give voice to America's
    victims and survivors and to demand answers about all the
    corruption and cover-ups that we see at DOJ right now. We've
    got just one round.
        We ask you politely, but firmly, Madam Attorney General,
    please do not waste 1 second of our precious time by evading
    questions, by changing the subject, or engaging in personal
    attacks against Members of Congress. We saw your performance in
    the Senate and we're not going to accept that. This isn't a
    game.
        In the Senate, you brought something with you called ``a
    burn book,'' a binder of smears, to attack Members personally
    for doing the people's work of oversight. Please set the burn
    book aside and answer our questions.
        When you hear us reclaim our time, that means it's time for
    you to stop speaking. We only have five minutes. When we
    reclaim our time, that means you stop. If you don't, we will
    ask the Chair to stop the clock and let you go on his time.
        The quality of justice in America depends on the character
    of our government. Please do your job and bring the Department
    of Justice back from the brink. The survivors seated behind
    you, and the American people watching everywhere, deserve a
    Department of Justice worthy of its name.
        I yield back, Mr. Chair.
        Chair Jordan. Without objection, all other opening
    statements will be included in the record. We will now
    introduce today's witness.
        The Honorable Pamela J. Bondi has served as the Attorney
    General of the United States since February 5, 2025. She
    previously served in the Office of the White House Counsel, two
    terms as the Florida Attorney General, and spent more than 18
    years as a prosecutor.
        We welcome our witness and thank her for appearing today.
    We will begin by swearing you in. Would you please rise and
    raise your right hand?
        Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the
    testimony you're about to give is true and correct to the best
    of your knowledge, information, and belief, so help you God?
        AG Bondi. I do.
        Chair Jordan. Let the record show that the witness has
    answered in the affirmative. Thank you. You can be seated.
        Please know that your written testimony will be entered
    into the record in its entirety. Accordingly, we ask that you
    summarize your testimony.
        Madam Attorney General, you may begin.

                    STATEMENT OF THE HON. PAM BONDI

        AG Bondi. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Jordan, Ranking
    Member Raskin, and the distinguished Members of this Committee.
        Thank you for hosting me here today. I'm grateful for the
    opportunity to answer your questions, highlight the work of our
    Department, and discuss the most important topic all--keeping
    the American people safe.
        A little over a year ago, I was sworn into office as the
    87th Attorney General of the United States. I came into office
    with a goal of refocusing the Department of Justice on its core
    mission after years of bloated bureaucracy and political
    weaponization. The Department of Justice's core mission is to
    fight violent crime, protect the American people, and defend
    the rule of law above all else.
        While our work is never done, we have made tremendous
    progress to make America safe again. In 2025, we saw the lowest
    murder rate in 125 years. That's nothing short of historic.
        If you compare 2025 to 2024, here's what you'll find:
        The murder rate is down 21 percent; robbery down 23
    percent; carjacking down 43 percent; gun assault down 22
    percent; aggravated assault, burglary--could go on and on.
    Crime is declining.
        This did not happen by accident. The numbers tell an
    important, yet straightforward story. President Trump has given
    us the resources, the support, and the leadership to protect
    the American people. President Trump's policies have saved
    lives. I cannot think of a policy outcome more important than
    protecting the lives of American citizens. Can you?
        This trend has been especially clear in Washington, DC, and
    in Memphis. These are two iconic American cities that spent
    years in the grip of horrific violent crime. The Department of
    Justice surged law enforcement resources, and the results came
    quickly. Crime plummeted in both cities. I want to make one
    point loud and clear. We achieved those results by working with
    Democratic mayors.
        Public safety does not have a party registration. When your
    constituents call 911, they don't ask for political views of
    the responding officer; they ask for help. I have Federal
    agents in each and every one of your districts. They're here to
    help and I am here to help.
        Many cities and States have worked with us and taken
    advantage of our Federal support. Some have not. Meanwhile, a
    few elected officials have declared that they are, quote, ``at
    war with the Federal Government'' and encouraged widespread
    obstruction of law enforcement.
        This has resulted in avoidable clashes on the streets, as
    you've all seen. We have seen rioters storming a Christian
    church. Citizens and law enforcement officers have both been
    endangered by reckless rhetoric. We have made dozens of arrests
    in and around Minneapolis so far, and many of them could have
    been avoided by simple compliance with Federal law.
        Of course, our efforts reached beyond our urban centers. We
    are striking crucial blows against terrorist organizations,
    such as MS-13, TdA, the Sinaloa Cartel, and Antifa. As we sit
    here--I think you've seen the news this morning--the news is
    reporting that cartel drones are being shot down by our
    military. That's what we all should care about right now--
    protecting America.
        As we seek to dismantle these drug-trafficking networks
    that poison Americans, in 2025, our DEA agents seized more than
    47 million fentanyl pills and more than 9,800 total kilos of
    fentanyl. That represents 369 million potentially deadly doses
    that can kill Americans.
        Meanwhile, our attorneys are fighting for President Trump's
    agenda in courtrooms across this country. This administration
    has been sued 627 times. We've fought through a nonstop flood
    of bad-faith temporary restraining orders from liberal activist
    judges across this country. America has never seen this level
    of coordinated judicial opposition toward a Presidential
    Administration.
        It is not only an unlawful attack on the Executive Branch's
    authority, but a serious attack on the democratic process. In
    spite of this unprecedented judicial activism, we've attained
    24 favorable rulings at the U.S. Supreme Court, their emergency
    docket, and even more to come.
        We've done so while ending the weaponization of the prior
    administration by dropping baseless prosecutions, exposing the
    Arctic Frost scandal via congressional disclosure--thank you,
    Chair--and restoring one tier of justice in this country.
        To address the Epstein files, more than 500 attorneys and
    reviewers spent thousands of hours painstakingly reviewing
    millions of pages to comply with Congress' law. We've released
    more than three million pages, including 180,000 images--all to
    the public--while doing our very best in the timeframe allotted
    by the legislation to protect victims. If you brought us a
    victim's name that was inadvertently released, we immediately
    redacted it. All Members of Congress, as you know, are invited
    to visit DOJ to see for yourselves.
        I want to take a moment to acknowledge the Epstein
    survivors who are here today. I'm a career prosecutor. Despite
    what the Ranking Member said, I have spent my entire career
    fighting for victims and I will continue to do so. I am deeply
    sorry for what any victim--any victim--has been through,
    especially as a result of that monster. If you have any
    information to share with law enforcement about anyone who has
    hurt you or abused you, the FBI is waiting to hear from you.
        I want you to know that any accusations of criminal
    wrongdoing will be taken seriously and investigated. The
    Department of Justice is committed to holding criminals
    accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
        In 2025, the FBI arrested over 1,700 child predators--a 10
    percent increase from 2024. We also located 2,700 victims of
    child exploitation and shut down 3.8 million dark web pedophile
    accounts--3.8 million.
        Please, if you have information to share that needs to be
    investigated, contact the FBI.
        Today, I look forward to discussing further our shared
    obligation to protect the American people, uphold the rule of
    law, and keep this Nation safe.
        Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of AG Bondi follows:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Chair Jordan. Thank you, Madam Attorney General. We now
    proceed under the five-minute rule. The Chair recognizes the
    gentleman from California for five minutes.
        Mr. Issa. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Madam General, thank you
    for your extensive remarks, particularly on your continued
    investigation of those responsible over the years in the
    Epstein debacle.
        Obviously, you have an amazingly full docket between civil
    rights, between criminal, between so-called white-collar crime,
    and doing so, as the Chair said, at a time in which both you
    and the President are under attack, and our ICE agents and FBI
    and others are under attack when they try to enforce law. I
    personally want to apologize for those who would embolden
    support or even stand with those lawbreakers that sit on this
    and other daises here in Congress.
        My job generally is to talk about patents and trademarks,
    as the Chair of that Subcommittee. I'll forgo that today,
    because one of my other jobs is the creation and maintenance of
    Article III judges. I work with the Chief Justice on that and
    we're trying to expand the court.
        Currently, there are only 677 District Court judges. They
    have very full dockets as well. You create a tremendous amount
    of judges, particularly immigration judges. You do so to save
    the court that, but adjudicate, as is the requirement, each of
    those people who claim a right to be here in the United States.
    That has been going on under Republican and Democratic
    administrations for years.
        What's unique about the Trump Administration this time is
    that you and President Trump have managed to reduce the backlog
    of people seeking that for the first time in decades. You are
    getting ahead of that tremendous backlog that caused, for
    better or worse, the release of millions of people with little
    pieces of paper saying, ``Come back later when we call you''--
    and often, to no avail, when you call. I want to congratulate
    you on that because it's an accomplishment you might not take
    credit for, and the other side would never credit for.
        I hope you can continue to do that and do more. I say for a
    reason. Because much of this hearing will be about Minneapolis
    and other places in which the backlog of criminal aliens,
    including in my home State of California, people who have hurt
    other people, people who have victimized their communities, is
    extensive.
        Although the overall number through adjudication may be
    going on, because of places like my home State, California,
    you're unable to apprehend people that my sheriffs want
    apprehended. They desperately want to cooperate and they're
    prohibited by law.
        It is this Committee's opinion on this side of the aisle
    that, in fact, you should be given the ability to demand that
    participation, and that the release of a known criminal not be
    considered to be acceptable, just because a State or a city has
    declared itself a sanctuary.
        I want you to opine on just one thing that I think has been
    misunderstood. As I said earlier, you create and maintain those
    judges that adjudicate these cases. You also support so many
    that, in fact, have to make decisions as judges. Knowing that
    this limitation of so few Article III judges are there, please
    educate those who seem to miss the point that Article I judges,
    including bankruptcy judges, including immigration judges,
    including lots of people with the title, appropriately,
    ``judge,'' do, in fact, issue documents that look like, act
    like, and are normally accepted as warrants, as subpoenas, as
    demands for State officials to stand aside and allow the
    production of either an individual or documents.
        Because people are missing the point that these ICE
    retainers and detainers, and so on, they act like they're
    nothing, when, in fact, in the ordinary course, Madam General,
    you do, in fact, have Article I judges constantly putting those
    out, and they are respected normally.
        AG Bondi. Thank you, Congressman, for talking about all the
    great judges.
        If I could add one thing to that, we are always recruiting
    and looking for judges. Please reach out to our office for
    these judges who are handling all these very important matters.
        We've even added some JAG, JAG officers, as immigration
    judges.
        Mr. Issa. Thank you.
        AG Bondi. We're continuing to do that, but we're always
    seeking qualified lawyers as well to be part of that. Thank you
    for highlighting that, Congressman.
        Mr. Issa. Thank you. I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman yields back. The gentlelady
    from Washington is recognized.
        Ms. Jayapal. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Attorney
    General Bondi. Right here.
        We are joined in this room by some of the thousands of
    survivors from Jeffrey Epstein's horrific sex-trafficking ring.
    They have shown such incredible courage in speaking out, in
    demanding accountability, to bring the predators and pedophiles
    to justice.
        The Epstein Files Transparency Act required your Department
    of Justice to disclose the perpetrators connected with
    Epstein's criminal activities and to redact the information of
    survivors to protect their identities.
        Let me show you what actually happened.
        First, in violation of the law, your Department has shown a
    pattern of redacting the names of powerful predators. Here,
    behind me, is one example of an email from Epstein to a man
    whose name was redacted. The email reads, quote, ``Where are
    you? Are you OK? I loved the torture video.''
        Only after Members of Congress demanded that we see the
    unredacted files did the world learn the name of this
    individual, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the Chair and CEO of a
    company that had financial ties to President Trump's business
    and personal ties to Trump's advisor Steve Bannon.
        Second, the survivors were not similarly protected--also in
    violation of the law. Here is another email titled, ``Epstein
    Victim List.'' We have blurred the names of the survivors for
    their protection, but your Department of Justice initially
    released this list of 32 survivors' names with only one name
    redacted, along with numerous files that disclosed not only the
    names, the emails, and the addresses of survivors, but also
    nude photographs and even the identities of Jane Does who have
    been protected for decades--until your Department released
    their names.
        Survivors are now telling us that their families are
    finding out for the first time that they were trafficked by
    Epstein. In their words, quote,

            This release does not provide closure. It feels like a
            deliberate attempt to intimidate survivors, punish those who
            came forward, and reinforce the same culture of secrecy that
            allowed Epstein's crimes to continue for decades.

    To the survivors in the room, if you are willing, please stand.
        If you are willing, please raise your hands if you have
    still not been able to meet with this Department of Justice.
        Please note, for the record, that every single survivor has
    raised their hand.
        Attorney General Bondi, you apologized to the survivors in
    your opening statement for what they went through at the hands
    of Jeffrey Epstein. Will you turn to them now and apologize for
    what your Department of Justice has put them through with the
    absolutely unacceptable release of the Epstein files and their
    information?
        AG Bondi. Congresswoman, you sat before--Merrick Garland
    sat in this Chair twice--twice--
        Ms. Jayapal. Attorney General Bondi--
        AG Bondi. No, can I finish my answer?
        Ms. Jayapal. No, I'm going to reclaim my time, because I
    asked you a specific question--
        Chair Jordan. The Attorney General can answer--The Attorney
    General can respond to your question.
        Ms. Jayapal. --that I would like you to answer, which is,
    will you turn to the survivors--this is not about anybody that
    came before you; it is about you taking responsibility for your
    Department of Justice and the harm that it has done to the
    survivors who are standing right behind you and are waiting for
    you to turn to them and apologize for what your Department of
    Justice has done.
        Chair Jordan. Members get to ask the questions. The witness
    gets to answer in the way they want to answer. The Attorney
    General can respond.
        Ms. Jayapal. That's not accurate, Mr. Chair.
        AG Bondi. Because she doesn't like the answer.
        Ms. Jayapal. It is my time.
        AG Bondi. Mr. Chair, why didn't she ask Merrick Garland
    this twice when he sat in my Chair.
        Ms. Jayapal. Mr. Chair, I have asked a question. I am
    reclaiming my time and when I reclaim my time--
        AG Bondi. I will continue to answer--
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chair the gentlelady is reclaiming her
    time.
        Chair Jordan. I'm--
        Ms. Jayapal. It is my time.
        AG Bondi. I'm not going to get in the gutter for her
    theatrics.
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs to the--the time belongs to
    the gentlelady. The gentlelady has 17 seconds.
        Ms. Jayapal. Thank you. You're not going to answer this
    question. Let me just say this.
        AG Bondi. Chair, I'll direct it to you.
        Ms. Jayapal. What a massive cover-up--
        AG Bondi. No, I'm answering a question.
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chair, will you restore her time?
        AG Bondi. I'm not going to get in the gutter with this
    woman.
        Mr. Raskin. The witness is interrupting.
        Ms. Jayapal. Stop the time. Stop the time.
        AG Bondi. She's doing theatrics.
        Ms. Jayapal. Now, let me have my time.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady from Washington controls the
    time. The gentlelady has 17 seconds. You can proceed with your
    final 17 seconds.
        Ms. Jayapal. Thank you. What a massive cover-up this has
    been and continues to be. Donald Trump made the release of the
    Epstein files the center of his political campaign because he
    thought it would benefit him. Then, you got into office,
    Attorney General, claimed to have a client list, only to then
    say that there was no list.
        Mr. Issa. Regular order.
        Chair Jordan. The time--
        Ms. Jayapal. Your Deputy Todd Blanche met alone with--
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentlelady has--
        Ms. Jayapal. --Ghislaine Maxwell and transferred her to a
    minimum-security prison. Now, you continue the cover-up.
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentlelady has expired. The
    time of the gentlelady has expired.
        Ms. Jayapal. I wish that you would turn around to the
    survivors who are standing right behind you, and on a human
    level apologize to them for what you have done.
        Chair Jordan. The Chair now recognizes--the Chair now--the
    time of the gentlelady has expired.
        Ms. Jayapal. I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady--you have no time to yield
    back but we appreciate that.
        AG Bondi. Theatrics.
        Chair Jordan. We appreciate the thought. I would argue the
    central issue in the last election, the Presidential election,
    was securing the border.
        The gentleman from Arizona, who knows something about
    securing the border, is up for five minutes.
        Mr. Biggs. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Attorney
    General Bondi, for being here today.
        In 2022, Lafarge, which is a French cement company, pled
    guilty in U.S. Federal Court to participating in a criminal
    conspiracy with ISIS. That conspiracy contributed to the deaths
    of U.S. service members fighting in Syria during Operation
    Inherent Resolve. As part of the plea agreement, Lafarge was
    required to pay more than $775 million into DOJ's Asset
    Forfeiture Fund.
        In February 2025, my colleagues and I sent you a letter
    urging the Department to review the petitions for remission
    submitted by the families of those fallen service members,
    including several of my constituents. The previous
    administration ignored these victims and our request and left
    their petitions unresolved.
        My question for you on this particular issue is, if you are
    willing to work to ensure that families that their petitions
    will be removed--oh, excuse me--reviewed and brought to a
    resolution?
        AG Bondi. Congressman, we are aware of that, and we're
    committed to doing everything we can to support the victims and
    work with you. Thank you for that question.
        Mr. Biggs. Yes, I appreciate your answer. Now, let's go to
    something that is also pressing that I've been working on for
    years. This is the FISA Section 702 and Arctic Frost.
        In January 2025, you testified before the U.S. Senate and
    agreed with Senator Lee that, quote,

            Anytime an American citizen's private communications are
            intercepted or stored, whether through incidental collection or
            otherwise, those communications should not be searched without
            some showing of probable cause.

    You still hold that view today, I assume?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Biggs. During the most recent FISA reauthorization, I
    offered an amendment to establish a clear warrant requirement
    for searches of Americans' data, while preserving every
    publicly cited operational exception, including emergencies,
    defensive queries, and cybersecurity threats. My intent was to
    ensure that the Department of Justice could continue to keep
    Americans safe while also ending warrantless searches of U.S.
    persons' data.
        Are there any additional circumstances or exceptions that
    you believe must be included to ensure DOJ can continue to
    operate effectively while still protecting American citizens'
    data and privacy?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Congressman, we are committed to working
    with Congress to uncover weaponization and other misconduct by
    Jack Smith, by others, Arctic Frost, everything that happened
    under the past administration.
        We are committed to working with you on that, and we are
    working with Chair Jordan, with the House Intel, with all my
    fellow Cabinet members on resolving that issue.
        Mr. Biggs. Well, thank you. I'm glad you brought up Arctic
    Frost. Because Section 702 was used in the Arctic Frost
    investigation.
        AG Bondi. It was.
        Mr. Biggs. Information derived was used by Special Counsel
    Jack Smith.
        My question has always been--and no one has been able to
    answer this--what was the legal predicate for using a foreign
    intelligence authority in the Arctic Frost investigation? Have
    you been able to ascertain any legal predicate?
        AG Bondi. Congressman, what I can tell you today is that
    has been referred to my office. I can't discuss anything
    regarding that because it is very active and ongoing.
        Mr. Biggs. You probably can't answer this one, either, but
    I really want to know if Section 702 queries related to that
    matter involved Members of Congress, which we know on some
    level it did; congressional staff, which we know at some level
    it did. We've heard that journalists or other U.S. persons not
    suspected of acting as foreign agents were also caught up in
    that. Can you answer that question and say whether queries did
    cover all those groups I just identified?
        AG Bondi. It is a very active pending investigation within
    my office. However, I believe many Members of Congress have
    stated that their phones were part of Arctic Frost. We are well
    aware of that, and we are taking this very seriously, and this
    is a very active investigation.
        I would keep going and say, if any Member of the Democrat
    Party, if any of them had that happened to them, we would take
    that just as serious as we do, and they should be jumping up
    and down, screaming, supporting you and what you want to do,
    because this should be a bipartisan issue.
        Mr. Biggs. Well, I hope it is a bipartisan issue.
        I'll just leave with these last couple of questions, which
    I'm sure fall into the same investigation privilege, but that's
    this: How many such queries were actually conducted overall--
    this is outside of the Arctic Frost--in the prior year by the
    FBI or other intelligence community? Particularly, we really
    need to know, what were the legal standards applied? Did they
    use probable cause? Did they use reasonable articulable
    suspicion? Did they have no individualized suspicion and just
    were gathering up information? That's beyond the investigation
    regarding Arctic Frost.
        I don't expect you to have that information today, but if
    you can help get that information, so we can understand the
    extensive nature of this continued misuse of 702, it would be
    very particularly helpful.
        AG Bondi. It was extensive. Yes, Congressman.
        Mr. Biggs. Thank you.
        AG Bondi. Thank you.
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentleman has expired.
        Ms. Crockett. I have a UC, Mr. Chair.
        Chair Jordan. That is gentlelady from Texas.
        Ms. Crockett. I ask unanimous consent to enter into the
    record, ``El Paso airspace reopened after FAA quickly rescinds
    10-day flight restrictions.'' This was published by The Texas
    Tribune on February 11, 2026. It says it was because of an
    impasse with the DOD over the use of unmanned military aircraft
    and not triggered by Mexican cartel drones.
        Chair Jordan. Without objection. Without objection.
        Mr. Raskin. Point of order, Mr. Chair. I didn't hear back
    about the second round of questions. I assume that's not
    happening. I just want to be able to assure the Members,
    certainly on my side, if not both sides--
        Chair Jordan. That's not a point of order, but a question
    you had.
        Mr. Raskin. No, that every Member will get five minutes
    with the witness. Will there be five minutes for each?
        Chair Jordan. Yes. You'll get give minutes, yes.
        Mr. Raskin. With the witness?
        Chair Jordan. Yes.
        Mr. Raskin. OK. Very good.
        Chair Jordan. Yes. OK. Are you up next? The gentleman from
    New York is recognized.
        Mr. Nadler. Mr. Chair, I want to begin by acknowledging the
    survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's horrific abuse who are in the
    room with us today.
        I want to thank all of you for your bravery in speaking
    out, and I want to say that you and the other survivors of
    these heinous crimes deserve better from this Department of
    Justice. In particular, it is shocking that the Department did
    not redact the names of Epstein's victims, but it did redact
    the names of their abusers. I don't know whether this was done
    out of incompetence or whether it was deliberate and malicious.
    Either way, it is completely unacceptable.
        Even more troubling, the DOJ has failed to bring any of
    these perpetrators to justice. Instead, it has engaged in a
    relentless pursuit of Donald Trump's perceived enemies. I want
    to focus on just one example.
        The Attorney General of my home State of New York, Tish
    James. This DOJ has been hell-bent on securing an indictment
    against Ms. James for something, anything, simply because she
    held Donald Trump's companies accountable for years of
    financial fraud.
        Indeed, the Department manufactured an investigation
    against her for alleged, quote, ``mortgage fraud.'' The U.S.
    Attorney leading the investigation, Erik Seibert, a Trump
    appointee, refused to bring charges against Ms. James because
    there was simply no evidence. Unfortunately, a prosecutor who
    refused to do Trump's bidding has no place in this DOJ. Mr.
    Seibert was forced out.
        Trump could not contain his fury that he expressed to you
    in a social media post addressed to you by name. I'm sure
    you've seen it, quote, ``I fired him and there was a great
    case,'' he wrote to you about Mr. Siebert. Then, we move down,
    ``You can't delay any longer. It's killing our reputation and
    credibility. They impeached me twice and indicted me five times
    over nothing. Justice must be served now.'' Obviously, you
    followed that order.
        Lindsey Halligan, Trump's former defense lawyer who had
    never prosecuted a case in her life, was installed to replace
    Mr. Siebert, and it was clear that part of her mandate was to
    go after Ms. James.
        Halligan immediately sought an indictment, which the court
    dismissed because Halligan was illegally put into the role.
    Your Department was undeterred, and not once, but twice tried
    to indict Attorney General James in separate courts. Both grand
    juries rejected you and refused to indict her.
        It is practically unheard of for a grand jury to refuse an
    indictment. In 2016, it happened in just six cases out of over
    150,000 offenses. You had it happen twice in the same week in
    two different courts. That must have been humiliating.
        Now, there are reports you are continuing to investigate
    her. The amount of resources that have gone into targeting
    Attorney General James--months of investigations and multiple
    failed indictments is astounding.
        Since your own prosecutors told you that there is not
    enough evidence to support a conviction, it's clear that you
    were going after her simply because she held President Trump
    accountable, and he wants to punish her.
        She is just one name on a long list of Trump political
    enemies that DOJ is reportedly targeting. From Jerome Powell
    and Lisa Cook at the Federal Reserve to James Comey, numerous
    Democratic Members of Congress, John Brennan, Jack Smith,
    Democratic officials in Minnesota, Chris Krebs, Miles Taylor,
    and more. Those are just the ones we know about.
        In contrast to these politically motivated investigations,
    grasping at something they can charge their enemies with, we
    now have concrete evidence of disgusting criminality revealed
    in the Epstein files. I really have just one question for you.
    How many of Epstein's coconspirators have you indicted? How
    many perpetrators are you even investigating?
        AG Bondi. First, you showed a--I find it--
        Mr. Nadler. How many have you indicted?
        AG Bondi. Excuse me. I'm going to answer the question.
        Mr. Nadler. Answer my question.
        AG Bondi. No, I'm going to answer the question the way I
    want to answer the question.
        Mr. Nadler. No. You are going to answer the question the
    way I asked it.
        AG Bondi. Your theatrics are ridiculous.
        AG Bondi. Chair Jordan--
        Mr. Nadler. How many have you indicted?
        AG Bondi. I'm not going to get in the gutter with these
    people.
        Mr. Nadler. How many have you--
        AG Bondi. I'm going to answer the question.
        Mr. Nadler. How many of you indicted?
        Chair Jordan. Again, the time belongs to the--
        Mr. Nadler. Reclaiming my time--
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs--
        AG Bondi. Well, I think it's very interesting--
        Mr. Nadler. Reclaiming my time--
        AG Bondi. I think it's very interesting that he talks
    about--
        Chair Jordan. You can reclaim your time, but--
        AG Bondi. --they indicted the President said they indicted
    him twice.
        Mr. Nadler. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Chair--Close the time.
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chair, please, will you stop the clock
    and--
        AG Bondi. They sure did.
        Mr. Raskin. Stop the clock and restore his time.
        Chair Jordan. Restoring his time--
        AG Bondi. They indicted--oh, OK, here we go with the
    theatrics.
        Chair Jordan. The Committee will be in order.
        Mr. Nadler. Reclaiming my time--
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs to the gentleman from New
    York.
        Mr. Nadler. --and yielding to me, please--
        Chair Jordan. We will give you a few more seconds. We will
    do that, but--
        Mr. Nadler. Reclaiming my--
        Chair Jordan. --when you ask a question, the witness gets
    to--
        Mr. Nadler. The question was--
        Chair Jordan. You may not like the answer, but she gets to
    answer.
        AG Bondi. Right.
        Mr. Nadler. The question was, how many of Epstein's--
        AG Bondi. They don't like the answer, Chair because it's
    honest.
        Mr. Nadler. Reclaiming my time. Reclaiming my time--
        AG Bondi. He asked a four-minute question.
        Mr. Nadler. Reclaiming my time--
        Mr. Raskin. Restore 45 seconds to Mr. Nadler please, Mr.
    Chair.
        AG Bondi. I am going to answer.
        Mr. Nadler. Reclaiming my time--
        Mr. Raskin. You can let her filibuster all day long, but
    not on our watch.
        Mr. Nadler. Reclaiming--
        Mr. Raskin. Not our time, no way.
        Mr. Nadler. Reclaiming--
        Mr. Raskin. I told you about that, Attorney General, before
    you started.
        AG Bondi. You don't tell me anything you washed-up--
        Mr. Raskin. Yes, oh, I did tell you because we saw what you
    did in the Senate.
        AG Bondi. --loser lawyer. You're not even a lawyer.
        Chair Jordan. The Committee will be in order.
        Mr. Nadler. She took my time and I should get back at least
    45 seconds.
        Chair Jordan. We will give you a few more seconds; I said
    that already.
        Mr. Nadler. Not a few more. Give me 45 seconds.
        Chair Jordan. OK. I'm timing right now, Mr. Nadler.
        AG Bondi. All right.
        Mr. Nadler. Reclaiming my time, the answer to my question,
    how many of Epstein's coconspirators has she indicated, is
    zero.
        You have been the Attorney General for a whole year, and
    your DOJ fired the lead prosecutor of this case, sat on
    evidence this entire time, and claimed--falsely--last July that
    there were no more leads. It took an act of Congress for you to
    finally release part of the Epstein files, and when you did,
    you included personal information about the victims, while
    protecting the names of the abusers.
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentleman has expired.
        Mr. Nadler. None of the perpetrators have been brought to
    justice. Enormous resources have been dedicated to this.
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentleman has expired.
    Obviously, there was--
        Mr. Nadler. It's clear that under your leadership, the
    Department of Justice no longer works for the American people.
        Chair Jordan. There was no question in there for her to
    respond to.
        Mr. Nadler. It works for Donald Trump. I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman yields back.
        AG Bondi. May I answer?
        Chair Jordan. I think our next questioner, Madam Attorney
    General, is going to give you time to respond to all kinds of
    things.
        AG Bondi. Thank you, Chair.
        Chair Jordan. We will turn to the gentleman from Texas for
    five minutes.
        Mr. Gooden. Ms. Bondi, you go right ahead. I'm over here.
    The time is yours.
        AG Bondi. Thank you. First, he brought up the President
    saying, ``They indicted me twice.'' They sure did. They tried
    to impeach him twice.
        You, Mr. Nadler, were one of the leads on the impeachment.
    I was on the other side. I lived that with you. During
    impeachment, you said the President ``conspired,'' sought
    foreign interference in the 2016 election.
        Robert Mueller found no evidence--none--of foreign
    interference in 2016. Have you apologized to President Trump?
    Have you apologized to President Trump? All of you who
    participated in those impeachment hearings against Donald
    Trump, you all should be apologizing.
        You sit here and you attack the President, and I am not
    going to have it. I'm not going to put up with it.
        All they want to do, all American people need to know this.
    They are talking about Epstein today. This has been around
    since the Obama administration. This administration released
    over three million pages of documents--over three million.
    Donald Trump signed that law to release all those documents. He
    is the most transparent President in the Nation's history.
        None of them--none of them--asked Merrick Garland over the
    last four years one word about Jeffrey Epstein. How ironic is
    that? You know why? Because Donald Trump, the Dow, the Dow
    right now is over 50,000.
        I don't know why you're laughing. You're a great stock
    trader, as I hear, Raskin.
        The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P at almost 7,000,
    and the NASDAQ smashing records. Americans 401(k)s and
    retirement savings are booming. That's what we should be
    talking about.
        We should be talking about making Americans safe. We should
    be talking about--what does the Dow have to do with anything?
    That's what they just asked. Are you kidding?
        Mr. Gooden. Mr. Jordan? Mr. Jordan?
        Chair Jordan. The Committee will be in order.
        Mr. Gooden. Mr. Jordan, am I going to get an extra 45
    seconds added to my time?
        Chair Jordan. The Committee will be in order. The time
    belongs to the gentleman from Texas. Ms. Bondi, the Attorney
    General, can respond.
        AG Bondi. Thank you. The Dow has shattered 50,000 for the
    first time. This is crazy. They said it couldn't be done in
    four years. Yet, President Trump has done it in one year.
        National median rents have fallen to a four-year low,
    thanks to Donald Trump. That's why they want to focus on
    Epstein and our most transparent President in the Nation's
    history. The murder rate, as I said, has plummeted to a 125-
    year low, thanks to Donald Trump.
        For an unprecedented--unprecedented--nine straight months,
    there were zero illegal border crossings at the Southern
    border. That's what we should be focused on, all the great work
    that this President has done and will continue to do to keep
    America safe and to make Americans safe.
        Mr. Gooden. Thank you, Attorney General Bondi. I agree with
    you totally. I think you've done a fine job.
        I think the Democrats, in fact, should be apologizing to
    the Epstein victims for doing nothing during the 4-years that
    they were running the government. We did not hear about this,
    and it took you and President Trump to finally provide
    transparency and give answers to the American people. I want to
    thank you for that.
        I want to thank you, also, for standing up for truth today
    and for fighting back against the theatrics and the time waste
    that you will endure over the next hour or two. I want to
    apologize on behalf of my colleagues on the Left. They're not
    all that bad, but they've got to put on a show. I'm sorry that
    you have to go through that.
        I would like to yield the last, I'd say 40--it isn't even
    40--it's 80 seconds. The clock says 40, but I've got 80 seconds
    since I was so rudely interrupted, and I'll give all 80 seconds
    to Chair Jordan.
        Chair Jordan. I would just yield to the Attorney General,
    if she has anything to add.
        AG Bondi. I'm fine to continue. Thank you, Chair.
        Chair Jordan. OK. All right. The Chair now recognizes--the
    gentleman yields back. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
    California.
        Ms. Lofgren. I thank you, Mr. Chair. I would note that Mr.
    Nadler's question has not yet been answered.
        I want to start by asking, out of respect to the American
    public and the Epstein survivors, some of whom, of course, are
    here today, that we can have a transparent conversation and get
    the public the answers they deserve.
        I want to briefly direct your attention to two documents
    I'm hoping we will put up on the screen.
        In the first, an individual emails Jeffrey Epstein asking
    whether a woman identified as ``M'' was pro or civilian.
    Epstein responds that she was a civilian, Russian, and fun.
        In the second email, Epstein writes to Steve Tisch about a
    Ukrainian girl, noting that she was, quote, ``a little freaked
    out'' by the age difference, and stating that he would try to
    convince her not to return to Ukraine. He then instructs Mr.
    Tisch to call him, adding, ``I don't like records of these
    conversations.''
        I'd like to ask a straightforward question that really is
    either a yes-or-no answer. Do these emails constitute credible
    evidence--not proof--but credible evidence warranting further
    investigation into whether Steve Tisch was involved in
    Epstein's criminal conduct? Do you think yes or no?
        AG Bondi. I'm not going to play a yes/no game with you, but
    I will answer the question to the best of my ability.
        As I said, we will look and investigate any case involving
    any victim. I'm not familiar--there were three million pages,
    of course--with that email, but, of course, we will look into
    anything.
        The documents have been released, three million. With the
    redacted versions, we left them open for all you to come. Have
    you--I believe you've viewed them. If not, well, you have some
    copies--
        Ms. Lofgren. I'd like to--
        AG Bondi. Yes, but can I finish, please? I'm not being
    rude. Please.
        Ms. Lofgren. I only have five minutes. Attorney General
    Bondi, no. Yes, and I only have 30 seconds, based on your
    filibustering. You didn't give a yes-or-no answer.
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs to the gentlelady from
    California.
        Ms. Lofgren. Let me just go further. Director Patel
    testified in this Committee room that there was no credible
    information indicating that Epstein trafficked victims to
    anyone else. In glancing at the documents, that proves that's
    not the case.
        In July, your Department issued a memo stating that it had
    conducted an exhaustive review of the Epstein files and
    concluded that no additional individuals would be charged.
        I did go over to the Department of Justice yesterday.
        AG Bondi. No.
        Ms. Lofgren. I would note that 400-and-all-our-35 Members
    are in the House, and there's four computers. It would take
    many months to actually have the time. You know, I only had a
    few hours.
        The transparency argument is really kind of a sham because
    it's not really--
        AG Bondi. Wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
        Ms. Lofgren. It is possible to really go in.
        AG Bondi. Did you have to wait to get a computer?
        Chair Jordan. Hang on. Hang on.
        Ms. Lofgren. I did, however, see a U.S. Attorney
    information for the Southern District of New York indicating
    that there were additional survivors and probable
    coconspirators. Other Members of Congress have uncovered likely
    coconspirators whose names were blocked-out.
        Now, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which all but one
    Member of this House voted for, and the President signed,
    requires the Department to release everything, except that it
    needs to be redacted to protect the victims or an ongoing
    prosecution, which, apparently, there is none, from the
    testimony that we have received.
        I am concerned that this Act has not been fully complied
    with. When Director Patel came to the Committee, he admitted
    that up to a thousand FBI agents had gone through the files and
    redacted President Trump's name from them.
        It's pretty clear that what has been transmitted from the
    FBI continues to redact President Trump's name, even though he
    is mentioned thousands of times in these files.
        The credibility of the Department in terms of complying
    with the Act has been damaged. The Department's credibility has
    been damaged in other ways. I think we all saw the horrible
    video of American citizens being killed by ICE agents in
    Minneapolis. How the Department has handled these cases raises
    a lot of doubt about the Department.
        State and local police in Minnesota got a court order to
    get access to the crime scene to be sure evidence would be
    properly preserved by Federal agents, but they took--the agents
    defied the court order. In a departure from general policy, DOJ
    is not collaborating with State and local law enforcement on
    these homicides. I really think that is a disgraceful approach
    to the homicides of American citizens, and it really does
    nothing to bring credit to your Department.
        Mr. Chair, I would yield back.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady yields back.
        AG Bondi. May I answer?
        Chair Jordan. The Attorney General can respond.
        AG Bondi. I find it interesting that she keeps going after
    President Trump, the greatest President in American history. If
    they could maintain their composure, this isn't a circus. This
    is a hearing.
        I find it interesting she keeps going after Donald Trump.
    She doesn't say how much money she took from Reid Hoffman--did
    you?
        Ms. Lofgren. None.
        AG Bondi. Nor did she post anything--
        Mr. Raskin. Well, Mr. Chair regular order, please.
        AG Bondi. She posted nothing on her X account--
        Mr. Raskin. Regular order.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady--
        AG Bondi. --on her Twitter account during the Biden years.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady--
        AG Bondi. Now, all of a sudden she is going after--
        Ms. Jayapal. Mr. Chair, there is no question asked.
        Chair Jordan. The Committee will be in order.
        Ms. Jayapal. Can we have order? There was no question asked
    of the Attorney General.
        Chair Jordan. The Committee will be in order.
        Ms. Jayapal. She doesn't just get to speak.
        Chair Jordan. The Committee will be in order.
        Ms. Lofgren. I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.
        Chair Jordan. The Committee will be in order.
        Ms. Lofgren. Point of order, Mr. Chair.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady can State her point of order.
        Ms. Lofgren. When a witness attacks--
        Chair Jordan. That's not a valid point of order. You've got
    to state--
        Mr. Raskin. She hasn't completed her point of order yet.
        Ms. Lofgren. I haven't yet--
        Mr. Raskin. Please let her speak, Mr. Chair. Let's have
    some regular order here.
        Chair Jordan. Regular order is you've got to State the
    rule, and she didn't do it.
        Ms. Lofgren. I am trying to make a point of order; that the
    witness--
        Chair Jordan. What rule are you referring to?
        Ms. Lofgren. --without responding to a question, has
    attacked me personally. It's pathetic that she can't answer the
    questions and, instead, is attacking Members of the Committee.
        Chair Jordan. First, that is not even close to a point of
    order. The gentleman from Wisconsin is recognized.
        Mr. Tiffany. In August of last year, I sent a letter to the
    Department of Justice asking for assistance in seeking
    compensation for the town of Lac du Flambeau. The town of Lac
    du Flambeau is in my District. Your office replied that it was
    an ongoing matter and unable to comment on it, which I
    understand. That is just fine.
        I want to set this up, just as a reminder. Three years ago,
    it was at this time of year that four roads were blockaded in
    the town of Lac du Flambeau, and the temperature was 25 below
    zero. People had to park their cars at a neighbor's place, take
    the snow mobile across the lake to get their car, and then, be
    able to drive into town. There were people 80 and 90 years old
    that could not--were very concerned that they would be able to
    get emergency medical services.
        The perpetrators of this, the tribe out there, they
    demanded compensation from the town. I would call it
    ``extortion.'' They, ultimately, got $600,000 from the town of
    Lac du Flambeau.
        The unfortunate part, Mr. Chair, is that the Biden
    Administration took the side of the perpetrators who closed
    those roads off, and the Biden Administration made it clear to
    the town of Lac du Flambeau that ``we are not on your side in
    regards to this.''
        Well, fortunately, there was a Federal judge that said,
    ``No, this is wrong, what happened, and these roads should be
    left open and they should continue to be left open.''
        My question to you is, are you willing to work with my
    office and with the town of Lac du Flambeau to further
    investigate this matter and seek compensation from the Tribal
    Government after their extortion of $600,000 from this little
    town in Northern Wisconsin?
        AG Bondi. Congressman, you do a great job representing your
    District. Yes, we would more than welcome working with you, and
    we are familiar with that investigation.
        Mr. Tiffany. Mr. Chair, I would just add, we're
    highlighting these miscarriages of justice in the previous
    administration. This is just another one of those small
    examples, no different than the Catholic Diocese in Richmond,
    and many others that you have retold so many times. Here's
    another instance of what they did to a small town and nearly
    bankrupted them as a result of it. Fortunately, there was a
    Federal judge that saw through it and has fixed it.
        I want to move on to fraud enforcement. You have
    established a National Fraud Enforcement Division, is that
    correct, Madam Attorney General?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Congressman.
        Mr. Tiffany. Has this new division begun any investigations
    and getting after those individuals that have committed the
    rampant fraud we have seen, like in Minnesota?
        AG Bondi. Well, it's not only rampant in Minnesota; it's
    rampant throughout this country. Much of it is in California,
    as you know, and other places.
        Yes, we are working on it actively. Our Criminal Fraud
    Division has been working on it. We are expanding that. It was
    the Vice President's idea to come up with this amazing separate
    Fraud Division, which we are establishing and going nonstop--
    not only to expose the fraud in Minnesota, but around the
    country. It's taxpayer dollars that have been stolen from the
    American people, and we are committed to recovering that money
    and holding those people accountable.
        Mr. Tiffany. Mr. Chair, I would remind everyone here, why
    did this happen in Minneapolis? Why did Federal law enforcement
    have to go to Minneapolis? Because of industrial-scale fraud.
    It was an Assistant United States Attorney that said, ``This is
    industrial-scale fraud that's going on in Minnesota at this
    point.''
        I sent a letter to our Governor in Wisconsin. We're right
    across the border there. My District is only 20 miles from the
    city of Minneapolis. I asked him to open the books for a
    Federal audit on Food Stamps and Medicaid. Don't you think it
    would be a good idea for every Governor to do that at this
    point?
        AG Bondi. It protects the citizens, and I can't understand
    why that's not happening, and, yes, I do think that's a great
    idea. It's happening around this country.
        When our new division with Colin McDonald is established--
    it's established, but when Colin is confirmed--he's amazing.
    You've met with him, Mr. Chair.
        Chair Jordan. I have.
        AG Bondi. When that is established, we're going to work on
    both sides of the aisle. That's what we want to do--to stop
    fraud in every city in every State in this country. We will
    continue to fight for the American people.
        Mr. Tiffany. You would encourage every Governor across the
    United States, after what we have seen in Minnesota, what we
    almost certainly know is happening in other States--you
    mentioned California. You would agree that every Governor
    should avail themselves of Federal resources to make sure that
    this industrial-scale fraud is rooted out to protect the
    taxpayers of the United States, is that correct?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely.
        Mr. Tiffany. Mr. Chair, I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman from
    Tennessee is recognized.
        Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
        First, I would like to thank you for holding this hearing
    and holding it in a proper fashion, as you have.
        Second, I would like to thank all the victims of the
    Epstein case who have come here to attend this hearing for
    doing it and for being brave.
        I've been trying to move this justice ball, and I apologize
    I can't do it. The Attorney General did not recognizing it,
    that's embarrassing.
        I am from Memphis, General Bondi. Memphis does have the
    task force there. The Memphis Safe Task Force has been
    operating in Memphis for several months. We do have a
    Democratic mayor, Paul Young, and he's not against the task
    force, but he is against ICE being in Memphis and he's not in
    favor of the National Guard being in Memphis. I concur with him
    on those positions.
        The DEA being there; the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms;
    and the FBI, who have been in Memphis in other ways--having
    more people there is good for Memphis.
        Crime has gone down in Memphis, but it went down 25 percent
    before the task force got there under the direction of Mayor
    Young and Director Davis--Chief Davis. It's gone down about 15
    percent more since then, and that's good.
        I would like to comment that Mexico City's homicide rate
    has gone down 40 percent during the same time when Memphis' has
    only gone down 25 percent. That's not necessarily because of
    the task force, although the mayor says he thinks it's helped.
    I thank you for that.
        You would agree, I presume, that violent crime in
    communities across our country is critically important, and
    that's why the task force is there. Is that not true?
        AG Bondi. Yes, if I can just add to that, I think the
    surge, the FBI, our FBI, under the leadership of Director
    Patel, came in and did a surge in Memphis prior--
        Mr. Cohen. Earlier?
        AG Bondi. Yes, prior--right, prior to the task force.
        Mr. Cohen. Yes. Yes, Biden.
        AG Bondi. Thank you for saying that about Mayor Young. He's
    been great to work with, and thank you.
        Mr. Cohen. He's a good guy.
        AG Bondi. He's a very good guy.
        Mr. Cohen. One problem I've got with where we are in
    priorities here. A recent Department of Justice National
    Institute of Justice report, based on arrest records in Texas
    and in California, found that undocumented immigrants were less
    than half as likely as U.S.-born Americans to be arrested for
    homicide. This pattern holds for assault, sexual assault,
    robbery, burglary, theft, and arson. Half as likely to be
    arrested for drug offenses.
        I ask you--and I've written to you about this--there are TV
    ads that run that say to local law enforcement, specifically,
    just: Are you tired of having your hands handcuffed because you
    can't do the things you wanted to do when you joined? If you
    want to do something different, join ICE and you'll get a
    $50,000 bonus and payoff your debts, student debts, and we'll
    help you with pensions, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
        They're encouraging local law enforcement to leave local
    law enforcement and go to work for ICE. We need people working
    in the front lines in local law enforcement to protect our
    citizens from the worst of the worst. The worst of the worst
    are not the immigrants. The worst of the worst, records show,
    are native-born Americans, and they are committing crimes that
    hurt our citizens and our cities.
        You're working against it and thank you for that. By trying
    to get our local law enforcement, where we have an undercount
    of officers in Memphis, to leave Memphis and go to work for ICE
    to deport people, is a wrong priority. Why are we trying to get
    people, policemen, who are working on the front lines to leave
    the front lines, take the $50,000, and go to work for ICE,
    instead of working to fight the worst of the worst?
        AG Bondi. Congressman, I have not yet seen that commercial,
    that ad. I would argue that we need strong people in both local
    law enforcement, State law enforcement, and all our Federal
    agencies--working together.
        I've seen some of the worst of the worst violent
    criminals--violent crimes--who were in this country illegally.
    We both know that.
        In Memphis, working hand-in-hand--I want to stick with
    Memphis and your mayor and what you discussed, because there
    have been nearly 6,000 arrests as of February 8th--and I think
    you agree with this--in your District, in your District, and
    almost 600 gang members.
        What we found in Memphis that a lot of the gangs are local
    gangs, but 600 gang members were taken off the streets--
        Mr. Cohen. Let me reclaim my time because I've only--
        AG Bondi. One hundred forty-eight--
        Mr. Cohen. I'm going to agree with you.
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Cohen. Thank you for that.
        AG Bondi. One hundred forty-eight missing children were
    recovered by all of us working together, and nearly--I'm
    sorry--1,000 illegal guns were seized as a result of us working
    together.
        Mr. Cohen. I would like to reclaim my time.
        I don't disagree with some of the things you said, but
    there are questions about those children, but it's a different
    thing.
        The fact is, ICE is running rampant and you have not
    investigated it. When they killed Mr. Pretti and Ms. Good, that
    was an execution, and you did not investigate it. You tried to
    investigate her--Ms. Good's widow, and you tried to investigate
    Mr. Pretti. They were executed, like Kristi Noem executed her
    dog. That was wrong, and you should investigate those people,
    and you should investigate anybody that uses a weapon, Federal
    official or not, for civil rights violations.
        I yield back the balance.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman yields back his time. Madam
    Attorney General, anytime you need a break, just let us know.
        AG Bondi. Oh, I'm great. Thank you.
        Chair Jordan. I will just--we'll just keep going. The Chair
    is now recognized for five minutes.
        Madam Attorney General, you're not allowed to exercise your
    constitutional rights in a way that tramples on someone else's,
    are you?
        AG Bondi. No.
        Chair Jordan. No, you can't do that. You have a right to
    petition the government under the First Amendment. That doesn't
    mean you can come into this room and start screaming at Mr.
    Raskin or me, or anybody else, and disrupt a Congressional
    hearing. You have a right to protest on the street, but that
    doesn't give you a right to go into the Capitol and disrupt
    Congress--something these guys talk about every day. You can't
    do that.
        When Don Lemon said that he was exercise his First
    Amendment free press rights, freedom-of-the-press rights,
    that's not really accurate because he was trampling on other
    individuals' rights. Is that true?
        AG Bondi. Chair, we will always protect our churches and
    the freedom of religion. Yes, that's accurate.
        Chair Jordan. The first right mentioned under the First
    Amendment--
        AG Bondi. Right.
        Chair Jordan. --freedom of religion, freedom to practice
    your faith the way you think the Good Lord wants you to. Right?
        AG Bondi. That's right, under the Federal Government.
        Chair Jordan. Isn't it true that Mr. Lemon met at a
    shopping center with the rioters who entered Cities Church in
    St. Paul, met with them prior to marching to the church?
        AG Bondi. He did meet--and this is a pending case right
    now. I will only stick to what is in the four corners of the
    unsealed indictment, if I could, Chair.
        Chair Jordan. Yes, I'm focusing--
        AG Bondi. There's a lot, a lot more that will come out.
    Under the four corners of the indictment, yes, he did. They had
    an operation called ``Operation Pullup.'' They said they were
    gearing for a resistance. They met in a parking lot, and they
    caravanned to a church on a Sunday morning, when people were
    worshiping together.
        Chair Jordan. Mr. Lemon said that--he livestreamed before
    entering the church with the rioters. Didn't he say, ``We're
    going to head to the operation''? Didn't he say this on--he
    said this on camera, is that right?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Chair and more.
        Chair Jordan. Yes. That he was in Minnesota and that, as
    you said, they were gearing up for an operation. Again, you
    can't do that. This is why this is so important, that this guy
    be held accountable, and I think why you guys have charged him
    and indicted him.
        Moving on to a second subject here, will John Brennan be
    indicted? Mr. Brennan lied to the Committee, which you're not
    supposed to do. Last Congress, when we deposed him, he
    definitely--18 U.S.C. 1001, we're all familiar with it. He lied
    to the Committee, and the Committee, the Congress, and I think
    the country would like to know if, in fact, he's going to be
    indicted for lying.
        Here's why it's so important, and I'll give you a chance to
    respond. Here's why it's so important. It wasn't just that he
    lied to us; it's what he lied to us about. He lied to us about,
    when all this weaponization against the President of the United
    States started, he lied to us about the dossier, and
    specifically, what role the dossier played in the intelligence
    community assessment.
        Because we know, back when President Trump was first
    elected, first term, this is when it all started, which led to
    the Mueller and to the impeachment and to the Jack Smith, and
    all the stuff that's happening in the last decade. It began
    here and he lied to Congress about the role he played.
        I just want to read a couple of things he said during that
    deposition before I give you a chance to respond.
        Mr. Brennan, when asked the question, said, ``The CIA was
    not involved at all with the dossier.'' He said it was their
    purview, ``the FBI's purview, and not ours.'' He also said,
    ``the CIA was very much opposed to having any reference or
    inclusion of the Steele dossier in the intelligence community
    assessment.''
        Well, that's interesting because information that was
    declassified this past summer by the CIA says something
    entirely different. It says, ``Brennan''--and I want to put
    this one up, if we have it says, ``Brennan, ultimately,
    formalized his position in writing stating that''--quote; this
    is released by the CIA Director Ratcliffe--``My bottom line is
    that what I believe, that that information warrants inclusion
    in the report.''
        He was further asked by an IC--a CIA official, the same
    officer said, when he approached the Director and asked--``that
    the Director refused to remove it after being explained this
    wasn't good.'' With the dossier's many faults, he said, ``Yes,
    but doesn't it ring true?''
        This is John Brennan using that document to change the
    intelligence community assessment, which I think led to all the
    stuff we have seen over the last decade. This Committee and the
    country, Congress and the country would like to know if Mr.
    Brennan is going to be indicted.
        AG Bondi. What I can confirm is that we have received a
    referral from you, Chair Jordan, to investigate John Brennan.
        His attorneys have made some public statements, but the
    Department is still bound, of course, by our longstanding
    policy of not discussing matters.
        What I will say today, I can't confirm, nor deny, whether
    there's a pending investigation, but what I will say is no one
    is above the law.
        Mr. Goldman. Mr. Chair, a point of order.
        AG Bondi. Weaponization has ended.
        Chair Jordan. Yes.
        Mr. Goldman. A point of order, Mr. Chair.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman from New York is recognized for
    a point of order.
        Mr. Goldman. If we want to know whether Mr. Brennan will be
    indicted, you should just ask the President.
        Chair Jordan. It's not a point of order, but I appreciate
    trying to make it one. The gentleman from Georgia is
    recognized.
        Mr. Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. General Bondi, it's been
    reported that there were at one point 1,000 personnel assigned
    to the task of identifying and scrubbing Donald Trump's name
    from the Epstein files. Were those reports accurate?
        AG Bondi. I believe his name has appeared countless times
    in the documents that have been released.
        Mr. Johnson. How many people were assigned--
        AG Bondi. --if I could--if I could finish I'm going to read
    you the stats.
        Mr. Johnson. I just simply asked whether or not it was true
    that it was 1,000 folks who were assigned that task. Were those
    reports accurate?
        AG Bondi. There are more than 500 attorneys and reviewers.
    I cannot give you an exact number.
        Mr. Johnson. OK, I wanted to ask you about that also,
    because--
        AG Bondi. I trying to answer. I'm answering the question,
    sir. Who were assisting with this project--
        Mr. Johnson. --this is a different question that you're
    getting to now. There were 500 DOJ lawyers--
        AG Bondi. At least.
        Mr. Johnson. --and others assigned the task of redacting
    the appropriate information, including identities of the
    Epstein victim survivors from the Epstein files prior to their
    release. Five hundred, is that correct?
        AG Bondi. If I could have finished my answer--
        Mr. Johnson. Well, I'm just--
        AG Bondi. --there were more than 500 attorneys and
    reviewers who assisted with the--
        Mr. Johnson. OK. All right. OK. That answers my--that
    answers--
        AG Bondi. They ask a question and they don't want an
    answer.
        Mr. Johnson. That answers my question, ma'am and I'm going
    to move on.
        AG Bondi. Congressman, let me continue--more than from
    multiple districts--
        Mr. Johnson. I'm going to move on. General Bondi, would you
    agree--
        AG Bondi. This is ridiculous.
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs to the gentleman from
    Georgia.
        Mr. Johnson. General Bondi, would you agree that your eight
    years of service as the State of Florida's Attorney General,
    the third largest State in the Nation, served as an excellent
    preparation for your current role as Attorney General for the
    United States of America?
        AG Bondi. Not only that, I was a career prosecutor for 18
    years--
        Mr. Johnson. Yes, for 18 years, and for eight prior to
    being--for 18 years you prosecuted--
        AG Bondi. He asked a question and doesn't want an answer.
    This is theatric.
        Mr. Johnson. Well, well, no. For 18 years--
        AG Bondi. Come on.
        Mr. Johnson. --you prosecuted serious felony cases,
    including drug cases, correct?
        AG Bondi. Oh, I prosecuted homicides. I prosecuted capital
    cases. I prosecuted domestic violence cases. I prosecuted
    multiple cases and that's why I feel for all these victims.
        Mr. Johnson. You--and you also--
        AG Bondi. Did you ask Merrick Garland this when you were
    sitting before him, sir?
        Mr. Johnson. You also prosecuted sexual assault cases and
    child sex trafficking cases, correct?
        AG Bondi. I answered that question earlier.
        Mr. Johnson. OK. All right.
        AG Bondi. I prosecuted multiple cases when I was a
    prosecutor.
        Mr. Johnson. The bottom line, you are an experienced and
    seasoned--
        AG Bondi. If I can answer the question--for 18 years--
        Mr. Johnson. You're a seasoned--
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chair, will you remind her of the rules?
    The time belongs to the Member of the Committee.
        Mr. Johnson. You are seasoned and experienced prosecutor,
    correct?
        Chair Jordan. I think I've said that a few times. I think
    we've established that.
        Mr. Johnson. Yes or no?
        AG Bondi. Does he want an answer or not?
        Chair Jordan. I think he wants a--
        Mr. Johnson. I want a yes-or-no answer.
        AG Bondi. When I did try to--
        Chair Jordan. I think he wants the same answer.
        Mr. Johnson. I want a yes-or-no answer, but--
        AG Bondi. Well, yes, I can name my experience.
        Mr. Johnson. --I'll live with what you have already said.
        AG Bondi. I would love to explain my experience.
        Mr. Johnson. Let me ask you this question--
        AG Bondi. Clearly, you don't have any.
        Mr. Johnson. --in the prosecution of sexual assault cases,
    you are acutely aware of how important it is to protect the
    identity of victims of sexual assault, correct?
        AG Bondi. I have addressed this multiple times. I think
    others were cutting me off when I was trying to.
        Mr. Johnson. Well, I just simply asked, are you aware of
    the fact that it's vitally important to protect the identity of
    sexual assault victims, as you prosecute their--the people they
    accuse of assaulting them? Isn't that correct?
        AG Bondi. As we have said multiple times protection of all
    victims are protected.
        Mr. Johnson. Protection of the identity of the victims is
    so very important.
        AG Bondi. You are protected under--do you want me to answer
    or do you want to interrupt?
        Mr. Johnson. Well, because you're not answering the
    question. You do a Jekyll and Hyde kind of routine around here,
    and I just want you to answer my questions.
        AG Bondi. What does Jekyll and Hyde mean? Can you explain
    that?
        Mr. Johnson. Well, it means you're nice to the Republicans
    and you turn like Hyde on, on Democrats.
        AG Bondi. Explain that.
        Mr. Johnson. Let me ask you this, ma'am. We have the
    Epstein victim survivors here today. Representative Jayapal
    asked a simple question: If you would be so kind and honorable
    as to turn around and face them and apologize to them for
    outing them? How many lives have been derailed because your
    Department was either sloppy and incompetent or willfully
    trying to intimidate and punish these ladies from coming
    forward.
        AG Bondi. Your time is up.
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentleman--
        Mr. Johnson. Which was it?
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentleman has expired. The
    gentleman yields back. The Chair now recognizes the gentleman
    from Wisconsin for five minutes.
        Mr. Fitzgerald. Attorney General Bondi, my colleagues on
    the other side of the aisle have spent the past several months
    attacking the administration for doing exactly what the
    American people wanted when they overwhelmingly elected
    President Trump--securing our border and enforcing our
    immigration laws.
        I find it a bit ironic, because this is the same party who
    just a few years were openly supporting strong immigration
    enforcement after witnessing criminal illegal aliens wreak
    havoc on the American communities.
        I have a short video I just wanted to play.
        [Video played.]
        Mr. Fitzgerald. Attorney General Bondi, what's the Trump
    Administration DOJ doing to end the open-border policies of the
    prior administration that saw dangerous drugs and criminal
    aliens flood our communities?
        AG Bondi. Congressman, President Trump has worked
    tirelessly, as you know, to close our border--which is what the
    Democrats had asked for in that video. President Trump closed
    our borders on day one. He is protecting Americans.
        He is protecting our kids from the influx of drugs that
    were flowing into this country from Mexico, the fentanyl
    precursors that were coming from China. These precursors were
    taken from China into Mexico, and in Mexico they were mixed and
    freely taken right into our country, along with gang members,
    MS-13, TdA freely coming into our cities around our country,
    thanks to Joe Biden's open-border policy.
        That has stopped under Donald Trump. It will no longer
    happen under this administration, and he is doing everything to
    keep Americans safe.
        Let me continue. When he was elected overwhelmingly by the
    American people. The majority of the American people wanted
    Donald Trump. One of the main reasons was border security and
    keeping Americans safe. That's exactly what he did.
        That's why today the other side sits here; they yell; and
    they cut me off. They want to yell. They want to ask a question
    and don't want answers--because they want to distract from all
    the great things that this President and this administration,
    working hand-in-hand--and that includes Secretary Noem, who has
    closed our borders, and Tom Homan, who has closed our border to
    keep Americans safe.
        They're trying to distract from that, and they're not going
    to do it because the American people are smarter than that, and
    they see through their theatrics.
        Mr. Fitzgerald. Thank you. Just quickly, yesterday, Senator
    Grassley reached out to my office to tell me that I was one of
    the 20 Members that was now disclosed and were under
    surveillance from Jack Smith. This brings up the question of
    nondisclosed orders and whether or not they should apply to
    Members of Congress. With my phone records being surveilled, as
    well as, it looks like, 19 other Members of Congress, I'm just
    wondering how DOJ views that.
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentleman has expired, but
    the gentlelady can respond.
        AG Bondi. As I stated earlier, Congressman, anyone's
    records who are illegally obtained--Democrat or Republican--we
    will fight vigorously to stop that. Anything with Arctic Frost
    I can't discuss right now.
        Chair Jordan. Isn't it true, Madam Attorney General, that
    the DOJ has changed their policy? You can't do that now?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely.
        Chair Jordan. The DOJ is not going to go do that and ask
    the judge for an NDO?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely.
        Chair Jordan. Yes. Good. That, in and of itself, tells you
    why this was--how wrong it was. The Chair now recognizes the
    gentleman from California for his questions.
        Mr. Swalwell. Madam Attorney General, you acknowledged
    earlier to Mr. Johnson that President Trump was mentioned in
    the release ``countless times,'' you said, in the Epstein
    files.
        I just want to play a video, though, for you that I think
    speaks to the frustration that many of these victims have.
        [Video played.]
        Mr. Swalwell. I understand why the victims are frustrated,
    and the Attorney General acknowledged what Mr. Patel would not
    acknowledge--that it was way more than a thousand times.
        I want to move, Madam Attorney General, to weaponization of
    government. Yesterday, it was reported that six Members of
    Congress had indictments sought against them, and they were not
    returned by a grand jury.
        My colleagues have spoken about their frustration of being
    in subpoenas and having cell phone records combed through.
    Well, in 2017 and 2018, Adam Schiff and I had our cell phone
    records and email records combed through--not by you, but a
    different Department of Justice under the President. It was in
    retaliation for our role in the Russia interference campaign.
    The Inspector General report would find this improper, and that
    the predicate for it was absurd.
        In 2020, after sitting on two Committees that were a part
    of the President's first impeachment, an FBI agent leaked my
    cooperation in a national security case where my campaign was
    targeted. The President's FBI's senior leadership authorized
    two statements to the press that said,

            I was never suspected of wrongdoing and only helped the
            investigation, but that didn't stop the death threats or my GOP
            colleagues from referring me to an ethics investigation,

    where Kevin McCarthy's Chair on the Ethics Committee would find
    the same thing as the FBI.
        Our current FBI Director would then write a book called,
    ``Government Gangsters,'' and it identified a long list of
    enemies. About a quarter of them have either been investigated
    or indicted. He listed me at the very top, along with Adam
    Schiff, and during that same testimony, refused to recuse
    himself when asked if he would recuse if any case came across
    his desk involving me or people on that list.
        Since that testimony, his Department has put me under
    investigation with Senator Schiff for the nonsense mortgage
    fraud cases that we're seeing. I get it. This is what the
    President does. I priced it in. We have a bingo card at home
    that my kids have made of what will come next. I expected that
    the President would come after his enemies.
        What I want to talk to you next is serious, and I did not
    expect this would happen. I would like your help on it. The
    President has inspired death threats against me and many
    sitting up here with me. ``In June 2025, an individual left 11
    voicemails at my District office.'' On the voicemails, they
    said, ''Get the message to him. I'm going to hunt him, that
    mother fucker, and toss his ass over the Golden Gate Bridge by
    my fuckin' self.'' Donald Trump's Department of Justice in the
    Northern District of California declined to prosecute it.
        On May 14, 2025, on Twitter, responding to something I had
    posted, an individual said, ``No, it wasn't, Eric, and now I'm
    going to kill you.'' The Department of Justice from the
    Southern District of Texas declined to prosecute it.
        May through December 2025, we received messages at my
    office that said, ``I hope somebody shoots you and your
    children and your wife in the head. Pew, pew, mother fucker.
    Pew, pew. I would stay indoors as much as possible.'' My
    children, unfortunately, have to do that.
        The Department of Justice has not charged this individual
    and cited that he's prolific caller and has health conditions,
    although what we have found in our own investigation and his
    voicemails is that he said he will employ others to do this.
        The President can come after me; that's fine. I'm in the
    arena, so are these folks. We never expected that the
    Department of Justice would not seek to prosecute and
    investigate those who are making threats against us. That would
    include those on that side of aisle.
        I'm just asking for your help to protect life because life
    is at risk with the environment we're in right now.
        AG Bondi. Congressman, I completely agree with you. I know
    about several of those personally involving you. I believe one
    has been charged publicly.
        There's something I would be happy to talk to you about
    off-camera, but I can assure you that they are very serious.
    They are being looked into. I can give you more details on
    those.
        None of you should be threatened ever. None of your
    children should be threatened. None of your families should be
    threatened. I will work with--you can come into my office any
    day--I will work with all of you on both sides of the aisle, if
    you are ever threatened.
        I would gladly talk to you after this hearing about your
    cases, but I can tell you some of them are very active.
        Mr. Swalwell. Appreciate that and yield back.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman yields back. We're sorry for
    what the gentleman and his family have had to go through. We
    appreciate what the Attorney General said. Some of the things
    that the gentleman from California related, we can relate to,
    and it's unfortunate and it's wrong, as the Attorney General
    said. We appreciate the help we get from the Justice
    Department.
        With that, we will now recognize the gentleman from New
    Jersey, Mr. Van Drew.
        Mr. Van Drew. Thank you, Chair. I don't know where to
    begin. Thank you for being here, General. See me. I'm right in
    front of you.
        I have to mention this first. I used this word before, and
    my friends on the other side of the aisle got mad at me, but
    hypocrisy. ``Epstein, Epstein, Epstein.''
        For years on the other side of the aisle, we heard
    nothing--crickets, not a word. Nothing was said when they were
    in control. Nothing was mentioned, basically, until last
    summer, and the Ranking Member points out that he did do
    something last year. Yes, he did a letter complaining about the
    plea deal for Maxwell. It wasn't a big deal.
        Then, we get a new administration, and all of a sudden,
    it's a big deal and they feign concern. They're upset. They're
    investigating. They had all these years and this time.
        In fact, Stacey Plaskett--and we all know that name--when
    they had a Congressional hearing, a Democratic Member, were
    taking texts from Epstein on questions to ask to go after
    Trump. Epstein was using her, a Democratic colleague, as a tool
    to go after President Trump. Just everybody keeping that in
    mind.
        Then, we talk about ICE and how horrible it is, and there
    were concerns. Everybody wants everything to go right. Nobody
    ever wants to see somebody die. They complain about it.
        At the same time, hypocrisy, they encourage constituents to
    go after the ICE agents--to challenge them, to hurt them, and
    to attack them. That doesn't make sense. It's hypocrisy.
        Then, we hear about the concern of going after Democrats,
    that the legal system, that judiciary and the Department of
    Justice is going after Democrats. They literally rework the
    legal system under Alvin Bragg and Letitia James to go after
    Republicans and those sympathetic to Republicans.
        Be careful, when you accuse others, that you're not guilty
    yourself. Be careful of what you say. Because you've got a
    history and it's easy to go over it.
        I just want to talk about where we were and where we are
    now. We had over 10 million illegal crossings in the past
    between 2020-2024, over 10 million. It's probably a much bigger
    number. I'm being conservative.
        We were told the people weren't dangerous, but they were,
    General. They were dangerous, many of them. More than 300
    individuals on the Terror Watch List during that time, violent
    criminals came across, as we saw consequences where mothers and
    fathers, daughters and sons, children were raped, murdered,
    hurt, abused, beaten, and trafficked. From the drugs, my God,
    the drugs they brought into our babies in this country.
        Seventy-three thousand illegals with criminal histories;
    20,000 with convictions of assault, robbery, and sex offenses;
    13,000 convicted murderers in our beautiful country; and 15,000
    convicted sexual assault offenders. It was madness. It was
    insanity. It's bizarre. It's perverse. What in God's name were
    you doing?
        We finally are cleaning this up now. We're finally trying
    to make it right and safe for our people.
        My questions are this: General, do you believe removing
    criminal illegal aliens from our communities will save American
    lives?
        AG Bondi. Yes, given the cases that you just discussed,
    that's proof of it. Every single day, President Trump is
    committed to that. This entire Cabinet is committed to that and
    making and keeping Americans safe.
        Mr. Van Drew. Thank you. Would you agree that--and thank
    you for doing that. Would you agree that allowing individuals
    with known criminal histories to enter and remain in the United
    States--we knew this back then; they knew it--would you agree
    that creates serious risk to our public safety? I know the
    answers, but let's just say them clearly.
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Van Drew. Would you agree that, when dangerous
    individuals are released instead of detained--they were
    released over and over and over again, and these are the real
    issues. This is really what America cares about. They want
    their children and their families to be safe. Do you think if
    you release them instead of detaining them, that crimes will
    happen because of that?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely.
        Mr. Van Drew. Would you agree with that--I'm sorry.
        AG Bondi. It did.
        Mr. Van Drew. It did. Thank you. Would you agree that
    cooperation between--and this is a biggie, and I'm going to ask
    you to elaborate on this. This is a big deal. This is why some
    of the problems we're seeing in some of the places like
    Minnesota are happening. That cooperation between Federal and
    local enforcement, which we always used to have, helps remove
    violent offenders from our communities, that we should be a
    team?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Van Drew. Can you elaborate on that a little bit? In
    other words, when the local enforcement is forced by the
    politicians--not their fault--not to do their job and not
    cooperate, why does it create situations that we see where we
    have the need for crowd control? By the way, they're not
    peaceful. Those are not peaceful protesters. We know what a
    peaceful protester is. When you spit on law enforcement, when
    you push them, when you hit them, when you beat their car--if
    you can answer the question, thank you.
        Mr. Biggs. [Presiding.] The gentleman's time has expired.
        Mr. Van Drew. I yield back.
        Mr. Biggs. You may answer the question.
        AG Bondi. Thank you. Yes, I spent four days myself in
    Minnesota and Minneapolis. What I will say about some of these
    sanctuary cities, some of these Democratic cities, law
    enforcement, is that they quietly want to work with us. I've
    spoken to law enforcement in multiple cities who want to work
    with us.
        Yes, we're going to do everything we can to keep our
    citizens safe, whether or not these Democrat-controlled
    sanctuary cities do or don't.
        Mr. Van Drew. Damn it, that's what really matters. I yield
    back.
        Mr. Biggs. The gentleman's time has expired.
        Ms. Crockett. Mr. Chair, I have a UC.
        Mr. Biggs. Ms. Crockett from Texas is recognized for a UC.
        Ms. Crockett. Thank you so much, ``Donald Trump's approval
    rating implodes on his strongest issue.'' This is from Newsweek
    today. It says 40 percent of people approve of Trump's handling
    of immigration and border security, while 60 percent
    disapprove.
        Mr. Biggs. Thank you. You don't need to read the article to
    us.
        Mr. Biggs. Without objection, admitted.
        Ms. Crockett. That is a net drop of negative 20.
        Mr. Biggs. Now, I recognize the gentleman from California,
    Mr. Lieu
        Mr. Lieu. Thank you, Attorney General Bondi, for being here
    today. I'm going to show you two photos--
        AG Bondi. Thank you.
        Mr. Lieu. I'm going to show you two photos of former Prince
    Andrew.
        Prince Andrew attended various parties with Jeffrey
    Epstein. Under the law Congress passed, you are allowed to
    redact photos to protect the victims of Epstein's sex
    trafficking operation. You redacted the photos of this victim's
    face because you were following the congressional law, is that
    correct?
        AG Bondi. I'm sorry, that we redacted the victim's face?
        Mr. Lieu. Because you were following the Congressional law,
    correct?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Lieu. OK. You have now established that we--please put
    the photos back up--are looking at a sex trafficking victim.
    Under the Federal Victims Trafficking Protection Act, not only
    is Jeffrey Epstein guilty, but anyone who patronizes Epstein's
    sex operation is also guilty of a crime.
        That's why I find it absolutely despicable that you sought
    to protect Epstein's clients, like former Prince Andrew. Last
    July, you closed the case on Epstein's abusers. The July 2025
    memo from your Department of Justice stated, quote, ``We did
    uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against
    uncharged third parties.''
        These two photos--please put the photos back up--these two
    photos staring you in the face are evidence of a crime and more
    than enough evidence to predicate an investigation against
    former Prince Andrew.
        I ask you, Attorney General Pam Bondi, why did you shut
    down this investigation last July, and why have you not
    prosecuted former Prince Andrew?
        AG Bondi. I don't believe you asked Merrick Garland these
    questions when he was Attorney General and sat before--
        Mr. Lieu. I agree with you.
        AG Bondi. You tried?
        Mr. Lieu. I'm reclaiming my time.
        AG Bondi. Did you? Never mentioned it.
        Mr. Lieu. I agree with you. I agree with you.
        AG Bondi. Did you not hear me?
        Mr. Lieu. During the Biden Administration, I called for
    people looking at Epstein files. Merrick Garland dropped the
    ball, as did Attorney General Bill Barr, as did Alex Acosta--a
    whole string of failures.
        You are in charge. You have the power to change things and
    hold these men accountable, and you're doing the opposite.
    You're protecting them. I want to move on to another man Donald
    Trump.
        AG Bondi. Can I answer that, though?
        Mr. Lieu. I want to move on to another question.
        AG Bondi. Can I answer your question about protecting
    Prince Andrew?
        Mr. Lieu. You answered the question.
        AG Bondi. You're saying no. I love this.
        Mr. Lieu. I want to discuss another man, Donald Trump, who
    is all over the Epstein files, like former Prince--we have a
    video.
        [Video played.]
        Mr. Lieu. Like former Prince Andrew, Donald Trump attended
    various parties with Jeffrey Epstein. I want to know, were
    there any underage girls at that party or at any party that
    Trump attended with Jeffrey Epstein?
        AG Bondi. This is so ridiculous. They are trying to deflect
    from all the great things Donald Trump has done.
        There is no evidence that Donald Trump has committed a
    crime. Everyone knows that. This has been the most transparent
    presidency. He's the one that asked that those files be
    released.
        Mr. Lieu. I'm reclaim--yes, I'm reclaiming my time. I got
    your answer. You said there's no evidence.
        AG Bondi. President Trump asked that--he signed the
    legislation.
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chair, please stop the clock.
        Mr. Lieu. I'd like to reclaim my time.
        Mr. Raskin. Please stop the clock.
        Chair Jordan. [Presiding.] It's his time.
        AG Bondi. This is ridiculous.
        Chair Jordan. The time to the gentleman from California.
        Mr. Lieu. OK. I'm going to put up another document from a
    witness who called the FBI National Threat Operation Center,
    because I believe you just lied under oath. There is ample
    evidence in the Epstein files--
        AG Bondi. Don't you ever accuse me of a crime.
        Mr. Lieu. I believe you just lied under oath, and this is
    all on videotape. You said, ``There's no evidence of a crime.''
        I'm showing you, here is a witness statement who called
    into the FBI's Threat Operation Center. He drove Donald Trump
    around in a limo. He overheard what Donald Trump said to
    Jeffrey on his cell phone. He was so angry, he was going to
    stop the limo and hurt Donald Trump.
        He met a girl who said she was raped by Donald Trump and
    Jeffrey Epstein. She later had her head blown off, and the
    officers at the scene said that it could not have been suicide.
        No one at the Department of Justice interviewed this
    witness. You need to interview this witness immediately.
        Epstein should rot in hell. Should the men who patronized
    his operation. As we sit here today, there are 1,000 sex
    trafficking victims, and you have not held a single man
    accountable.
        Shame on you. If you had any decency, you would resign
    right after this hearing concludes.
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentleman--The time of the
    gentleman has expired. I don't know--
        AG Bondi. May I respond?
        Chair Jordan. Yes, I don't know how you respond. No one
    could--
        AG Bondi. Well, I can respond.
        Mr. Lieu. I did not ask a question, Mr. Chair.
        AG Bondi. He doesn't want to talk about the horrific--
        Chair Jordan. Go ahead. You're allowed to.
        Mr. Lieu. I did not ask a question.
        AG Bondi. --crime in California. He does not walk to talk
    about crime in his State.
        Mr. Lieu. I did not ask a question.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman--
        Mr. Lieu. She can't--stop. I did not ask a question.
        Chair Jordan. The Committee will be in order. The gentleman
    has yielded back his time.
        I think our next witness will be more than happy to let the
    Attorney General respond.
        Mr. Moore. Madam Attorney General, would you like to--
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman from Alabama is recognized for
    five minutes.
        Mr. Moore. You have a few minutes to respond.
        AG Bondi. Thank you, Congressman.
        This is what Congressman Lieu didn't want to talk about. He
    didn't want to talk about all the crime that is happening in
    his State. California refuses to honor detainees because of its
    dangerous sanctuary city policies.
        The refusal means California has released 4,561 criminal
    illegal aliens--criminal illegal aliens--onto its streets. The
    crimes of these aliens include 31 homicides, 661 assaults, 574
    burglaries, 184 robberies, 100--1,489 dangerous drug offenses,
    379 weapons offenses, and 234 sexual predator offenses. That's
    why they are deflecting. That's why they're trying to talk
    about the Epstein files. That's currently happening in his home
    State.
        Mr. Moore. Attorney General, thank you for being here, and
    I wanted to make sure you had time to respond.
        I'm going to change gears a little bit. In October, when
    you were testifying before the Senate, I know you and my friend
    Senator Katie Britt discussed concerns and infiltration of the
    illegal Chinese vapes into our country. As a father of three,
    obviously, I'm worried a little bit about this, and I believe
    that many parents in the country share our similar concerns.
    Can you provide an update on DOJ's work in this space over the
    past few months?
        AG Bondi. Yes. Thank you for bringing that up. We are
    talking about the vapes. This should be an issue where both
    sides of the aisle can work together on parents need to
    understand, children need to understand that so many of these
    are being manufactured in China, sent to our country, and have
    the potential to be laced with lethal drugs. We have seen an
    overdose. We need to get on the front end of this before we
    have another crisis and children are dying. I have partnered
    with Secretary Kennedy, of course, at HHS on this matter, but
    thank you for bringing it up. They are selling these things as
    flavored vapes, illegally, in many stores around the country.
        Secretary Kennedy and I actually did a--we went and did
    something on this, and it was sadly the day that Charlie Kirk
    was assassinated. It didn't get a lot of attention, nor should
    it have after that happened. Yes, we are continuing to work on
    that and thank you bringing that up. That is happening in all
    our States and I would ask everyone here, I know Congresswoman
    Ross was just nodding, it is happening in every State and not
    only are they laced with THC, many of these vapes, but they
    could be laced with fentanyl. We have had a child--I wish I
    could think of the State it was in, but we have already had
    someone overdose and we have to get together on this and we
    have to get on the front end of this and I would love to work
    across the aisle on this to protect our kids.
        How many school kids do you see now vaping? It is not
    only--I believe a vape has 20 cigarettes, but one vape is 20
    cigarettes, I believe it is, but also what they could be laced
    with because so many of them, the majority of them are
    manufactured in China.
        Mr. Moore. If you need additional resources, please let us
    know as you are going through the process.
        AG Bondi. Thank you.
        Mr. Moore. I am going to change gears one more time on you.
    Under the Biden Administration, there was a lot of confusion
    created when parts of the DOJ began treating software
    developers like financial institutions, even when they did not
    hold or control anyone's money, they were simply building the
    technology. That uncertainty made it harder for Americans to
    innovate here at home. Earlier this year, the Deputy Attorney
    General issued a memo entitled Ending Regulations by
    Prosecution, a clear break from the Biden Administration's
    approach, and it is important that is a good step in the right
    direction. Can you talk a bit about how the DOJ is now putting
    that memo into practice, especially when it comes to making
    sure that people are just writing the software and don't
    control the users' funds and we don't want them treated as an
    unlicensed money because they are not money transmitters.
        AG Bondi. Yes, and we are doing everything we can to
    protect the American people on that and would refer everyone to
    Deputy Attorney General Blanche's memo and we are working as
    hard as we can on that topic.
        Mr. Moore. We want to lead the way in the space on that, so
    we would appreciate the help.
        AG Bondi. Thank you.
        Mr. Moore. With that, Mr. Chair, I yield back 10 seconds.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman yields back. We will recognize
    the gentleman from Arizona for unanimous consent.
        Mr. Biggs. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a number of UCs.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman can proceed.
        Mr. Biggs. Thank you.
        First, ``Bombshell New Doc Showed Trump Called Police About
    Epstein in 2006.''
        Second, ``Kamela Harris Defends Biden Administration
    Decision Not To Release Epstein Files.''
        Third, ``Why Weren't They Released During the Biden
    Administration.''
        Fourth, ``House Democrat Stacey Plaskett Exchanged Texts
    With Epstein During 2019 congressional Hearing.''
        Fifth, ``New York Judge Allows Epstein Victims' Claims
    Against Plaskett To Proceed.''
        Sixth, ``Hakeem Jeffries Solicited Funding from Epstein in
    2013 After Financier Was Convicted as a Child Sex Offender.''
        Seventh, ``Jeffrey Epstein Was Invited To Dem Fundraising
    Dinner and to Get to Know Hakeem Jeffries by Firm Working with
    Brooklyn's Barack.''
        Eighth, an email from Leslie Groff to Jeffrey Epstein
    Concerning Hakeem Jeffries.
        Nineth, ``Epstein Files Says Biden Was Replaced in 2019!?''
        Chair Jordan. Without objection.
        Mr. Biggs. Thank you.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman yields?
        Mr. Biggs. Yes.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman from California is recognized,
    Mr. Correa.
        Mr. Correa. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and welcome Attorney
    General Bondi. I agree with you. Our top priority should be
    protecting Americans. My past life in the California State
    Legislature, I did a lot of work on solving sex crimes, passing
    legislation to update our codes, and I found that the biggest
    challenge to solving sex crimes is reporting them. Victims have
    to have the guts to stand up to report those sex crimes. It is
    not easy. It is the most unreported sex crime there, crime
    there is, that is sex crimes. It is painful, humiliating and a
    lot of times the victims don't think anything is going to come
    out of their reporting these crimes.
        Then, we have adults, who as children were molested, boys
    and girls, who will live in silence for the rest of their life.
    I believe the Epstein Files are just one of many sex rings, sex
    crimes taking place in our society today. I hear 1,200 Epstein
    victims, some additional victims as young as 9-10 years old.
        The challenge I have today, what bothers me today about
    this hearing, Madam Attorney General, is what is the message we
    are sending out there on Main Street? Shouldn't ask the
    question I don't know an answer to, but I am going to ask the
    victims behind you right now, first, can you please stand up,
    and then can you please raise your hand if you think after
    everything you have heard today you feel that the Attorney
    General, the Feds have your back? Do we have your back? Raise
    your hand if you are confident that we have got your back?
        That is the issue, Madam Attorney General. We have got to
    make sure that victims stand up and report the crimes,
    otherwise, we are going to take a step backward.
        Today, AI, cyber, and social media, the new realm for
    people to be hurt, attacked sexually, these are the areas I
    would welcome the opportunity to work with you on. It is not
    your problem. It is not my problem. It is our problem. To have
    redacted files that are not showing us the names of these
    predators is wrong. These are very powerful people. This was a
    very expensive business. We don't know who they are. I would
    imagine there are very prominent Republicans and very prominent
    Democrats, and we are covering up for them. We have got to know
    what is going on out there, Madam AG.
        It looks like you want to say something. I am going to give
    you an opportunity to address my statement.
        AG Bondi. I look forward to working with you on any crimes
    involving child sex predators, children, and also cybercrimes.
    That is a tremendous problem now throughout our country. AI,
    you are correct, AI is causing great problems online
    regarding--we are working on that though. AI is an incredible
    tool, but it also can be fraught with peril with victims of
    crime. I have experienced that with someone I know who we have
    been trying to help. I look forward to working with you on that
    and on cybercrime--can I--
        Mr. Biggs. Please, go ahead.
        AG Bondi. As I said before, to any victims, we ask them to
    come forward to our office, and we want to work with them. I
    have never not worked with a victim, and I believe I have
    actually spoken to several of the attorneys sitting behind me.
        Mr. Biggs. Madam, if I can reclaim my time. If I can
    reclaim my time? I just think we start out by making sure those
    redactions are unredacted, those Epstein Files to make sure
    that the public, according to the law, following the law, that
    those names in those files are made public.
        We have to make sure we tell those predators there is no
    place for them to hide and if they commit the crime, they are
    going to fry for it. It starts with showing us the names of the
    perpetrators in the Epstein Files.
        AG Bondi. May I respond to that?
        Mr. Biggs. Sure.
        AG Bondi. OK. If any man's name was redacted that should
    not have been, we will, of course, unredact it. If a victim's
    name is unredacted, please bring it to us and we will redact
    it. We were given 30 days to review and redact and unredact
    millions of pages of documents. Our error rate is very low, but
    there are always going to be errors on both sides.
        Mr. Biggs. The victims are right behind you. You have got
    to convince them that we are doing a good job of protecting
    them.
        AG Bondi. We are doing everything we can to help them. We
    will do everything we can to help the victims. We will do
    everything we can.
        Mr. Biggs. I am out of time.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman from
    California, Mr. Kiley, is recognized.
        Mr. Kiley. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Madam
    Attorney General. I wanted to return to a point that the
    chairman raised at the beginning of this hearing which is the
    jurisdictions that refused to offer--to honor or obtain a
    request from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement often
    called sanctuary jurisdictions.
        Now, I know that you are not involved directly in
    immigration operations, per se, but you do deal with the legal
    issues surrounding these jurisdictions. Let's say we have
    someone who is here illegally, who has committed a crime, like
    the thousands of people you mentioned in California, murderers,
    sexual predators, and drug traffickers. If that individual is
    in detention in a jurisdiction that has a sanctuary policy
    where they do not honor ICE detainers versus in any other
    jurisdiction where they do, how does the nature of apprehending
    that person, how does the nature of ICE's involvement in that
    operation differ in those two circumstances?
        AG Bondi. Well, we have seen that in Minnesota where people
    were not cooperating with us. I believe there are a lot of
    local law enforcement that did want to cooperate, but we are
    doing everything in our power to arrest and deport the illegal
    criminal aliens and that is not going to stop under Donald
    Trump's Administration. You know why sanctuary cities are so
    dangerous, what we have seen in Minneapolis, where do all the
    criminals go? The gangs, TDA, MS-13, where are they going to
    go? They are going to go to a sanctuary jurisdiction because
    they believe they are protected and that is not fair to the
    citizens of those cities.
        Mr. Kiley. Yes, this is a point that there--at least used
    to be a lot of consensus on, the idea that it is better to do a
    handoff to the immigration authorities in a custodial setting
    rather than releasing them where they have to be apprehended in
    the community. This is Alejandro Mayorkas, when he was before
    this Committee, not exactly a paragon of border security, but
    he said I do not consider it in the service of public safety to
    release an individual into the community when that individual
    can be released to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for
    prompt removal. Now, his words are one thing. His actions are
    another. When you have jurisdictions across the country,
    including my State of California, doing systematically
    precisely the thing that even Alejandro Mayorkas said threatens
    public safety, I mean what does that say to you?
        AG Bondi. It is a danger to the citizens of the community
    and thank you for fighting to protect them.
        Mr. Kiley. Absolutely. We are having this conversation
    right now in relation to Homeland Security funding and I
    believe there are some commonsense reforms that have been
    proposed that folks on both sides would agree makes sense, but
    those reforms have to go hand-in-hand with reforming this
    reckless practice of refusing to cooperate, refusing to honor
    detainers, and declaring oneself to be a sanctuary. I am hoping
    that we can find bipartisan support for what has long been a
    bipartisan principle.
        I want to go to a second topic which is the School Board
    Memo which I know that you have rescinded, and it was initially
    promulgated by Attorney General Garland when he came into
    office with President Biden, essentially opening an
    investigation into parents who were showing up at school board
    meetings and expressing their views on COVID policies, masks,
    and various other issues, and using the full apparatus of
    Federal law enforcement and counterterrorism to go after these
    parents. You said that this was because there was an increase
    in threats, but when even his own FBI Director, Christopher
    Wray, was before this Committee, he said there was no evidence
    of an increase in threats. Yet, nevertheless, when I asked him
    if he regretted the memo, Attorney General Garland said,
    ``there was absolutely nothing wrong with the memo.''
        Now, I take it you disagree with that, having now rescinded
    it?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely. That was one of the main focuses of
    President Trump in this administration. We will protect parents
    at school boards. We will protect children in schools. We will
    protect parents' rights for their children's education in our
    school system in this country. We will protect Christians. We
    will protect everyone who wants to really protest. If
    Christians want to protest in front of an abortion clinic
    without being arrested, they will do so.
        Mr. Kiley. Thank you very much. Finally, I thank you for
    your efforts to step up the detection and rooting out of fraud.
    My home State is California. Any idea if there might be any
    fraud going on in California?
        AG Bondi. Well, we are establishing, as you have heard, a
    fraud unit and I am sorry you are having to deal with that in
    your State, but the cavalry is coming and we have Colin
    McDonald who hopefully will be confirmed soon. We are working
    in Minneapolis. I don't know if you were sitting here when I
    said that, but California was right up there, I am sorry to say
    for both sides of the aisle, that California is right up there
    with fraud. It is out of control. We are coming to the rescue.
    Donald Trump is coming to the rescue.
        Mr. Kiley. Thank you very much and unfortunately, I think
    you will find that what is happening in California pales in
    comparison to what has been going on in Minnesota. Thank you. I
    yield back.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman from
    Maryland is recognized.
        Mr. Raskin. Actually, I think the gentlelady from
    Pennsylvania.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady from Pennsylvania is
    recognized.
        Ms. Scanlon. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ms. Bondi, I'm here.
        On September 25th, President Trump signed a memorandum
    known as NSPM-7 purporting to address domestic terrorism, but
    Americans across the political spectrum were immediately
    alarmed by the memo's blurring of the line between unlawful
    conduct and constitutionally protected speech and activity, as
    well as its call to investigate, prosecute, and dismantle
    groups that the President and Stephen Miller described, without
    evidence, as ``an organized campaign of radical left
    terrorism.''
        Now, counterterrorism experts were further alarmed by the
    administration's singular focus on Left-wing extremism combined
    with the sudden deletion from the DOJ website of decades of
    research and law enforcement analysis which had concluded that
    Right-wing extremism poses the greatest terrorism threat to
    Americans. The President's memo broadly and vaguely links
    violent conduct to ideologies, and it targeted specifically
    anti-American, anti-Christian, and anticapitalist beliefs, as
    well as ``hostility to so-called traditional American views on
    family, religion, and morality.''
        President Trump has repeatedly and openly, however falsely,
    tried to brand his political opponents with these sentiments
    listed in his memo. As you know, as a lawyer, holding beliefs
    that the White House disagrees with is not a crime, and the
    statute defining domestic terrorism requires criminal acts, not
    just thoughts and ideas. That is why legal experts, nonprofit
    leaders, religious freedom and civil rights advocates
    immediately raised the alarm that the new Presidential
    directive was a politically motivated attack on civil society
    designed to silence those who disagree with the administration.
        Ms. Bondi, Section 3 of that memo directed you as Attorney
    General, to submit to the President and Stephen Miller a list
    of groups or entities whose members are engaged in acts that
    meet the definition of domestic terrorism. Then, on December
    4th, you directed the FBI to work with a variety of law
    enforcement entities to compile a list of groups and entities
    engaged in such acts by January 3, 2026, to update that report
    every 30 days thereafter.
        Can we assume that you or persons under your direction at
    the Department of Justice have prepared that list of groups or
    entities who are designated as domestic terrorist
    organizations? I just reminded that is a yes or no question.
        AG Bondi. I am not going to answer it as yes or no, but
    what I will say is I know Antifa is part of that. I will talk
    to you about--
        Ms. Scanlon. I am reclaiming my time. I asked you whether
    you prepared a list.
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        AG Bondi. On February 6, 2025,--
        Ms. Scanlon. I asked you whether you prepared a list.
        AG Bondi. --an Antifa member was arrested in Minneapolis--
        Ms. Scanlon. I am reclaiming my time.
        AG Bondi. You asked a question and don't want an answer.
        Ms. Scanlon. The answer is yes or no.
        Chair Jordan. Time to move along. The gentlelady from
    Pennsylvania, the gentlelady can proceed.
        Ms. Scanlon. OK, so will you commit to providing this
    Committee with any list of organizations that you have
    recommended be designated as domestic terrorist organizations?
        AG Bondi. We will comply with the law in all matters.
        Ms. Scanlon. Will you commit to provide this Committee with
    your list of entities that you recommend be designated as
    domestic terrorist organizations?
        AG Bondi. I am not going to commit to anything to you
    because you won't let me answer questions.
        Ms. Scanlon. OK, well, then we do understand that your
    current position is that you have a secret list of people or
    groups that you are accusing of domestic terrorism, but you
    won't share it with Congress. I would remind you that when the
    U.S. Government designates an entity as a foreign terrorist
    organization, it must report that to Congress and to the entity
    because the Government can make a mistake and the entity has
    the opportunity to contest it. Your position seems to be that
    if you falsely designate an American or an American
    organization as a terrorist group, there is nothing they can do
    about it. I think we got it. You don't want to answer the
    question.
        AG Bondi. No, you don't get anything regarding public
    safety. Nothing.
        Ms. Scanlon. Thank you for the insult. It is clear you
    didn't come to Congress prepared to answer questions that the
    American people have every right to have answered, but if you
    were prepared to answer truthfully, here is what we expect the
    facts to show. The administration is keeping lists of Americans
    who the White House says are engaged in domestic terrorism.
    Those lists could include Americans who have not committed any
    acts of terrorism, but simply disagree with this
    administration, people like Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Your
    list may include clergy, elected officials and members of
    indivisible groups across the country and those lists likely
    don't include Proud Boys or Oathkeepers who were actually
    convicted.
        Americans have never tolerated political demagogues who use
    the Government to punish people on an enemies list. It brought
    down McCarthy. It brought down Nixon and--
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentlelady is expired. The
    time of the gentlelady is expired.
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        Ms. Scanlon. --it will bring down this administration as
    well. I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. You are right. That is why we are so glad
    they rescinded the memorandum targeting parents as the
    gentleman from California just pointed out in his five minutes.
        The gentleman from Kentucky is recognized for five--
        AG Bondi. May I respond very briefly to her statement?
        Chair Jordan. I think we can do that probably on one of our
    Members' time.
        AG Bondi. Thank you. I don't want that to get away. Thank
    you.
        Mr. Massie. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Behind me I have three
    documents from the DOJ production that are emblematic of the
    massive failure of the DOJ to comply with the Epstein Files
    Transparency Act. To my right is an email that was sent by the
    victims' lawyers to the DOJ. It was a list of names not to
    redact, sorry, a list of names not to release. What did the DOJ
    do with this email? They released this email in the document
    production, literally, the worst thing you could do to the
    survivors you did. They are getting phone calls. A lot of these
    people didn't want to be known, and we know you touched the
    document because you redacted one name and you redacted the
    lawyer's name, but you left the survivor's name there.
        The next document I want to show you--that was in the
    title, the victims survivors' names, right? The title of this
    one is ``Child Sex Trafficking Co-conspirators.'' Fully
    redacted. By the way, you didn't redact him here. Les Wexner is
    in this. Your Deputy Attorney General said, ``oh, well, he
    appears hundreds of times in the files,'' but he doesn't appear
    in this file until I forced you to release it where he is
    listed as a coconspirator, not to tax evasion, but to child sex
    trafficking. Not to prostitution, not to money laundering, or
    child sex trafficking.
        Then, finally, what we have here is the third exhibit that
    I have is emblematic of the FD-302 release. These are the
    documents that we need that you are holding on to and over
    redacting because they have the names of the men who are
    implicated. How do we know? Because the survivors gave
    testimony to the FBI and it is in there. What happens when you
    go to the portal at the DOJ to look at what is behind this
    redaction? Another redaction, so we can't even see them. Then,
    there is some of these files you pulled down from the website
    that we will never see because we can't search the redactions.
        I have several questions for you. Who is responsible? Are
    you able to track who in your organization made this massive
    failure and released the victims' names? Are you able to track
    who it was that obscured Les Wexner's name as a coconspirator
    in an FBI document? Do you have that kind of accountability?
        AG Bondi. I believe Wexner's name was listed more than
    4,000 times.
        Mr. Massie. Yes, I already told you that. This is where he
    is listed as a coconspirator.
        AG Bondi. Can I finish my answer? Come on. Let me finish my
    answer. We corrected that within 40 minutes. You are acting
    like everybody was trying to cover up Wexner's name.
        Mr. Massie. Reclaiming my time.
        AG Bondi. I am going to answer this question.
        Mr. Massie. Reclaiming my time.
        AG Bondi. I am going to answer this question.
        Mr. Massie. Reclaiming my time. Mr. Chair, can I have my
    time back?
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady can give her answer. The time
    belongs to the gentleman from Kentucky.
        Mr. Massie. I am reclaiming my time. I am going to put the
    language of the bill up on the screen.
        AG Bondi. Chair, I cannot answer on that. It is a political
    joke, and I need to give my answer.
        Chair Jordan. We will get the Attorney General respond and
    then the gentleman can move to his next question.
        Mr. Massie. Chair, it is my time.
        AG Bondi. Without 40 minutes. You asked me a question.
    Within 40 minutes, Wexner's name was added back--
        Mr. Massie. Within 40 minutes of me catching you red
    handed.
        AG Bondi. Red handed? It was one redaction of over 4,700
    and we invited--
        Mr. Massie. He is listed as a coconspirator.
        AG Bondi. --and we invited you in. This guy has Trump
    Derangement Syndrome. He needs to--you are a failed
    politician--
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman restored his time and remind
    the witness of the rules here.
        Mr. Massie. There is no credible information. None. If
    there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked
    to other individuals. Is that your position as well?
        AG Bondi. My position is any victim who comes forward, of
    course, we would love to hear from them. 1-800-CALLFBI. Did you
    ask Merrick Garland that the last four years? Did you talk
    about Epstein at all?
        Mr. Massie. I am reclaiming my time. I am glad you are
    asking about Merrick Garland.
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        AG Bondi. You don't get to reclaim time when I don't answer
    a question the way you want.
        Mr. Massie. This goes over four administrations. You don't
    have to go back to Biden. Let's go back to Obama. Let's go back
    to George Bush. These cover-ups spans decades and you are
    responsible for this portion of it.
        AG Bondi. That is what we are doing--
        Mr. Massie. I want to know at what point, at what point did
    the FBI and the DOJ decide that Les Wexner was not a
    coconspirator? Because our Epstein Files Transparency Act
    requires you--please put it back on the screen--to release the
    internal decision about whether to prosecute him or not and it
    is not in the file and it is not in the files for any of these
    other men.
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentleman has expired.
        Mr. Massie. May she answer?
        AG Bondi. He is a hypocrite because he voted against the
    ban that we were talking about on deepfake AI porn. Only two
    people voted against it, and you were one of them. Hypocrite.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman's time has expired.
        Mr. Massie. Mr. Chair, she didn't answer the question. Mr.
    Chair, could she answer the question?
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady is allowed to--the Attorney
    General is allowed to respond the way she wants to respond to
    any Member's questions, Republican, Democrat--
        Mr. Massie. I have unanimous consent request.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman is recognized for an UC.
        Mr. Massie. All right. This is an example. I am submitting
    these 302 forms that are entirely redacted even when you go to
    look at them.
        I am submitting a witness statement that implicates Les
    Wexner; an article from The New York Times, the ``DOJ Released
    Nude Photos and Identifiable Pictures of the Victims.''; a
    letter from AG Bondi to Kash Patel imploring him to quit
    keeping the files when you found out that they were keeping
    files from you. Because they are still redacting files.
        Mr. Fitzgerald. Mr. Chair, are we going to recess for
    votes?
        Mr. Massie. I am submitting for unanimous consent a
    document of 17 individuals who have resigned because of the
    Epstein Files.
        Chair Jordan. Without objection. I am checking on what
    time, how much time do we have left for votes, but one thing I
    have learned here of late that don't wait on it. How much time
    do we have? Oh, it was just called.
        The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Maryland.
        Mr. Raskin. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to start by saying
    I appreciate what you said, Attorney General Bondi and you said
    it to me personally that you take the personal security of
    every Member of Congress seriously and that people can contact
    you about that. In these times, that is a very serious matter,
    so I thank you for that.
        Article 2, Section 1, Clause 7 of the Constitution, is the
    domestic emoluments clause and it says that the President is
    limited to his salary in office and cannot receive any other
    money from the Federal Government while he is in office. It
    cannot be increased by one dollar.
        This President is the first President in U.S. who has
    repeatedly sued the Federal Government--to the Federal
    Government for $230 million for the judicial search warrant at
    Mar a Largo which was perfectly lawful and was never struck
    down. Now, he is suing the IRS for $10 billion. He is suing the
    IRS for $10 billion which I think is around 80 percent of its
    annual budget because his tax returns were leaked and they were
    illegally leaked by a private contractor who actually is in
    prison now, Charles Littlejohn. He wants $10 billion.
        Now, I want to ask you the question of whether you think it
    would violate the domestic emoluments clause for you to settle
    that $10 billion case or any of the other claims that the
    President has made against the Government? He himself has
    remarked it is interesting because I am the one that makes the
    deal, right? He says I kind of have to work it out with myself.
        Do you think it would violate the domestic emoluments
    clause for the President to work out a deal from people who are
    his subordinates under his unitary executive theory to get
    money in one of these cases?
        AG Bondi. I am not going to discuss pending litigation.
        Mr. Raskin. OK, so theoretically, you are saying because
    his privacy rights were violated in that tax case, and they
    were. I am with the President on that. His Mar-a-Largo thing is
    ridiculous, but there is no doubt that his tax returns, despite
    the fact that promised to released them, despite the fact that
    every other President released their tax returns, he suffered
    embarrassment when it showed that he hadn't paid taxes for
    several years and he had a right for that not to happen.
        Now, I want to turn back to the Epstein survivors because
    President Trump may have been a little bit embarrassed by the
    release of those tax returns. How much do you think the claims
    of these survivors are worth? As the good Congressman from
    Kentucky just pointed out, there were lots of survivors who had
    decided, for reasons of their own, never to release their
    names. That determination was representative of people in
    Congress, and we built it into our Federal law that their names
    could not be released and yet, you published their names, their
    phone numbers, their addresses, and personally identifying
    information. If Donald Trump can get $10 billion theoretically
    from the Department of Justice, how much should these people
    get for a far worse violation of their privacy rights and a far
    greater danger established to them in their lives?
        AG Bondi. Do you even know who Chase Mulligan is? You are
    so obsessed with--you don't, do you?
        Mr. Raskin. You are the Attorney General. We have rules
    here.
        AG Bondi. You are obsessed with him.
        Mr. Raskin. You are the Attorney General of the United
    States.
        AG Bondi. You are obsessed with Donald Trump. You have
    Trump Derangement Syndrome.
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chair, I would like my time restored. I
    would like my time restored.
        AG Bondi. Chase Mulligan will be next week in your
    district. In your district, you don't even know about it, about
    keeping children safe from online predators.
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs to the gentleman from
    Maryland. The gentleman can proceed.
        Mr. Raskin. I want the whole country to look at this. This
    is the Attorney General of the United States whose job is law
    enforcement. We have never had a witness who has misunderstood
    our rules and been unable to conform his or her conduct for our
    rules before. We have only five minutes and so we use our time
    to ask you specific questions.
        AG Bondi. How long will you give me to answer?
        Mr. Raskin. Excuse me, I am not yielding to you right now.
    I would like that second restored, too.
        Ms. Bondi, the way it works is we ask you a question and
    you answer it and if you go off on a wild goose chance, another
    tangent and you start reading statistics or you start talking
    about stuff going on in our district and by the way, I invite
    you to my district. Come to my district, but that is not what
    we are here to do today. OK? You do that and then we are
    allowed to say we reclaim our time. At that point, you have to
    be quiet. You have no choice. You have to be quiet. I hope you
    understand the rule at this point.
        Now, here is what I want to ask you, you are law
    enforcement. We have seen all kinds of evidence of crimes and
    when we go over to the Department of Justice for the four
    computers for every Member of Congress, we see more evidence of
    crimes. Will you create a joint task force of the Department of
    Justice and Governors and State Attorney Generals and District
    Attorneys across the country to investigate the crimes that
    have taken place against these victims and more than a thousand
    like them. The DOJ is not doing its job. Will you create a task
    force with State and local law enforcement to make that happen?
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady can respond if she wants to.
        AG Bondi. Thank you, Chair. He called Chase Mulligan a wild
    goose chase and didn't even know who he was. He is a defendant
    in your own district who preyed on girls.
        Mr. Raskin. Well, you know what, if he were part of the
    Epstein investigation, you wouldn't do anything about it.
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        AG Bondi. On an online chat room and committed sextortion,
    yet he didn't even know in your tiny little district who he
    was.
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chair, she is embarrassing you. This is
    your Committee and she is embarrassing you.
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentleman has expired. I
    would remind the Committee that last Congress, Secretary
    Mayorkas was here numerous times and he wouldn't answer our
    questions even when we sent them to him ahead of time in
    writing. That is what we have had to deal with. The Attorney
    General is doing just fine.
        We have votes shortly. I will go to the gentleman from
    Virginia and then we will take a break to head to the floor.
        Mr. Cline. I thank the Chair. Attorney General Bondi, thank
    you for being here. I wanted to thank you for your work at DOJ
    in restoring the rule of law, encouraging transparency
    surrounding Jack Smith's partisan investigations into President
    Trump, declassifying information about the Russia collusion
    hoax, cracking down on sanctuary jurisdictions, and
    establishing the National Fraud Enforcement Division.
        Let me first go to securing the border and immigration
    enforcement. Our new Governor has recently rescinded 287(g)
    cooperation between the State and ICE. Can you talk about, have
    you evaluated the public safety impact how that would affect
    safety in Virginia to withdraw that support and what that would
    do to activity, criminal activity involving illegal immigrants
    in Virginia?
        AG Bondi. Yes, it would be detrimental and as you know,
    Congressman, one of the top members of MS-13 in the entire
    country was living in Virginia in a suburb among all of us,
    living not even half an hour away from where we are now and the
    cooperation previously with the Governor, with the members of
    the State of Virginia helped catch him and take him off our
    streets. An illegal MS-13, one of the heads for the entire
    country was living in Virginia and it is a shame that that is
    happening now and thank you for talking about it because we are
    going to keep America safe and when people feel like they can
    flee to these cities and states and be safe, they can't because
    Donald Trump is going to protect Americans. We are going to
    protect the citizens there whether or not the Governors, the
    mayors, are going to do it or not but President Trump is. We
    are going to keep Americans safe from violent gang members like
    he has been doing this last year.
        Mr. Cline. We appreciate that. We appreciate your work to
    make that happen in Virginia and keep Virginia safe.
        I want to move on to the Fraud Enforcement Division that
    you have established. My understanding is that this initiative
    is intended to centralize coordinate enforcement of fraud laws
    related to government programs. You talked about Minnesota. You
    talked about California. Would this affect Virginia as well,
    because we have fraud in Virginia as well?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely, and we look forward to working with
    you.
        Mr. Cline. Would this affect things like long-term care
    accountability, senior living facilities engaged in Medicaid
    fraud, including systemic over billing practices and
    misappropriation of taxpayer funded benefits?
        AG Bondi. That is exactly what it is set up to help.
        Mr. Cline. OK, I know that whether it was related to fraud
    specifically or another subject that under the Biden
    Administration there was a sitting member of the Virginia
    General Assembly under investigation. Is that investigation
    still ongoing? Can you speak to that?
        AG Bondi. I can't discuss that.
        Mr. Cline. OK. I am going to move on to the Second
    Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans. Last year, President
    Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law which included
    the Hearing Protection Act, part of it that was sponsored by
    myself and Congressman Clyde. It reduced the national firearms
    tax, $200 tax on suppressors and short-barrel firearms to zero
    and while the tax has been eliminated, the NFA's registration
    and paperwork requirements remain in effect and your DOJ has
    said that would--even though the tax was reduced to zero, that
    the registration requirement is still somehow necessary even
    though with regard to Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, when
    that mandate was--when that tax penalty was reduced to zero,
    you decided that the mandate was no longer necessary. How are
    you justifying the existence of this registry?
        AG Bondi. Congressman, that is pending litigation right
    now.
        Mr. Cline. It is. It is. I hope you would reconsider that.
    I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. Does the gentleman yield.
        Mr. Cline. I yield to the Chair.
        Chair Jordan. Attorney General Bondi, why did Jack Smith
    have to pay some secret source $20,000 of taxpayer money? Do
    you know the answer to that?
        AG Bondi. I can't discuss anything on that matter, but that
    is a good question, Chair Jordan.
        Chair Jordan. Well, it is a good question because he
    subpoenaed just about every Republican in this town, got half
    of Congress' phone numbers if you were a Republican. You have
    to pay a secret source a bunch of taxpayer money. We would like
    to know, the Committee would like to know, how many other
    sources he paid? Was it more than $20,000? Why did he have to
    do those things. We would like to know when you can, if you can
    get that information to the Committee. When you think about the
    guy who was trying to put the President of the United States in
    prison, ridiculous as that whole thing was, we would kind of
    like to know the answer to that if you could.
        With that, we are going to stand in recess. We will go as
    quickly as we can and vote. we have two quick votes on the
    floor and we will be back. There is actually some lunch if you
    all need it. We have for our Members and since you are back
    here, you can have some. We normally have plenty. We will take
    a recess.
        Mr. Cline. Mr. Chair, before we go, can I ask for unanimous
    consent to enter into the record the article entitled, ``Inside
    Trump's DOJ,'' dated October 16, 2025.
        Chair Jordan. Without objection. We stand in recess.
        [Recess.]
        Chair Jordan. The Committee will come to order. The
    gentleman from Colorado is recognized for five minutes.
        Mr. Neguse. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Attorney General Bondi,
    six days ago you posted online, ``If you come for law
    enforcement, the Trump Administration will come for you.'' I
    want to show you just a brief video, it's about 30 seconds and
    I'll ask you a couple of questions about it.
        [Video plays.]
        Mr. Neguse. Attorney General Bondi, that man works for you
    now, right?
        AG Bondi. Who was that, Congressman?
        Mr. Neguse. The man in that video, the one who is in the
    police-worn body-cam footage, the one allegedly yelling, ``kill
    'em at police officers,'' on January 6th, his name is Jared
    Wise.
        AG Bondi. He does work for us, yes.
        Mr. Neguse. He works for you at the Department of Justice?
        AG Bondi. Yes, he does.
        Mr. Neguse. This is an individual whom a Federal grand jury
    indicted for two felonies and four misdemeanors related to his
    participation in the attack on January 6th. One of those
    charges was forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding,
    intimidating, and interfering with police with the intent to
    commit another felony. This is who you choose as the Chief Law
    Enforcement Officer of the United States of America to hire at
    the Department of Justice. Someone on video yelling, ``kill 'em
    at police officers,'' right?
        AG Bondi. I believe he was pardoned by President Trump.
        Mr. Neguse. Oh, he was pardoned, you're right, you're
    right, pardoned by President Trump for his offense, pardoned
    for yelling, ``kill 'em at police officers,'' and yet you
    expect hard-working police officers across the country to
    believe that you take law enforcement seriously. You could
    imagine the reaction of so many folks across the country
    hearing the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the United States
    refuse to even condemn what that individual, whom you've now
    hired, did, but in any event, let's talk a little bit about
    some of the other divisions within the Department of Justice
    and what's happened over the last year.
        You're familiar with the Public Integrity Section of the
    DOJ's Criminal Division, it's referred to as PIN. Is that
    right?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Neguse. OK. Do you know under which Presidential
    Administration the PIN was first created?
        AG Bondi. I can tell you what administration that the
    weaponi-zation was ended under.
        Mr. Neguse. I'll reclaim my time. This wasn't a trick
    question.
        AG Bondi. You don't get to reclaim your time. It was--
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        Mr. Neguse. Madam Attorney General--
        AG Bondi. Excuse me, because I don't like--
        Mr. Neguse. Mr. Chair--
        AG Bondi. I don't answer a question the--
        Mr. Neguse. Can you explain to the witness--
        AG Bondi. The way you like it?
        Mr. Neguse. That he does reclaim his time.
        AG Bondi. Because I don't answer a question to your
    satisfaction.
        Mr. Neguse. Mr. Chair.
        Chair Jordan. Madam Attorney General, the time belongs to
    the gentleman from Colorado.
        Mr. Neguse. The President under which PIN was created was
    Gerald Ford. It was created after Watergate--
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        Mr. Neguse. I'm not asking you a question, Madam Attorney
    General. The administration under which it was created was
    Gerald Ford. When you first started as the Attorney General of
    the United States, there were 35 people working in that office.
    There are now two people working in that office because you
    have gutted it. How many people work for the National
    Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team in the Criminal Division today?
        AG Bondi. Can I answer the question about PIN?
        Mr. Neguse. I've asked you a question. How many people
    work--
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        AG Bondi. You asked me a question, but you don't let me
    answer.
        Mr. Neguse. How many people work--
        AG Bondi. I'm not going to answer your questions--
        Mr. Neguse. For the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement
    Team? You won't answer how many--
        AG Bondi. I'll answer PIN. PIN will not be weaponized.
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        Mr. Neguse. You know what? Actually--you know what, Madam
    Attorney General--
        AG Bondi. What's funny about this?
        Mr. Neguse. I'll say to the Chair.
        AG Bondi. What's funny about this?
        Mr. Neguse. Mr. Chair, you know what the answer is and I
    think I understand why--
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        AG Bondi. What's funny about this?
        Mr. Neguse. This witness does not want to answer the
    question, because you eliminated the National Cryptocurrency
    Enforcement Team last year. I understand why you don't want to
    tell the American people who works there. No one works there
    anymore--
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        AG Bondi. Yes, I understand why you don't want to talk
    about Mohamed Soliman--
        Mr. Neguse. Madam Attorney General.
        AG Bondi. In your district--
        Mr. Neguse. In any event, I would--
        AG Bondi. Who murdered people.
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chair, will you stop the clock, so his time
    is not wasted by the witness?
        Chair Jordan. I've been very generous with allowing extra
    time when we have these little disputes.
        Mr. Neguse. I understand.
        Chair Jordan. You've got the time, Mr. Neguse.
        Mr. Neguse. I might as well ask the Chair these questions--
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        Chair Jordan. I'd be happy to answer some of your
    questions.
        Mr. Neguse. Because what's profound, the questions I've
    asked--
        AG Bondi. Profound?
        Mr. Neguse. The questions I've asked--
        AG Bondi. The crime in your district--
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chair.
        Mr. Neguse. Are not trick questions. They're not gotcha
    questions. They're actually basic questions about how the
    Department of Justice functions and the unwillingness of this
    Attorney General to answer them in good faith when a Member of
    Congress asks how many people work at the National
    Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and the Attorney General
    refuses to answer it--it is not a coincidence. It's because she
    eliminated the team. Why? Because her boss, the President of
    the United States, is making money hand over fist, 1.4 billion
    dollars over the course of the last year, through
    cryptocurrency holdings. What is happening at the Department of
    Justice is a disgrace, Mr. Chair, and I would urge you to gain
    control of this hearing. With that, I yield back the balance of
    my time.
        Chair Jordan. Yes, I would ask the gentleman, does he agree
    with the standing up of the Deputy Attorney General for dealing
    with fraud? That's something that's happened in this
    administration first time. You talked about PIN, that happened
    with this Justice Department.
        Mr. Neguse. We're talking about this Committee.
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chair.
        Mr. Neguse. Had you answered the question--the Attorney
    General answered the question in that way perhaps this hearing
    would have some modicum of resembling something that has
    typically been fairly conventional, an oversight hearing of the
    Department of Justice.
        Chair Jordan. Mr. Neguse, the gentleman's time has expired.
        Mr. Neguse. That is not this.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady from Wyoming is recognized for
    five minutes.
        Ms. Hageman. Attorney General Bondi, I want to express my
    gratitude to the President, you and your tea for your continued
    efforts against extreme anti-energy policies taken by states
    and cities that serve only to increase costs on the American
    people. This is an issue of great concern for Congress as well
    as the consumers.
        At the behest of networks of nongoverned metal
    organizations and antigrowth activists, Democratic controlled
    States and cities are enacting laws and pursuing coordinated
    lawsuits that would impose retroactive liability on energy
    producers for past global emissions based on speculative future
    climate change harms. The proponents of these plans call them
    climate super fund laws, but in reality, that is simply window
    dressing for taxes and fees imposed on consumers and businesses
    that don't even have a presence in these States or communities.
        If you look at the billions of dollars they hope to gain
    from these efforts, the real goal here is to increase their
    already mismanaged State budgets by imposing fees on consumers
    and businesses in energy producing States, such as the State of
    Wyoming. I would describe this as the tobacco litigation on
    steroids. Vermont has enacted such a law, and another has
    recently gone into effect in New York. Similar laws are under
    consideration in a number of other States. Clearly, this
    problem is spreading.
        Would you agree that Congress has not authorized States to
    impose retroactive liability against energy producers and
    lawful carbon emissions?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Ms. Hageman. Would you also agree that protecting consumers
    is a core part of the DOJ's mission?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely.
        Ms. Hageman. Would you further agree that combating State
    policies that seek to hide and shift the true cost of programs
    like these onto consumers fits within your mission?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Ms. Hageman. Attorney General Bondi, fossil fuels are the
    foundation of the U.S. economy and the recent winter storms
    underscore that gas, coal, and oil remain essential to grid
    reliability and heating our homes. Can you confirm that the DOJ
    is fully committed to using all available legal tools to stop
    the State and local level attacks on domestic energy
    production?
        AG Bondi. Congresswoman, we are committed to that and so is
    the entire administration. We talk about that a lot.
        Ms. Hageman. Thank you.
        AG Bondi. Thank you.
        Ms. Hageman. The President's April 2025 Executive Order
    directed the DOJ to identify and act against State laws that
    burden U.S. energy production. What concrete actions have the
    DOJ and the administration more broadly taken to carry out this
    directive?
        AG Bondi. Well, we filed four lawsuits. We are filing
    multiple lawsuits; many things are pending within this office
    to carry that out.
        Ms. Hageman. States continue to invent new causes of action
    to pursue State climate lawfare as is evidenced by Michigan's
    recent novel claim related to antitrust violations. The city of
    Boulder, Colorado, has also filed such a lawsuit, despite
    refusing my challenge that they actually forego the use of
    fossil fuels if they disagree with them so much. Does the
    Department of Justice agree that these novel approaches require
    a Federal response and will the Department pursue such an
    approach?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Congresswoman, and we'd be happy to talk to
    you more about that.
        Ms. Hageman. Wonderful. Thank you. Multiple climate
    lawsuits are now advancing toward trial, even in States that
    rely on those energy forms to provide heat and electricity for
    their citizens. In fact, in any community they all rely on
    fossil fuels in some fashion. Is the Department actively
    considering intervention to protect Federal supremacy over
    interState emissions and energy policy?
        AG Bondi. Yes. We'd be happy to discuss that with you.
        Ms. Hageman. Thank you. Clearly, this is an area in which
    Congress has a role to play, to that end, I'm working with my
    colleagues in both the House and the Senate to craft
    legislation tackling both the State laws and the lawsuits that
    could destroy energy affordability for consumers. To that end,
    are there any authorities or tools that DOJ and the
    administration don't currently have at their disposal that
    would be helpful in that effort that Congress could adopt?
        AG Bondi. Well, we work with multiple agencies throughout
    the administration, but I'd be happy to talk to you about that
    more.
        Ms. Hageman. Wonderful.
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Ms. Hageman. Thank you. I appreciate your effort in this
    regard.
        AG Bondi. May I have 20 seconds of your time--
        Ms. Hageman. Please.
        AG Bondi. To address something?
        Ms. Hageman. Yes.
        AG Bondi. Thank you. Your colleague, Senator Neguse, didn't
    want to talk about crypto because he said I was a disgrace,
    talking about crypto because he didn't want to talk about the
    tremendous crime in his jurisdiction. He voted no on preventing
    violence against women by illegal aliens.
        On June 1, 2025, Mohamed Soliman attacked members of the
    group ``Run for Their Lives'' in Boulder, Colorado, where an
    82-year-old woman sustained burns on over half of her body and
    eventually died from her injuries.
        Ms. Hageman. I believe that she was a Holocaust survivor.
        AG Bondi. She was.
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentlelady has expired.
        Ms. Hageman. Yield back.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady yields back and the gentlelady
    from Georgia is recognized.
        Ms. McBath. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ms. Bondi, as the Florida
    Attorney General, attorneys from your office handled the appeal
    of my son, Jordan Davis' murderer, which was denied. As a
    result of the efforts of those attorneys under your watch, the
    court actually upheld the life sentence for a man who used
    prejudice as his defense for murdering my son and scarring his
    friends for life.
        Attorneys from your office, under your management, worked
    hard to remove a dangerous man from the community, who
    terrorized innocent people, like my son and his friends. The
    compassion and respect that my family received throughout that
    ordeal were critical in helping us keep faith in the rule of
    law and justice.
        Based on my experiences, I've seen how strong victims'
    services, sustained investigations, and well-supported
    prosecutors can make a meaningful difference in the lives of
    families who are grieving and suffering. Ms. Bondi, just yes or
    no, would you agree that government officials should be
    respectful and supportive of victims' families as they mourn?
        AG Bondi. First, Congresswoman, thank you for talking about
    that and I am so very sorry about what happened to your family.
        Ms. McBath. Thank you.
        AG Bondi. Yes, I agree with that with all victims including
    the ones sitting behind us today. I absolutely do.
        Ms. McBath. Thank you.
        AG Bondi. Also, thank you for voting yes on the Laken Riley
    Act.
        Ms. McBath. Thank you for that.
        AG Bondi. Thank you.
        Ms. McBath. OK, so your answer is why the recent treatment
    of families in Minnesota raises really serious concerns for me
    because shortly after Mr. Alex Pretti was murdered,
    administration officials referred to him as an assassin and
    called Mr. Pretti the definition of domestic terrorism. They
    also lied about Mr. Pretti holding a gun and threatening
    officers. After Ms. Renee Good was murdered by ICE officials in
    Minneapolis, administration officials also accused her of being
    a domestic terrorist and investigated her wife in a clear act
    of retaliation.
        The statement Mr. Pretti's mother made after the murder
    resonated with me more than you'll ever imagine. She said that,
    and I'm quoting, ``the sickening lies told about our son by the
    administration are reprehensible and disgusting.'' I assure
    you, I know how it feels to hear lies that are told to justify
    the taking of someone's son. They were used by my son's
    murderer as a defense and those lies still affect me today. He
    was called a thug, and he was called a gangbanger and the
    attorneys from your office actually defended my son's name, his
    memory, and defended his honor.
        I'm certain that Mr. Pretti's mother watched videos of her
    son, Alex, an ICU nurse at the VA hospital, using his phone to
    record Federal agents. She also watched him getting pepper
    sprayed, kicked, hit in the head, and surrounded by at least
    seven agents before having his gun removed from his waistband,
    which he legally carried, and she watched seconds later as two
    of those agents shot her son, Alex, at least 10 times.
        The administration was quick to spew an incorrect narrative
    and call him so many things that they wanted us to ignore the
    truth that we actually saw with our own eyes. Ms. Bondi, will
    you denounce the statements that were made to tarnish the names
    of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and will you protect their names
    like those attorneys back in Florida, under your watch,
    protected my son's name?
        AG Bondi. What I will say is we are looking at everything
    to shed light on what happened that day and it is an ongoing
    and active investigation, both of those cases and I assure you
    they will be investigated.
        Ms. McBath. Investigating we understand that, but will you
    do everything in your power, as you have done for my case, as
    you are asked to do, as you have sworn an oath to do, it is
    your responsibility to make sure that you are following the
    rule of law. Those families in Minnesota deserve the same
    respect. They deserve a full investigation which you have not
    even begun to do yet, so what you are saying is that they don't
    deserve any respect for a full investigation into their
    murders?
        AG Bondi. Well, that's not accurate.
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        Ms. McBath. That is incompetence on your behalf.
        AG Bondi. Well, that is not accurate.
        Ms. McBath. The American people do deserve better.
    Noncommitment to defending the rule of law is what we see from
    you.
        AG Bondi. I told you--
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        Ms. McBath. I will always stand--
        AG Bondi. We were investigating.
        Ms. McBath. Up for survivors and I heard you say earlier
    when you told us that you will fight for them as well and based
    on the information before us, these families have not received
    the same commitment to investigate what happened to their loved
    ones, nor have they received the respect that I would expect
    from the Nation's top law enforcement officer. Investigations
    have been slow walked. They've been canceled and the special
    agent assigned to Renee Good's investigation resigned following
    pressure from your officials to reclassify Ms. Good's case--
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentlelady--
        Ms. McBath. For families seeking answers and
    accountability--
        Chair Jordan. Time of--
        Ms. McBath. The withdrawal of investigative resources--
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentlelady--
        Ms. McBath. This is simply unacceptable.
        Chair Jordan. Has expired. The gentlelady yields back. The
    gentleman from California is recognized.
        Mr. McClintock. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Madam Attorney
    General, I get the sense that we've lost a little perspective
    here. The most fundamental responsibility of government is to
    protect the lives and property of its citizens. Now, you cited
    some crime figures in your opening statement, and I wonder if
    you could repeat them, because I think it's one of the most
    extraordinary achievements of the Department of Justice in our
    history and I don't think some of my colleagues heard you
    clearly.
        AG Bondi. Thank you, Congressman. Would you mind if I
    address something that--
        Mr. McClintock. Go right ahead.
        AG Bondi. Congresswoman McBath wouldn't let me address
    first?
        Mr. McClintock. Go right ahead.
        AG Bondi. The reason that she wants to continue to talk
    about Minnesota, which we will all day long, is she doesn't
    want to talk about her own jurisdiction in Atlanta because she
    doesn't want to talk about Christopher Welcher, who traveled
    across State lines to try to meet--and nothing is funny about
    this--to meet and molest a 14-year-old girl in Georgia. That's
    why they're watching the clock, the American people should
    know, for the second it runs out because they don't want to
    address anything in their jurisdiction. They're elected to
    represent people in their jurisdiction. We prosecuted illegal
    aliens who ran a large-scale meth operation in the Atlanta
    Metro area.
        Mr. Neguse. You understand, we don't prosecute, right, Ms.
    Bondi?
        Chair Jordan. Madam Attorney General, time's allotted for
    Mr. McClintock.
        AG Bondi. I'm sorry. Thank you. So, yes, the statistics I
    spoke of earlier, Congressman, under the leadership of the FBI,
    historic work has been done. A drop of 20 percent in the
    nationwide murder rate in 2025. The least murders in our
    country since 1900 and that is to the work because of the
    President, Donald Trump.
        Mr. McClintock. It's not just homicides, is it? It's also
    other violent crimes and robbery. Could you go through that
    list really quick?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Congressman. A 100 percent increase in
    violent crime arrests in 2025 compared to 2024.
        Mr. McClintock. What's that done about the violent crime
    rate in the country?
        AG Bondi. It's plummeting, 1,800 gangs--
        Mr. McClintock. Wait a second, wait a second. Do you mean
    to honestly tell us, and you're under oath, that if we take
    violent criminals off the streets, we end up with less crime?
        AG Bondi. I certainly hope so, Congressman, and that's our
    goal and that's President Trump's goal.
        Mr. McClintock. That's an extraordinary concept and I'm
    afraid it may be lost on some of our Democratic colleagues. I
    look at these numbers and they're absolutely staggering. It
    didn't happen by accident, it happened because of specific
    policies that you've implemented this year, and you mentioned a
    few of them. Would you continue?
        AG Bondi. There are over 6,000 child victims located, 22
    percent increase; over 1,700 child predators arrested, 10
    percent increase; and over 300 human traffickers arrested. Let
    me jump down to DEA right now, that was just the FBI. Under
    Terry Cole's leadership and I talked to these people almost
    daily, our directors, and the amazing work that they're doing
    in all your jurisdictions on the Left and the Right, working
    together to take drugs off our streets.
        Mr. McClintock. Right and I assume that our Democratic
    colleagues, some of whom represent some of our most crime
    plagued cities and communities, have thanked you for this
    extraordinary accomplishment.
        AG Bondi. Thank you, Congressman. We've seized more than
    9,800 kilos of fentanyl and 47 million fentanyl pills. That
    affects every single person in this room. It doesn't matter
    what political party you are. Everyone in this room knows
    someone who's died from fentanyl--a parent, a child, a sister,
    a brother, a friend, a neighbor, or a relative. Everyone here
    knows someone who has been impacted by that. That is the common
    ground that I wish we could find to work together in this
    country. To take these drugs off the streets and someone nodded
    with vapes.
        Mr. McClintock. In your opening statement, you said this
    historic success in protecting lives and property of Americans
    has occurred when local governments are cooperating with you.
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. McClintock. Let me ask you, what are the greatest
    impediments you're facing in bringing down crime across the
    country?
        AG Bondi. Well, when local governments, of course, do not
    cooperate with us that's where criminals flee in jurisdictions
    where they know they will be protected by local governments.
    This is all about working together and we have shown that what
    we did in D.C., and what we're doing in Memphis. Working
    together with Democrat mayors in these cities, right here in
    D.C.
        Mr. McClintock. Very quickly if you could tell us about the
    Safe Cities Program and give us your read on what cities avail
    themselves of this program can expect.
        AG Bondi. Yes, so far, of course, we've been working in
    Washington, D.C., right here, to do everything we can, working
    hand-in-hand with the Mayor, with the Metro PD to keep everyone
    safe in D.C., and it's been a tremendous effort. Now, we're in
    Memphis working with the Mayor in Memphis as we talked about
    earlier, doing everything we can. These are iconic cities in
    our country, and we want to help every city in this country,
    who wants and asks for President Trump's help to make America
    safe again.
        Chair Jordan. Gentlemen--
        Ms. McBath. Mr. Chair, I have--
        Chair Jordan. Let the record show that a Democrat was
    applauding the Attorney General's answer there. A Unanimous
    Consent?
        Ms. McBath. Yes, please.
        Chair Jordan. All right, the gentlelady is recognized.
        Ms. McBath. Mr. Chair, I have a few Unanimous Consent
    requests. I would like to submit into the record this The New
    York Times article titled, ``Alex Pretti's friends and family
    denounce sickening lies about his life.''
        I also would like to submit this Daily Mail exclusive
    interview with Vice President JD Vance titled, ``JD Vance
    refuses to apologize to Alex Pretti's family after spreading
    ICE assassin claim.''
        One more, my last submission request is a The New York
    Times article titled, ``FBI agent who tried to investigate ICE
    officer in shooting resigns.''
        Chair Jordan. Without objection.
        Ms. McBath. Thank you.
        Chair Jordan. The Chair now recognizes the gentlelady from
    North Carolina.
        Ms. Ross. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Attorney General Bondi, you
    and pretty much everybody else here and throughout the country
    believes that convicted sex offenders don't deserve special
    treatment or privileges in prison and yet Ghislaine Maxwell,
    Jeffrey Epstein's coconspirator, received perk after perk in
    prison.
        In July, she had a two-day interview with your deputy and
    President Trump's former defense attorney, Todd Blanche. Just
    days after that, Maxwell was transferred from a Federal
    correctional institution in Florida to a minimum security camp
    in Texas, which she as a sex offender would normally be
    ineligible for. At this new facility, as the Ranking Member
    talked about, and by the way, it's nicknamed Club Fed, we've
    heard reports that she's been afforded special privileges,
    puppy time, private workouts, personal mail, and secretarial
    services.
        Attorney General Bondi, does a convicted sex offender like
    Ghislaine Maxwell deserve special treatment and privileges in
    prison? Yes or no.
        AG Bondi. Let me be crystal clear on this, no and let me
    tell you--
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        Ms. Ross. Thank you. Perfect.
        AG Bondi. No, no, let me keep going.
        Ms. Ross. Perfect. Well, I--
        AG Bondi. I did not know she was being transferred.
        Ms. Ross. Have a few more questions. I asked you yes or no.
        AG Bondi. She was not transferred to--
        Ms. Ross. I'm retaining my time.
        AG Bondi. A lower level--
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chair, please stop the clock and remind the
    witness of the rules. One rule she needs to understand--
        Ms. Ross. I'm glad that we're agreeing, so when we're
    agreeing, we can move onto some other things.
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        AG Bondi. I would agree--
        Ms. Ross. I want you to say that everytime she does get
    these perks and it's publicly reported, that the folks she's
    abused, the survivors who are sitting here, they see themselves
    as being denied justice. They feel retraumatized and I'm glad
    that we agree on that, but she should not be in that prison.
    She needs to be moved back to a maximum-security prison as soon
    as possible, but what she has told another Committee here is
    that she won't cooperate with them unless she gets clemency
    from Donald Trump. It's just crazy to consider that she can be
    wielding this kind of influence within the administration, but
    that begs the question, who ordered her to be transferred to
    the minimum-security prison that she was ineligible for? Who
    signed off on the special privileges? Was it Mr. Blanche? Was
    it one of your other subordinates? Please, can you tell us who
    sent her there since you don't agree she should be there?
        AG Bondi. I said I do not agree she should receive special
    treatment. She was transferred--I learned after the fact to the
    same level facility and that is a question for the Bureau of
    Prisons. I was not involved in that at all. The same level
    facility, I don't know why, but you know instead of talking
    about Ghislaine Maxwell who, hopefully, will die in prison.
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        Ms. Ross. You should have--
        AG Bondi. Talking about Iryna Zarutska.
        Ms. Ross. I have a couple of add on questions.
        AG Bondi. Who died on a subway.
        Ms. Ross. Right and I absolutely--
        AG Bondi. You don't talk about that.
        Ms. Ross. I have been talking about it and actually helping
    with these issues, but we're going to move back to you.
        AG Bondi. I bet we are.
        Ms. Ross. Yes, of course, because you're here to testify.
        [Laughter.]
        Ms. Ross. That's what the whole point of this endeavor is,
    so of course we're moving back to you. It is all about you. As
    we heard, she took the 5th in response to every single question
    in that Committee hearing and her lawyer dangled the offer of
    clemency. Should Donald Trump pardon or commute her sentence?
    Should she be released from prison, yes or no? You said you
    hope she dies there, so I'm hoping the answer is no.
        AG Bondi. I already answered that question.
        Ms. Ross. Good. I'm very glad. I really like this
    bipartisan agreement about what--
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        AG Bondi. --but you don't want to talk about Iryna
    Zarutska. You don't want to talk about--
        Ms. Ross. I talk about her all the time.
        AG Bondi. Her being murdered by a violent criminal--
        Ms. Ross. I am not here to testify--
        AG Bondi. In your jurisdiction.
        Ms. Ross. Before Congress, you are, that is your job today.
        AG Bondi. You are obsessed.
        Ms. Ross. That's what you're getting paid for.
        AG Bondi. With attacks--
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs to the gentlelady.
        Ms. Ross. I want you to know that your own DOJ employee,
    he's recently been demoted and had some other problems, advises
    on pardons. Do you think he will be advising Mr. Trump on any
    kind of clemency or pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell?
        AG Bondi. I'm not going to speculate, and you couldn't even
    identify properly, that's why you don't want to talk about
    Iryna Zarutska. You couldn't properly identify--
        [Simultaneous speaking.]
        Ms. Ross. I absolutely--
        AG Bondi. Her relative.
        Ms. Ross. I absolutely--
        AG Bondi. It's embarrassing.
        Ms. Ross. Have been and her family, by the way, appreciates
    all the condolences, all the help, and everything that our law
    enforcement in North Carolina has been doing to help her
    family. Her family feels well treated. Thank you and I yield
    back.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady yields back. The gentleman
    from California is recognized.
        Mr. McClintock. I'd ask Unanimous Consent to enter into the
    record an article by former Attorney General William P. Barr,
    entitled, ``Why Pam Bondi didn't publish all the Epstein files
    in 30 days: The answer is simple: it was not possible,'' from
    the Wall Street Journal.
        Chair Jordan. Well said. Without objection. The gentlelady
    from Florida is recognized.
        Ms. Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
        AG Bondi. Madam?
        Ms. Lee. I'm sorry.
        AG Bondi. May I respond 20 seconds to something that
    Congresswoman Ross said, please?
        Ms. Lee. Go right ahead.
        AG Bondi. Thank you. She also opposed a sex offender
    registry as head of North Carolina ACLU. Thank you.
        Ms. Lee. Thank you, Madam Attorney General, and I'd like to
    pick up where you left off a moment ago because we convene here
    today as a Committee for the stated purpose of conducting
    oversight of the Department of Justice. It's critical for us to
    focus first on the mission of the Department and assess your
    success in discharging it.
        The mission of the Department is to enforce Federal law,
    defend the rule of law, and protect the American people from
    violent crime, terrorism, drug trafficking, fraud and
    exploitation, and to promote public safety. What we have heard
    today unequivocally is that President Trump's Department of
    Justice, under your leadership, Attorney General Bondi, is
    doing exactly that. Just a moment ago, you shared with us some
    incredible statistics that the United States, under your
    leadership, has achieved the lowest murder rate in 125 years,
    that in the first year of this administration, murder is down
    21 percent, robbery is down 23 percent, carjacking down 43
    percent, and gun assault down 22 percent. That is what public
    safety looks like.
        Under your leadership and that of President Trump, you've
    located more than 6,000 child victims of trafficking and
    exploitation, arrested 1,700 child predators and apprehended
    more than 300 human traffickers, significant increases and
    those aren't just statistics, those are precious lives that
    your Department and the men and women of Federal law
    enforcement have saved.
        Madam Attorney General, you've mentioned a couple of
    specific criminal trends during this hearing that I'd like to
    discuss with you further because one of our important roles in
    Congress is making sure that our laws and law enforcement stay
    ahead of predators as technology evolves. I lead legislation in
    the House along with bipartisan cosponsors on this Committee to
    make sextortion a clearly defined criminal offense. We actually
    passed that out of the House of Representatives. We have a bill
    to promote Operation Renewed Hope to help rescue more child
    victims and the Defiance Act to provide legal recourse to
    victims of deepfake AI intimate images.
        I would love to hear your perspective and what you are
    seeing related to these technology-based criminal trends,
    sextortion and AI deepfakes. What are you seeing at the
    Department of Justice and why do you believe that efforts to
    combat these types of crimes are important?
        AG Bondi. Sextortion. Thank you for supporting that,
    Congresswoman. That was a bipartisan effort, actually. Many of
    you on both sides of the aisle supported that. Thank you for
    that.
        As a career prosecutor, it's horrible seeing that and
    seeing that young women, and often young boys, have been
    exploited with sextortion.
        I see--thank you--both sides of the aisle nodding on that.
    It's horrific. The suicide rates go up, and that's why we have
    to do everything in our power to protect not only young girls,
    adult women, boys, and men from sextortion--because it is
    happening and we're doing everything in our power--thanks to
    your legislation, all you--to stop that.
        Ms. Lee. I'd like to hear a little bit more about some of
    the Department of Justice programs, like Project Safe Childhood
    and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces,
    partnerships that bring together Federal, State, and local law
    enforcement. Sometimes the work between those law enforcement
    groups together really creates some incredibly powerful
    outcomes and some great success stories.
        I know you, as Florida's Attorney General, had a tremendous
    amount of leadership in our State, trying to make sure we were
    taking care of children; also, the elderly, protecting them
    from fraud; and ending drug trafficking.
        Tell us a little bit about some of those departments within
    DOJ.
        AG Bondi. Yes. When you talked about Project Safe
    Neighborhoods, we have done a lot of that in Florida when I was
    State AG, and actually, back when I was a State prosecutor
    prior to being Attorney General. That is so important.
        I feel like what we've been doing in D.C., too, with the
    ``Take Back D.C.,'' and ``Make D.C. Safe Again'' is similar to
    that. Going into the neighborhoods, working with the community,
    seeing law enforcement officers out there playing basketball
    with kids who live in the neighborhood--it's pretty remarkable
    what we've seen firsthand.
        Citizens in Memphis that they appreciate they can walk
    outdoors now, and they feel safe. People coming up, thanking
    law enforcement and working hand-in-hand with them.
        We will continue all these programs, and working jointly
    with both sides of the aisle to keep our families safe.
        Ms. Lee. Thank you for that, Madam Attorney General. Mr.
    Chair, I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady yields back. The gentleman
    from Tennessee is recognized.
        Mr. Cohen. I'd like to introduce for the record a letter to
    Director Gabbard from Mr. Warner and Mr. Himes, and a letter of
    response from her to them about who invited her to Atlanta.
        Chair Jordan. Yes.
        Mr. Cohen. A copy of the search warrant. I'd also like to
    just State here for the record, the reason people in Memphis
    weren't going out was because ice was on the ground and we were
    afraid we'd fall. Other than that, we go out all the time.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman, without objection, there is
    unanimous consent. The gentlelady from Vermont is recognized.
        Ms. Balint. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
        Attorney General Bondi, according to your Department, a
    child is sexually abused in the United States every nine
    minutes. The vast majority of survivors never get justice.
    That's one of the reasons why I think the Epstein case has
    resonated so deeply with so many Americans.
        The other reason, is because it has revealed a two-tiered
    system of justice, and the powerful are protected and the
    survivors rarely get any accountability.
        The Epstein files contain evidence of a multidecade
    international criminal conspiracy involving some of the
    wealthiest and the most powerful people in the world. There's
    evidence of financial crimes, political corruption, sex
    trafficking, and, of course, horrible sexual abuse.
        I want to remind everybody this isn't a game. These are
    real people--people who have suffered, who are sitting here
    with us today, and they deserve answers and they deserve
    accountability. I'm here to try to get some for them.
        Now, I've seen some of the unredacted Epstein files, and
    obviously, as you know, President Trump's name is all over
    them, but so are the names of other senior Trump officials:
    Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce; John Phelan, the
    Secretary of the Navy; and Steven Feinberg, the Deputy
    Secretary of Defense.
        These men were appointed by President Trump to senior
    positions in his administration. All of them have clear and
    confirmed ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
        Attorney General Bondi, yes or no, has the Justice
    Department asked Secretary Lutnick about his ties to Epstein?
        AG Bondi. Excuse me. Secretary Lutnick addressed those ties
    himself.
        Ms. Balint. I'm asking you, has the Justice Department
    specifically asked Secretary Lutnick about his ties to Jeffrey
    Epstein?
        AG Bondi. He has addressed those ties himself.
        Ms. Balint. Has the DOJ asked Secretary Phelan about his
    ties to Jeffrey Epstein?
        AG Bondi. I don't know whether he has addressed those or
    not.
        Ms. Balint. Has the Deputy Secretary--has Deputy Secretary
    Feinberg talked to the Department of Justice about his ties to
    Jeffrey Epstein? Yes or no? Has the Department of Justice
    talked to Secretary, Deputy Secretary Feinberg about his ties
    to Jeffrey Epstein, which are clearly spelled out in the files?
    It's a very simple question. It's not a trick question. I'm
    just asking you.
        AG Bondi. Yes, I'm stunned that you want to continue
    talking about Epstein instead of--
        Ms. Balint. Oh, my gosh, OK. I'm reclaiming my time.
        AG Bondi. --of a Border Patrol agent murder--
        Ms. Balint. I am not asking you a trick question, a simple
    question.
        AG Bondi. Done.
        Ms. Balint. OK. What is clear is we have evidence--
        AG Bondi. Do you know who Chris Maland is?
        Ms. Balint. --that three senior--we have evidence that
    three senior officials within the Trump Administration have
    ties to Jeffrey Epstein. What I can conclude--
        AG Bondi. What does ``ties'' mean?
        Ms. Balint. I can conclude from what you are saying that
    you have not talked to them.
        AG Bondi. What does ``ties'' mean?
        AG Bondi. What does ``ties'' mean? Can you define that?
        Ms. Balint. Americans would be shocked to learn that you
    are not interested in talking with these officials who have
    ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
        AG Bondi. What does ``ties'' mean? Can you define that?
        Ms. Balint. Across the world--across the world prominent
    men--
        AG Bondi. Can you define ``ties''?
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs to--the time belongs to the
    gentlelady.
        Ms. Balint. --who have been exposed in the files have
    resigned their jobs in disgrace, and that's a good first start.
    That same standard--
        AG Bondi. She's still not saying the word ``Chris Maland.''
        Ms. Balint. The same standard should apply here. Americans
    want accountability.
        AG Bondi. Who is Chris Maland?
        Ms. Balint. Was the President aware--
        AG Bondi. Who is he?
        Ms. Balint. Please stop talking. It is not your time to ask
    questions.
        AG Bondi. Who was he?
        Ms. Balint. It is not your time. I'm reclaiming my time,
    Mr. Chair.
        AG Bondi. One second.
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs to the gentlelady from
    Vermont.
        Ms. Balint. Was the President aware of Secretary Lutnick's
    ties to Epstein when he chose him to lead the Department of
    Commerce? Was he aware?
        AG Bondi. Chris Maland was a Border Patrol agent.
        Ms. Balint. OK. I'm going to conclude that--
        AG Bondi. He was shot, which she never mentioned him in her
    District. Shame on you.
        Ms. Balint. --the President, in fact, did know about his
    ties because he was the next-door neighbor
        Ms. Balint. Oh, for goodness' sakes, this is time--
        AG Bondi. You're from a tiny, beautiful State.
        Ms. Balint. This is pathetic This is pathetic, Mr. Chair.
        Chair Jordan. The Committee will be in order.
        Ms. Balint. I am not asking trick questions here. The
    American people have a right to know the answers to this. These
    are senior officials in the Trump Administration. This is not a
    game, Secretary.
        AG Bondi. I'm Attorney General.
        Ms. Balint. My apologies, I couldn't tell.
        By 2008, we knew that Epstein was a convicted sexual
    abuser. We now know that Lutnick went to Epstein's island in
    2012. How was that not a deal-breaker for the President, and
    why aren't you asking questions of the Commerce Secretary about
    what he saw when he was at the island, which he lied about not
    ever going to? Why are you not asking these questions? I see
    that my time is almost expired. I will say this.
        AG Bondi. It's a game.
        Ms. Balint. Do the right thing, Attorney General. Meet with
    the survivors. They have been asking for a year. Meet with the
    survivors. Do the right thing.
        I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady yields back. The gentleman
    from South Carolina is recognized for five minutes.
        AG Bondi. May I have 20 seconds of his time?
        Chair Jordan. That would be up to the gentleman, but--
        Mr. Fry. Absolutely, Madam--
        AG Bondi. Thank you. Thank you. I was curious if you,
    Congresswoman, asked Bill Clinton that? I didn't hear--I didn't
    see one tweet, not one, I didn't see one tweet when Joe Biden
    was in office about Bill Clinton. Didn't ask Merrick Garland
    anything about Epstein, not once, when he was--
        Ms. Balint. Weak sauce. Weak sauce.
        AG Bondi. Also, I want the record to reflect that with the
    antisemitic culture right now, she voted against a resolution
    contempt--condemning--
        Ms. Balint. Oh, do you want to go there, Attorney General?
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs to the gentle--
        Ms. Balint. Do you want to go there? Are you serious?
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs to the gentleman from South
    Carolina. The lady will--
        Ms. Balint. Talking about antisemitic to a woman who lost
    her grandfather in the Holocaust. Really?
        Mr. Fry. I reclaim my time.
        Ms. Balint. Really?
        Mr. Fry. I reclaim my time.
        Chair Jordan. The Committee will be in order.
        Mr. Fry. I reclaim my time.
        Mr. Raskin. Talk to Jared Weiss about antisemitic.
        Chair Jordan. The Ranking Member knows that--
        Mr. Fry. I'm going to--can I get 30 seconds back, you know?
        Chair Jordan. Yes, I've been--
        Mr. Fry. Since Ms. Balint took 30 of mine.
        Chair Jordan. The whole Committee knows I've been very
    generous in making sure everybody--
        Mr. Fry. Thank you.
        Chair Jordan. --gets their five minutes, and the same will
    apply to the gentleman from South Carolina.
        Mr. Fry. Very generous. I'm going to talk about sanctuary
    cities for a second, which limit the Federal Government's
    ability to enforce immigration law. They're kind of a new thing
    that Democrat jurisdictions are doing. They're in violation of
    Federal law.
        During President Trump's first term, he rightly targeted
    sanctuary jurisdictions to try to force them to cooperate with
    Federal immigration law. Federal immigration law, mind you,
    that was voted on in 1996, most recently, in a bipartisan
    Congress, signed by a Democrat President.
        They are in violation of that law. These States and
    jurisdictions feel entitled to certain grants, of course. We
    are combatting that.
        Do sanctuary policies limit the Federal Government's
    ability to accurately estimate how many criminal illegals are
    in the country?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Fry. Thank you. This means that the number of illegals
    could be higher? Are probably higher. Does this hurt the
    Federal Government's ability to carry out immigration laws
    designed by Congress?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Congressman.
        Mr. Fry. In your opinion, do you believe that the Biden-
    Harris Administration and Democrat sanctuary policies make our
    communities safer and--for the American taxpayer? Do they
    make--do sanctuary policies make our communities safer?
        AG Bondi. No, Congressman.
        Mr. Fry. I want to play a brief video to highlight
    sanctuary cities.
        [Video played.]
        Mr. Fry. What's strange to me, if you look at this board
    behind me, in New York, there are 7,000 criminal illegal aliens
    since January 20th of last year that have been released into
    the public. Because New York is not honoring detainers
    requested by ICE. California, similarly, has released 4,500
    criminal illegal aliens. There are 33,000 under the detainers
    in California alone.
        Of the people released, I think it's remarkable that those
    released in New York, 29 homicides, 2,500 assaults, almost 200
    burglaries. These are people that are released into our
    community by these States that refuse to cooperate.
        Last August, Michael Jordan Castellano Fonseca, a criminal
    illegal alien with ties to Tren de Aragua, shot two people in
    front of five children in the sanctuary State of Colorado. DHS
    lodged a detainer on him. He's awaiting trial. The question is
    whether Colorado's sanctuary policies will prevent him from
    being removed from the country.
        Yes or no, do you think that sanctuary jurisdictions, if
    they cooperated with ICE, those illegals in custody could be
    transferred to ICE properly, instead of being held in taxpayer-
    funded jails, and then released into our community?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Congressman.
        Mr. Fry. Wouldn't it be more efficient and safer than if
    Democrats simply cooperated with the Federal Government, if
    these sanctuary jurisdictions cooperated with the Federal
    Government, and honored ICE detainers? Why? Why do you think?
        AG Bondi. Of course. Because so many criminals are running
    to sanctuary jurisdictions. Many of your colleagues across the
    aisle, who we've seen speaking today about Epstein, don't want
    to talk about the illegal criminals in their own jurisdiction
    for that reason. Yes, we need to do everything we can to work
    together to make America safer, and they're not doing that.
        Mr. Fry. This is not a partisan issue.
        AG Bondi. They're deflecting.
        Mr. Fry. People want to feel safe in their communities.
    Nobody wants a criminal illegal alien released into the street.
        The thing that maybe the American people don't quite
    understand is that, when you do not honor a detainer, as we've
    seen, an illegal is released into the public. Now, it's up to
    ICE to maybe apprehend them, rather than behind the courtroom
    passing them off from one law enforcement to the next. Is that
    true?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely.
        Mr. Fry. What do you think the--what do you think? What is
    the Department of Justice doing right now to combat sanctuary
    policies in our country?
        AG Bondi. We're doing everything in our power, obviously,
    to combat that. Donald Trump is doing everything he can.
    Because we are going to make America safe. We are going to get
    illegal criminal aliens out of this country. We're going to get
    the gangs out, TdA, MS-13, all the gangs in this country. We're
    going to get the drug dealers out and the drugs, and that's
    what we've been fighting to do. I wish we could do it on a
    bipartisan basis, but they just can't do it.
        Mr. Fry. The decrease in the numbers speak for themselves.
    Thank you for your work.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman's time--
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chair, we have some UCs, if that's OK?
        Chair Jordan. That is OK.
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Cohen?
        Mr. Cohen. Thank you. I have a UC on National Institute of
    Justice's study on undocumented immigrants having an offender
    rate lower than U.S.-born citizens. I'd like to enter this in
    the record from 2024.
        Chair Jordan. Without objection.
        Mr. Raskin. I have several myself, Mr. Chair.
        First, The Guardian, January 26, 2026, ``Why is Trump
    granting clemency to convicted fraudsters?''
        Second, January 20, 2026, NBC, ``Trump's pardons forgive
    financial crimes that came with hundreds of millions of dollars
    in punishment.''
        Third, The Washington Post, December 19, 2025. ``Trump's
    pardons wipe out payments to defrauded victims.''
        Fourth, May 30, 2024. ``Trump found guilty by Manhattan
    jury on 34 felony counts of fraud.''
        Chair Jordan. Without objection. The gentleman from
    Illinois is recognized.
        Mr. Garcia. Thank you, Chair. Attorney General Bondi, glad
    you finally made it here after hiding for four months from this
    Committee.
        AG Bondi. Whoa. I thought you were--
        Mr. Garcia. I understand why you're hiding from us.
        AG Bondi. Hiding, Mr. Chair?
        Mr. Garcia. You're one of the worst Attorney Generals in
    our history and an instrument of Donald Trump's lawless
    authoritarian agenda. I'm glad the American people are seeing
    who you are; how you act, and the lack of good values.
        You weaponized the Department of Justice to target
    immigrants, working families, and anyone that Trump deems an
    enemy of the State--all to protect real powerful criminals,
    including in your administration.
        My Democratic colleagues have focused on your cover-up of
    the Epstein files and your passion for protecting pedophiles
    and child traffickers. That alone is grounds for impeachment,
    but there's so much more to your corrupt tenure as the Attorney
    General.
        You directed prosecutors to investigate elected officials
    in welcoming jurisdictions, and you got thrown out of court
    when you sued Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois.
        You directed prosecutors to prioritize low-level
    immigration cases, while gutting enforcement against corporate
    criminals and public corruption. You revived Draconian law of
    1798--
        AG Bondi. You're talking about public corruption to me?
    Whoa.
        Mr. Garcia. --which should be repealed, to illegally send
    people to a torture prison in El Salvador.
        You fired over a hundred immigration judges, including the
    Assistant Chief Immigration judge in Chicago without cause and
    installed unqualified military judges, whom you instructed to
    deny asylum, in violation of the law.
        You prosecute the President's enemies, like Jim Comey and
    Tish James, while giving impunity to Federal agents who are
    murdering, brutalizing, and terrorizing constituents, including
    in Chicagoland, in my neighborhood. I saw it last year
    firsthand.
        You and Kash Patel covered up the murder of Silverio
    Villegas Gonzalez in my district by ICE agents. You tried to
    investigate Renee Good instead of the ICE agent who murdered
    her. You tried to cover-up the murder of Alex Pretti by CBP
    agents. You bring fake charges against protestors, like the
    Broadview Six and Marimar Martinez, whom your administration
    labeled ``a domestic terrorist''--this is the Montessori
    teacher who lived in my District--while protecting thugs who
    terrorizes and DHS authority.
        That's what you do--protect and enable the criminals who
    are plundering our society and destroying what's left of
    democracy and the rule of law. Epstein accomplices; masked DHS
    thugs; corporate criminals; Tom Homan; Eric Adams; and
    insurrectionists. The list goes on.
        You talk about fighting crime, but you protect any criminal
    who helps you and Trump turn our country into an authoritarian
    gangster State.
        After all this, nobody supports you. I'm not talking about
    Democrats. I'm talking about conservative judges who are
    condemning the rampant lawlessness at DOJ under your
    leadership.
        Your prosecutors are quitting in droves over being forced
    to prosecute low-level immigration cases, including in
    Chicagoland.
        Your MAGA base despises you because you're covering up the
    Epstein files. How ironic?
        Even your own boss has repeatedly complained to your staff
    about you, calling you ``weak and ineffective.'' Weak and
    ineffective, that's what Donald Trump thinks of you already.
        You will not win, however. Chicagoland rejects you. The
    American people reject you. Our communities have demonstrated
    our strength and resilience in the face of cruelty and
    cowardice.
        Democrats must impeach and remove lawless officials like
    you and Kristi Noem and impose accountability for every
    criminal action. You can spare yourself more humiliation.
    Resign now and submit yourself to accountability by the
    American people.
        Mr. Chair, before I yield back, I ask unanimous consent to
    submit for the record The Wall Street Journal article, dated
    January 12, 2025, and titled, ``Trump has complained about Pam
    Bondi repeatedly to aides.''
        Thank you, and I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. Without objection. The gentleman yields back.
    The gentleman from Texas is recognized.
        Mr. Roy. I thank the Chair.
        AG Bondi. May I have 20 seconds, please?
        Mr. Roy. Yes, ma'am.
        AG Bondi. Thank you.
        Mr. Garcia. Let's hear the opposition research.
        AG Bondi. Thank you. That's absolutely right. They're not
    running for--he's not running for office again because--well, I
    don't know why you're not running for office again.
        After the filing deadline, after the filing deadline, you
    publicly announced you would not run, when your Chief of Staff,
    Patty Garcia, announced and took your seat.
        Mr. Garcia. That's a State matter. That isn't a Federal
    matter.
        AG Bondi. I believe Democrats got angry about that as well.
        Mr. Garcia. You should investigate claims. You should
    investigate violations of the law.
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs to the gentleman from Texas.
    The time belongs to the gentleman from Texas.
        Mr. Roy. Can I have a little flexibility in the time? I
    appreciate the Chair.
        Madam Attorney General, am I correct that, under your
    leadership, the Department of Justice has prosecuted cases of
    noncitizen voting? It's false, as some of my Democratic
    colleagues have claimed, that it doesn't happen?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Roy. I ask that today because we're voting on the SAVE
    America Act today to enact commonsense policy to ensure only
    American citizens vote in American elections and enact in
    Federal voter ID laws.
        It's true, for example, that in just this month, a Federal
    grand jury in New York indicted two men with illegally voting
    in a Federal election and making false statements. Muhammad
    Muzammal and Muhammad Shakeel were noncitizens at the time they
    registered to vote.
        This happens; it happens regularly, and you're prosecuting
    those crimes, correct?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Roy. Does that prosecution of those criminals overturn
    their previously cast votes?
        AG Bondi. That's all pending.
        Mr. Roy. It does not overturn votes that they've cast,
    right? Passing the SAVE America Act would help deal with that
    problem?
        AG Bondi. Oh, no, Congressman. Yes, Congressman.
        Mr. Roy. The second question, as Attorney General, you're
    in charge of the Executive Office of Immigration Review,
    correct?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Congressman.
        Mr. Roy. The Biden-Mayorkas regime caused the Immigration
    Court case backlog to explode, correct?
        AG Bondi. Explode.
        Mr. Roy. Does that sound about right, that in September
    2020, four months before President Biden took office, there was
    a backlog of 1.5 million cases, but by the time President Biden
    left office, the backlog reached nearly 4.2 million cases?
        AG Bondi. It sounds about right, but I don't have the exact
    numbers.
        Mr. Roy. It would be accurate to say that most individuals
    who filed for asylum have a meritless or fraudulent claim?
        AG Bondi. Most. I don't have the numbers.
        Mr. Roy. Oh, does it sound correct that, of the asylum
    cases adjudicated in Fiscal Year 2020-2023 under the Biden
    regime, that only 14 percent resulted in asylum grants and only
    12 percent in Fiscal Year 2024? Does that sound correct?
        AG Bondi. It sounds correct. I don't--I'm sorry, I don't
    have the numbers.
        Mr. Roy. Could you get that information to us, to verify
    that data?
        AG Bondi. Yes, absolutely. I'll get all that information to
    you.
        Mr. Roy. Under the Trump Administration, immigration judges
    complete an average of 65,000 cases per month, the highest
    average completion rate in at least a decade. Does that sound
    correct?
        AG Bondi. That sounds correct.
        Mr. Roy. Ms. Bondi, how many new cases under EOIR received
    in Fiscal Year 2025 have you all had? Of those, what percentage
    have been granted asylum? Do you know?
        AG Bondi. I can try to get you those numbers. I thought I
    had those.
        Mr. Roy. That would be great. Because my question is
    whether President Trump's decision to pause asylum in the wake
    of the shooting of a National Guardsman by an Afghani here in
    Washington, DC, in the Nation's Capital, helped to stop the
    backlog in your office. Does that sound correct?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Congressman.
        Mr. Roy. My point being that the leadership of this
    administration is ending the backlog, reducing the backlog,
    making sure that we don't have fraudulent asylum claims
    clogging it, and keeping Americans safe. Is that correct?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Congressman.
        Mr. Roy. A couple of other quick questions on another
    important topic that has been raised by both--colleagues on
    both side of the aisle with respect to the Epstein case, a few
    questions.
        First, Jeffrey Epstein was charged in July 2019 for sex
    trafficking under the Trump Administration in his first term,
    is that correct?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Congressman.
        Mr. Roy. That Ghislaine Maxwell was charged in 2020, also
    under the Trump Administration, correct?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Congressman.
        Mr. Roy. It is safe to say that the administration led on
    that issue, and that there was silence in the previous
    administration, is that correct?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Congressman, almost complete silence from
    everyone who's been trying to still talk about Epstein. They
    didn't say a word under the Biden Administration--nothing.
        Mr. Roy. I want to make one other point, and then, another
    question, though, that is important. I want to make one
    observation, and that is we've heard that the information
    today, which is troubling, that Jane Does, the victims'
    information, was made public and was unredacted in the files
    that were released on Friday.
        My question is, some of us had argued, when we were dealing
    with the discharge petition in Congress, that when Congress
    inserted itself into the process, that we needed to be very
    careful to ensure that we were protecting victims. A question
    that is both--I just make that clear, that some of us were
    fighting for that here, and we didn't get a chance to amend it
    or change it. That was concerning.
        A question a little more pointed, I have to say, is, why,
    though, were the victims' names released that shouldn't have
    been; that there were names in the files that, these Jane Does,
    that their names shouldn't have been made public, when there
    were some accusers whose names were redacted? That's question
    one.
        AG Bondi. Uh-hum.
        Mr. Roy. Question two was that Ghislaine Maxwell was put in
    jail for trafficking minors, rightly so, and you properly said
    here at this table you hope she dies in jail. Well, I want to
    know, will anyone besides her or Epstein, which I congratulate
    President Trump's previous administration and this Department
    of Justice for continuing all that, but that they were
    indicted, but will anyone else be indicted and prosecuted under
    this, given the information that's in front of us? Two
    questions.
        AG Bondi. Thank you for letting me answer that. They didn't
    want to hear my answer on the other side.
        Yes, given the tight timeframe of 30 days, I believe we got
    everything released within a little over 60 days. I'm talking
    as fast as I can. My time is up.
        We did the best we could. Immediately, everyone's been
    coming to view the documents. If someone's name should not have
    been redacted, we're releasing it. If someone's name was
    redacted, we said right away--it was not redacted and should
    have been, meaning a victim, we went back and redacted it.
    We're doing everything we can, based on the tight timeframe and
    over three million pages that we released, that Donald Trump
    signed, for pure transparency.
        Second, what was your second question?
        Mr. Roy. Whether another individual will be indicted and
    prosecuted.
        AG Bondi. Oh, oh. Thank you for asking that. They never
    wanted to hear the answer to that. We have pending
    investigations in our office.
        Mr. Roy. I yield.
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentleman has expired. A
    unanimous consent request from the gentlelady from
    Pennsylvania.
        Ms. Scanlon. Thank you. I have several UCs as receipts.
        Chair Jordan. Would you like to proceed?
        Ms. Scanlon. I'd like to have unanimous consent to
    introduce the following:
        First, The National Security Presidential Memorandum 7,
    dated September 25, 2025.
        Second, The Bondi Department of Justice Memo, dated
    December 4, 2025.
        Third, an article from Newsweek entitled, ``DOJ deletes
    study alleging rise in far-right terrorism,'' dated September
    18, 2025.
        Fourth, a notice article from October 3, 2025, ``Trump's
    directive on organized political violence could lead to
    increased surveillance of his critics.''
        Fifth, a Washington Post article, September 25, 2025,
    ``Trump targets domestic terrorists, but only mentions the
    radical left.''
        Sixth, Idaho Capital Sun, October 18, 2025, ``Rest easy,
    Idahoans, the no king demonstrators are American patriots.''
        Seventh, ``Attacks on freedom of speech: What nonprofits
    need to know,'' published by the National Council of
    Nonprofits, the largest network of nonprofits in America.
        Eighth, ``FFRF warns that Bondi memo weaponizes Federal law
    enforcement against non-Christians and dissenting viewpoints.''
        Ninth, a Ken Klippenstein blog from January 28, 2026,
    ``Ice's Secret Watchlists of Americans.''
        Tenth, an Intercept article from February 2, 2026, ``Trump
    calls his enemies terrorists. Does that mean he can kill
    them?''
        Chair Jordan. Without objection.
        Ms. Scanlon. Thank you.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman from Florida is recognized.
        Mr. Moskowitz. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Attorney
    General Bondi.
        AG Bondi. Good afternoon.
        Mr. Moskowitz. Good--oh, you're right, it's good afternoon.
    It's been a long day. I wrote this morning.
        We've known each other for a long time. I'll always be
    appreciative for your assistance when you were Attorney General
    in Florida after the shooting at my high school at Marjory
    Stoneman Douglas in my hometown of Parkland, when we passed the
    bipartisan bill, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School Safety
    Act, which was the largest policy response to a school shooting
    in American history.
        Your Department also prosecuted to the fullest extent of
    the law a constituent of mine, and former felon that had plans
    to kill me, when he was picked up by law enforcement after he
    was target practicing in his backyard with two rifles, a scope,
    a silencer, 3,000 rounds of ammunition, and an antisemitic
    manifesto. My name was the only name on the target list, and my
    kids found out about this from their friends at school. Thank
    you.
        However, the most transparent administration in American
    history? Before Trump, we didn't know the word
    ``transparency,'' apparently. It's been 12 months since you
    gave Republican influencers part one of the Epstein files. You
    said the list was on your desk, and a memo came out and said
    that there was no list. Phase two of the binders never
    happened.
        The President of the United States says the Epstein thing
    is a hoax. He blasts his own base for wanting the release of
    the files. He blamed Barack Obama. Republicans voted against
    the release of the files in the Rules Committee. Then, they
    refused to even return to the Rules Committee until they could
    be protected from future votes on the release.
        Speaker Johnson sends Congress home a day early before
    break. They sent the Deputy Attorney General to meet with Ms.
    Maxwell. She said something favorable about the President.
    Miraculously, she gets transferred to a minimum-security
    facility. No one can explain why. Miraculously, the leaks to
    The Wall Street Journal stop.
        We come back from break. We have the Massie discharge
    petition. Republicans drop a rule, a nonbinding resolution,
    trying to kill the Massie discharge petition.
        The White House says passing the Massie discharge petition
    is a hostile act--trying to stop the necessary 218 signatures,
    according to Republican Members that signed it. The White House
    brought them into the situation room, the place where the
    President goes for time of war, promising things like
    appropriations or maybe even to primary them. People in the
    room say you were there.
        It didn't work. We got the 218 signatures. We eventually
    passed the Massie petition. You guys didn't release the files.
    You were forced by Congress, every Member of the House except
    one and the entire Senate. The reason the President signed it
    is because it was a veto-proof majority. We can't agree on
    anything, and yet, the entire House but one Member and the
    whole Senate forced the administration to release the files.
        Kash Patel under oath said to Senator Kennedy, ``The FBI is
    not in possession of any credible evidence that Epstein
    trafficked girls to anyone but himself.''
        We know now that's not true. According to documents,
    Epstein had a worldwide sex trafficking ring. Girls from
    Poland, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Paris, and the modeling
    agencies sending him girls. He even had a relationship with a
    summer camp where he groomed girls at a picnic table.
        Ghislaine Maxwell says 29 Epstein associates cut secret DOJ
    deals. It turns out there is a list of six names readily
    available if you unredact them, coconspirators' named, but we
    got them when you unredacted them. Maxwell recently tells the
    House Oversight Committee that she wants clemency to release
    more names.
        Kash Patel under oath said ``Trump's name appears less than
    100 times in the files.'' We now know that's not true. Trump's
    name appears more times in the Epstein files than God's name
    appears in the book about God.
        OK. By the way, this is the Trump Bible. Move over, King
    James.
        Trump's name also appears more times in the Epstein file
    than Harry Potter's name appears in the seven books about Harry
    Potter.
        Lutnick says that, in 2008, he went to Epstein's home, says
    he had a massage table in the living room, but Epstein said he
    got one every day; that it was the right type of massage.
        He and his wife decide to leave and say they'll never be in
    a room with him again. Howard then says, ``I'm sure the Epstein
    stuff is all on video. He was the greatest blackmailer of all
    time.'' Well, how would Howard know that?
        Now, the files are public. In 2012, we find out that he and
    his family are on Epstein island after, after, after Epstein
    pled guilty to State charges.
        I'm from Florida. I took my family to Disney World, not to
    Epstein island.
        There are documents in the files that dispute the
    President's claim that he kicked Epstein out of his club.
    Allegedly, the President said Epstein--that he asked Epstein to
    leave, supported now--that's disputed, though, in statements
    from the manager of the club.
        Now, Madam Attorney General, I've got 25 seconds left.
    Because I'm curious and I'd like to see. Flip to the Jared
    Moskowitz section of the binder. I'm interested to see what
    staff provided on the oppo on me. Because we're in the
    Olympics, I'm going to give it a grade. I just want to see how
    good it is. Give me your best one.
        AG Bondi. First, nothing is funny about mocking the Bible
    and holding up a Trump Bible.
        Mr. Moskowitz. I'm not mocking the Bible.
        AG Bondi. That's what you did.
        Mr. Moskowitz. That's about--that's--
        AG Bondi. You made a joke and I find it offensive.
        Mr. Moskowitz. No, I want it--
        AG Bondi. That's all I have to say to you.
        Mr. Moskowitz. I want it from the ``burn book.''
        AG Bondi. Shame.
        Mr. Moskowitz. I want it from the ``burn book.'' Which is
    the best one? What you got?
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman's time has expired. The
    gentleman from Wisconsin is recognized.
        Mr. Grothman. Thank you. First, I'd like to clear something
    up that was said earlier and is frequently said, and it's
    manifestly not true. That is the supposed small number of
    crimes committed by immigrants or illegal immigrants in the
    country. That has been based on a poorly done study by the Cato
    Institute, and I believe the Cato Institute itself has even
    updated that study.
        The reason that we know that study is not true is that
    those statistics are not out there. For whatever reason, when
    somebody is arrested, even for very serious crimes, we do not
    have on the paperwork whether that person is a legal or illegal
    immigrant. OK?
        If I go to one of my local sheriffs in Wisconsin and ask
    them, ``How many illegal immigrants in your jail?'' they will
    say, ``I have no idea. We don't keep track of that.''
        When I tour the Federal prison, right outside of my
    District, and I ask them, ``In this Federal prison, how many of
    your inmates are illegal aliens?'' they will tell me, ``We have
    no idea. We don't keep track of that.''
        Whenever you hear a Democrat, or anybody, or a pundit, say
    that, ``Oh, there's so few illegals committing crimes,'' it is
    based on nothing, because those statistics are not available
    anywhere.
        What I would offer in the next round of appropriation
    bills, if one of my Democrat colleagues wants to help me out,
    perhaps in Appropriations we can get funds to add to all the
    paperwork whenever anybody is convicted of a crime, as to
    whether or not they are a citizen or a noncitizen. Then, we
    will have the statistics.
        Otherwise, whenever you hear somebody say on MSNBC or
    wherever, ``Oh, so few crimes are committed by illegal
    immigrants,'' they don't know what they're talking about,
    because nobody has those numbers. OK. There's the first thing.
        Now, the next thing I want to point out, we have had what I
    think is an unprecedented situation in Minnesota in which they
    are not assisting ICE in dealing with crimes that are going on
    up there. In other words, ICE is left to its own devices.
        When I talk to my local sheriffs, they tell me that,
    whenever a Federal agency is engaged in work in Wisconsin, they
    always make themselves available in case that Federal agency
    needs assistance. This could be something like ICE under DEI--
    DEA. It could be Drug Enforcement. It could be ATF. It could be
    FBI. It could be Secret Service. It could be the U.S. Marshal.
        Nobody that I have been able to find, any sheriff in the
    State of Wisconsin, is aware of any circumstances in which they
    did not make themselves available to Federal law enforcement,
    either if they need somebody extra to do surveillance; to just
    park a marked car outside the area; to assist in apprehension
    of a criminal; if they need a distance--assistance with an
    additional SWAT team; and if they need to transport somebody.
    Local law enforcement is always there.
        Now, you are not in charge of ICE, but you're in charge of
    several other agencies. Have you ever heard of anything like
    what's going on in Minnesota, where the Governor or the local
    mayor refuses to give assistance to Federal law enforcement?
        AG Bondi. I have in Portland and some other cities where
    they weren't cooperating. As I said, I spent about four days--I
    did spend four days in Minnesota, and I believe many of the
    local law enforcement wish they could work with us to make
    their cities safe.
        Mr. Grothman. OK. Now, we'll switch to something else.
    First, I would like to thank you for doing this today. You're
    obviously very bright, obviously very competent, and something
    I love--you tolerate fools gladly. I appreciate that trait. You
    suffer fools gladly.
        In hearings like this, we often focus on new initiatives
    undertaken by the Department. Today, I'd like to give you an
    opportunity to discuss actions implemented under the Biden
    Administration's Department of Justice, such as the Foreign
    Influence Task Force that you have since terminated. It's
    always rare to see anything on the government terminated. Could
    you elaborate on those decisions and highlight the
    accomplishments of your tenure at Justice?
        AG Bondi. Thank you for asking that. We are out of time,
    but may I answer, Mr. Chair?
        Chair Jordan. Yes, go ahead.
        AG Bondi. Thank you. Thank you. The Biden Administration
    weaponized the Foreign Corruption Practices Act. On February
    10th, President Trump issued an Executive Order pausing that
    for a DOJ review.
        Under Deputy Attorney General Blanche's supervision, a
    comprehensive review was led, and the Department issued new
    guidelines protecting all Americans and protecting against the
    weaponi-zation that happened under the Biden Administration.
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentleman has expired. The
    gentleman yields back. The gentleman from New York is
    recognized.
        Mr. Goldman. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ms. Bondi, I went over
    to the Department yesterday for a couple of hours to review
    some of the unredacted materials. I am looking forward to your
    detailed explanation for why you have withheld almost half of
    the documents which is required by the bill.
        Now, obviously, there are three million documents. I didn't
    get through much. One thing I didn't see was the client list
    that you said you had on your desk a year ago. I did, however,
    find a couple of important documents: An 86-page prosecution
    memo from the Southern District of New York and a draft
    indictment from Florida against Jeffrey Epstein's
    coconspirators. For reasons that I cannot understand, nor are
    permitted by the bill, they were still redacted, even for the
    Members of Congress.
        Ms. Bondi, will you commit right here to immediately
    providing those two documents in unredacted form to the Members
    of Congress?
        AG Bondi. Well--
        Mr. Goldman. Not complicated question.
        AG Bondi. Well, I guess it is for you, because you have a
    law degree and those are privileged.
        Mr. Goldman. OK. They're not privileged, but we will
    discuss that later.
        I also found an email that I have right here from Jeffrey
    Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell that was unredacted, and it
    included notes of statements that Donald Trump made about his
    prior relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Now, there is no
    reason for this to be hidden from the American people. There is
    no privilege. There is no attorney-client privilege. I see
    you're checking with your staff, and I can assure you, Staff,
    this is not under attorney--client privilege because it was
    sent from Jeffrey Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell.
        Will you commit to publicly providing the unredacted
    version of this, so that the American people can understand the
    extent of Donald Trump's lies about his relationship with
    Jeffrey Epstein?
        AG Bondi. You're about as good of a lawyer today as you
    were when you tried to impeach President Trump in 2016. Have
    you apologized for that in 2019?
        Mr. Goldman. Will you not--
        AG Bondi. Apologize for that--
        Mr. Goldman. Will you unredact this? Will you unredact
    this?
        AG Bondi. You were lead counsel on that privilege.
        Mr. Goldman. I'm asking you, will you unredact this?
        AG Bondi. Privileged.
        Mr. Goldman. Privileged. Of course, I look forward to
    discussing this more. Now, these are, obviously, improper
    redactions and protect--
        AG Bondi. Let me stop you a minute.
        Mr. Goldman. I'm talking.
        AG Bondi. No, no.
        Mr. Goldman. I'm talking.
        AG Bondi. If they're not privileged--
        Mr. Goldman. Quiet.
        AG Bondi. Don't yell at me. If they're not privileged--
        Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chair, will you stop the clock?
        Mr. Goldman. You know who--
        Mr. Raskin. This is on her time. It's not on Mr. Goldman.
        AG Bondi. If they're not privileged--
        Mr. Goldman. Even though you used your improper redactions
    to continue to protect Donald Trump--
        AG Bondi. If we review this, and then, not--you'll like my
    answer. If we review them and they're not privileged we will be
    happy to release them after review.
        Mr. Baumgartner. [Presiding.] The time belongs to the
    Member. We'll stop the clock. We'll stop the clock. The time
    belongs to the Member. Go ahead.
        Mr. Goldman. Even though you used improper redactions to
    protect Donald Trump and other predators associated with
    Jeffrey Epstein, you did the exact opposite thing with the
    survivors and victims of this scheme. Their identification
    information was really the only thing required to be redacted
    and it was not.
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Goldman. It's clear this was not a mistake. This was
    not by accident. This was not because you only had 30 days when
    you really used 75, and that doesn't even include all the hours
    last March that you were redacting it.
        I'll tell you why it's clear it wasn't a mistake. There is
    an email entitled, ``Epstein Victim List.'' There are 32 names.
    One is redacted; 31 are not. Someone looked at it and decided
    to redact something. I will tell you that this is clearly
    intentional to intimidate these survivors and victims.
        Now, in an interview last week--
        AG Bondi. How will you tell me that's intentional?
        Mr. Goldman. In an interview--in an interview last week,
    Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche--
        AG Bondi. He can't go off script.
        Mr. Goldman. --said that any victim that wants to speak
    with the Department has done so--hopefully. Well, thanks to the
    incredibly brave people sitting here behind you, we can
    actually ask them if that's true.
        Now, would the survivors and victims who are here please
    stand up one more time? Just by show of hands, how many of you
    or your loved ones actually have met with the Department of
    Justice and provided testimony and evidence? None.
        Of those of you who have not met, which is everyone, how
    many of you have reached out either individually or through a
    lawyer or representative to offer to provide testimony and
    evidence? All of them.
        Those of you, all of you, who have reached out, how many of
    you were denied or ignored by the Department of Justice? All of
    them.
        Despite the shameful and despicable efforts by Ms. Bondi
    and her Department to intimidate you, how many of you are still
    willing to speak to the Department of Justice? All of them.
        Well, Ms. Bondi, it looks like you have some more witnesses
    to talk to.
        Mr. Baumgartner. The gentleman's time has expired.
        Mr. Goldman. I yield back.
        Mr. Baumgartner. We will go to the good gentleman from
    North Carolina, Congressman Knott.
        Mr. Knott. Thank you, Mr.--
        AG Bondi. May I have a moment, Congressman?
        Mr. Knott. Yes, ma'am.
        AG Bondi. Thank you. Here we go. Here's the photograph.
    This is why he wanted to repeat everything that had been said
    previously on Epstein. This is his State, New York. You
    probably don't even know who this is. Waheed Mohammad from
    Afghanistan--
        Mr. Goldman. Yes, because I'm no longer a prosecutor.
        AG Bondi. --who was convicted of assault. Wow. He
    represents New York. Wow. He doesn't care about the illegal
    aliens convicted of crimes.
        Assault and homicide. No longer a prosecutor, so he doesn't
    care about his constituents. Here we go. Arson, El Salvador,
    Miguel Palacios. Herman Flores Romales, Mexico, rape.
        Mr. Goldman. Let's talk about--
        AG Bondi. Thank you.
        Mr. Goldman. --the 70 percent of immigrants who are
    detained without a criminal conviction or arrest.
        Mr. Baumgartner. Stop the clock. Stop the clock. The time
    belongs to Congressman Knott.
        Mr. Knott. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
        Madam Attorney General, I want to be sure that the American
    people understand exactly what we're referring to when we talk
    about sanctuary policies. They are often framed in sort of
    innocuous terms like ``We refuse to take part in immigration
    law.'' When you add up all the population represented by these
    cowardly politicians in sanctuary jurisdictions, whether it's a
    county, city, or State, sanctuary jurisdictions account for,
    roughly, 40 percent of the United States.
        Now, in reality, it's much more than just a passive
    exercise, is that not correct?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Knott. It's unbelievably active. In terms of breaking
    down these terms, I want to break it down as clearly a term as
    I can. What is a ``Federal detainer''? For the American people,
    please describe it.
        AG Bondi. A Federal detainer is when someone is held in
    Federal custody.
        Mr. Knott. Yes. When a Federal detainer is issued to local
    law enforcement, they are, obviously, in local or State
    custody, correct?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Knott. Federal officers take note of that apprehension
    and they say, ``We want to come and apprehend [him or her] to
    deport them.'' Isn't that correct?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Knott. In these sanctuary jurisdictions--whether it's
    California, Illinois, New York, or other places; even in North
    Carolina there are sanctuary jurisdictions--that Federal
    detainer often prompts not any cooperation, not any assistance,
    but a release onto the streets. Isn't that correct?
        AG Bondi. Yes, Congressman, a Federal detainer is Federal
    law that people must abide by. Yet, these jurisdictions, many
    of these jurisdictions are not abiding by that.
        Mr. Knott. Yes. We hear a lot of talk from the other side
    about victims, about victims of violent crime, sex crimes,
    murders, whatever it may be, but I want to be very clear.
    Illegal aliens who have been arrested for committing some of
    the most heinous crimes have been released by sanctuary cities,
    by sanctuary States, rather than being turned over to the
    Federal Government for deportation. Isn't that correct?
        AG Bondi. It sad for all Americans that any jurisdiction
    would do that. These are some of the most violent criminals I
    think we've all seen.
        Mr. Knott. Yes. Despite their best efforts to obstruct you
    and the President in making us all safer--I just want to go
    through a quick list again of the accomplishments that you have
    been, in part, responsible for achieving.
        True or false, does the country now have the lowest murder
    rate in 125 years?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Knott. True or false, 62 major cities are now reporting
    rapid decline in murder rates?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Knott. True or false, robberies are down nearly 20
    percent over the last year?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Knott. True or false, violent crime is down almost 15
    percent over the past year?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Knott. True or false, right here in Washington, DC,
    violent crime is down almost 30 percent since President Trump
    took office?
        AG Bondi. Yes, the number may be even better than that, but
    yes.
        Mr. Knott. Good.
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Knott. True or false, the DEA has seized over 200,000
    kilograms of cocaine since President Trump took office?
        AG Bondi. I believe so, 200- and 78,500 kilos of meth and
    more than 260,000 kilos of cocaine.
        Mr. Knott. Unbelievable.
        AG Bondi. That's lives saved every day for all of us, for
    families, and for children.
        Mr. Knott. Unbelievable. Absolutely. Then, true or false,
    the Department of Justice under your leadership has a 92
    percent success rate at the Supreme Court?
        AG Bondi. I believe so.
        Mr. Knott. Or ballpark?
        AG Bondi. Ballpark.
        Mr. Knott. Then, true or false, this administration is
    attacking the waste, fraud, and abuse that we have seen in
    places like Minnesota that is removing billions of hard-earned
    tax dollars from this country?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely. President Trump is committed to doing
    that in every city in this country.
        Mr. Knott. Madam Attorney General, just to be very brief
    here, I want to be sure that you know that many on this
    Committee made very serious efforts to try to amend the Epstein
    petition to give you the resources and the time to protect
    victims, to go through and to have the necessary runway to
    thoroughly go through that file. Unfortunately, those requests
    were met with refusal, and we were unable to make the necessary
    amendments.
        Thank you for being here today.
        AG Bondi. Thank you.
        Mr. Baumgartner. The gentleman yields back. We turn to the
    good lady from California, Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you,
    Attorney General, for being here today.
        I want to talk with you about an issue on which there is
    broad bipartisan agreement, the importance of ensuring trust
    between the American public and those government officials who
    wield powerful law enforcement responsibilities.
        Attorney General, would you agree that it is important for
    law enforcement leaders to be honest?
        AG Bondi. Of course, as well as the Members of Congress.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. OK, great. Thank you. Would you include
    yourself as a law enforcement leader?
        AG Bondi. Of course.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. OK. Thank you. Thank you. President
    Trump has also--well, he has referred to himself as the Chief
    Law Enforcement Officer of this country. Do you believe that
    President Trump is honest?
        AG Bondi. He is the Commander-in-Chief of the United States
    of America and--
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Do you believe that--
        AG Bondi. --not only is he keeping this country safe he is
    keeping this world safe.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. --President Trump is honest? Do you
    believe he is honest? It's a simple question which you didn't
    answer.
        AG Bondi. Of course, I do.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. OK. Thank you.
        AG Bondi. He is the Commander-in-Chief.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Last June, Minnesota lawmaker Melissa
    Hortman, her husband Mark, and their dog were brutally murdered
    in their home. Your USA's office in Minnesota investigated this
    crime and obtained a six-count indictment of the murder
    suspect, stating that he had ``intent to kill, injure, harass,
    and intimidate'' Minnesota legislators. I have the copyright
    here. I read through it.
        A few weeks ago, President Trump suggested publicly that
    Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was behind these murders, posting
    on his Truth Social account a video raising this conspiracy
    theory. It wasn't true. It wasn't true, or else you would not
    have brought an indictment against the subject.
        Do you know what else Trump has said? He has said he has
    cut gas prices by 1,400 percent. False. That he won the 2020
    election. False.
        AG Bondi. Actually, gas is down to $1.99 a gallon--
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. That he didn't know Epstein.
        AG Bondi. --thanks to President Trump.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. That he didn't know Epstein. False.
        AG Bondi. Maybe $5 in California.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. That he sent--it's my time, Mr. Chair--
    that he sent water to LA during the wildfires. False.
        That Governor Wes Moore of Maryland called him ``the
    greatest President of his lifetime.'' False.
        Many tales, too many to keep up. I want to go back to what
    he said about Tim Walz.
        Do you agree that President Trump undermined public trust
    in law enforcement by suggesting that Governor Walz was
    involved in the Hortman murders?
        AG Bondi. I am not familiar with that statement.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Well, that is a disappointing response,
    and it is also why your office and Donald Trump have zero
    credibility. Because I know, and you know, it was a Right-wing
    extremist who murdered the Hortmans. You and the President are
    being dishonest with the American people.
        Last fall, after the horrific shooting of Charlie Kirk,
    President Trump was asked if there were extremists on both the
    Left and the Right. His exact words were,

            I'll tell you something that's going to get me in trouble, but
            I couldn't care less. The radicals on the Right oftentimes are
            radical because they don't want to see crime. The radicals on
            the Left are the problem and they're vicious and they're
            horrible and they're politically savvy.

    Do you agree with this statement?
        You're taking too long, Madam Attorney General. You know
    the answer because your own Department has addressed the
    question. In 2024, the DOJ's research arm issued a report on
    domestic terrorism stating that the far number of far-Right
    attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and
    domestic violence extremists. The DOJ published that report.
    After the President made those comments, the DOJ took the
    report down.
        I sent you a letter asking you a simple question: Why did
    the Justice Department remove the data that shows Right-wing
    extremists have killed more innocent people than Left-wing
    extremists?
        AG Bondi. Did you refer to immigration enforcement as
    domestic terrorism?
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. You should answer my question.
        AG Bondi. The answer is yes.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. You're on my time. You won't. What I am
    asking you to do is put the report back, restore the data. Stop
    scrubbing important data from your website. Stop taking down
    reports that you know the American people need to know about.
        There are violent, dangerous people out here with real
    threats, and the discrepancies from your agency--
        AG Bondi. They're all in your District.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. --comes from the covering up of these
    threats that could hurt American people and put our lives at
    risk. Do better.
        With that, I yield back, Mr. Chair.
        Chair Jordan. [Presiding.] The gentlelady yields back. The
    gentleman from North Carolina is recognized.
        AG Bondi. May I have one moment?
        Mr. Harris. You may.
        AG Bondi. Her District includes Culver City, and she's not
    talking about any crime in her District--nothing about helping
    crime in her District. She's not even worth getting into the
    details.
        Mr. Harris. Well, thank you, Madam Attorney General, and we
    are grateful to have you here today.
        Let me just say that you've shown great perseverance today,
    and I think you're coming into the last lap here of those of us
    that are left. I applaud your strength and I applaud your
    resolve.
        Madam Attorney General, as a pastor for over 37 years now,
    I take serious issue with any attempts by agitators to disrupt
    church services or activities at houses of worship. I just want
    to take a moment to clarify some things. I realize you can't
    talk about pending cases per se, but I do want to ask some very
    general questions for clarification.
        Does the DOJ consider unauthorized entry into a house of
    worship to be protected activity under the First Amendment when
    undertaken by a member of the press?
        AG Bondi. Unauthorized with the intent of disrupting, yes.
        Mr. Harris. OK.
        AG Bondi. Even if it's a blogger like Don Lemon.
        Mr. Harris. Correct. How does the DOJ distinction between
    news-gathering activity and expressive or protest conduct when
    a press defense is asserted?
        AG Bondi. Congressman, I met with the pastor of that
    church, and what happened there was horrific. Of course, the
    press is welcome in, I would hope, all houses of worship--
        Mr. Harris. Sure.
        AG Bondi. --whether it's a synagogue, whether it's a
    church, any house of worship.
        However, what happened here--it's a pending case again, but
    within the four corners of the indictment, they were, quote,
    ``gearing up for a resistance.'' They entered a house of
    worship, and I think the video speaks for itself.
        What happened there, what the video doesn't show is there
    were approximately 400 parishioners in there on a Sunday
    morning families, grandparents with canes, children upstairs in
    a Sunday school who were--their parents were blocked from
    getting to them, once this resistance took place. They had
    named it ``Operation Pullup.''
        It was heartbreaking for those families. They were
    terrified. I think they've all said that. Nothing like that
    should happen in this country, and under my watch, it won't.
        Mr. Harris. Thank you. Just to clarify, accosting members
    of a congregation and creating a scene marked by intimidation
    and threat inside a house of worship would not be protected
    First Amendment activity, correct?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely not, a grand jury has indicted
    individuals over that.
        Mr. Harris. Thank you. One other question, just shifting a
    little bit. My home State of North Carolina has been making
    national headlines at times. Particularly in the city of
    Charlotte, we've made pleas at times for our Governor to get
    involved, bring in the National Guard. Our Fraternal Order of
    Police pointed out that we were about 270 local cops below what
    we needed to adequately police the city. The Governor has
    declined to offer to partner with the Federal Government to
    bring in reinforcements to Charlotte.
        I want to give you just a few moments, really the balance
    of my time, to explain the impact that the Memphis Safe Task
    Force has had on crime and safety in Memphis. Because I know
    there was a place, we saw that cooperation has tended to breed
    great results. I would love to hear a little more about that.
        AG Bondi. Thank you. I have numbers for you, too. Well,
    we're all right here in D.C. We're all living right here in
    D.C.--
        Mr. Harris. Absolutely.
        AG Bondi. --and I think we've seen the remarkable impact
    that it has, working with the Members of the Democrat Party on
    this, with law enforcement, with the mayor, with the police
    chief, doing everything we can to make D.C. safe.
        As of February 9th, there were nearly 10,000 arrests. This
    is D.C.
        Mr. Harris. Uh-hum.
        AG Bondi. One thousand illegal guns seized since the
    operation began, with carjackings down 81 percent from this
    time last year, and violent crime is down 42 percent. D.C. is
    safer because of it.
        We know we had a National Guardsman shot and we had a
    beautiful young woman killed. I went to her funeral, and I kept
    in touch with the National Guardsman who was shot, his parents.
    He's doing great. He's a miracle. Please continue to pray for
    him.
        I know my time is up, but I have the same results I spoke
    about earlier in Memphis, and we're still working on that with
    the help of Make Memphis Safe Again.
        Mr. Harris. Well, again, it just draws an incredible
    contrast between what we've seen happening in Minneapolis
    versus what we've seen happen in D.C., what we saw happen in
    Memphis, and what I would love to see in some ways, if we could
    ever get our Governor to work with us in North Carolina, to
    happen in Charlotte.
        With that, I yield back. Thank you.
        Chair Jordan. The time of the gentleman has expired. The
    gentlelady is recognized.
        Ms. Scanlon. Thank you. I seek unanimous consent to
    introduce into the record the research that Representative
    Kamlager-Dove and I referenced concerning the threat of Right-
    wing domestic terrorism, which the Department of Justice
    scrubbed from its website in September.
        Chair Jordan. Without objection.
        Ms. Scanlon. Thank you.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady from Texas is recognized.
        Ms. Crockett. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair, and to be
    clear, I'm not going to ask any questions of this witness
    because this witness has revealed that she has no intention of
    answering questions. Instead, I'm going to ask some very basic
    questions, really quickly, of my colleague, Becca Ballant, if
    she will answer: Right or wrong, raping children?
        Ms. Balint. Wrong.
        Ms. Crockett. Right or wrong, killing random citizens?
        Ms. Balint. Definitely wrong.
        Ms. Crockett. Right or wrong, enriching yourself as the
    sitting President of the United States?
        Ms. Balint. Definitely wrong.
        Ms. Crockett. OK, thank you, because I probably never would
    have got that with our witness. Our witness, who somehow is a
    lawyer but does not understand how it works with witnesses. I'm
    not really sure what law school she went to and what kinds of
    cases she tried, but typically, when you come into a space and
    somebody's a witness, then they sit there and they answer
    questions instead of asking questions. Then, we also have this
    objection that we use as lawyers called nonresponsive when a
    witness fails to actually answer the question.
        Nevertheless, let me address the survivors, because that's
    exactly who they are; they are not victims, they are survivors.
    Let me say thank you for having more courage and more clarity
    in your pinky fingers than the entire Department of Justice. We
    are currently the laughingstock of the world partially because
    of the failed leadership within the DOJ as we see kings and
    queens falling everywhere around the world, but we don't know
    the basics of right and wrong in this country. Because it's not
    about partisanship, and that's why I applaud Thomas Massie,
    because he's the only person on the Republican side that has
    the backbone and knows how to stand up to corruption.
        Nevertheless, let me keep going. My Democratic colleagues
    have been attacked by this entire Committee hearing. They have
    been lied on, and frankly, the American people weren't looking
    for that. They were looking for answers about the corruption
    that they see coming from this administration. In the written
    testimony of this witness, of this particular witness, she
    stated that when she took office, she had two main goals; the
    first was to end the weaponization of Justice, and second, to
    return the Department to its core mission. Not only have you
    lied about both, but you've intentionally done the exact
    opposite. You're spending more taxpayer resources arresting
    journalists than you are prosecuting pedophiles and creeps. In
    fact, your boss, the President of the United States, stated
    that this administration, quote, ``took the freedom of speech
    away,'' an at your direction, DOJ has arrested Don Lemon and
    Georgia Fort. I might add that y'all actually had a judge that
    rejected y'all for trying to arrest Don Lemon before, just like
    the grand jury rejected y'all as it relates to Senator Kelly,
    just like a grand jury rejected y'all as it relates to Senator
    Slotkin, just like the case against Tish James was dismissed,
    and the case against Mr. Comey was dismissed. I completely
    don't get how it is that you're sitting at the top of DOJ,
    because you don't seem to be good at your job.
        You're spending more taxpayer resources arresting these
    journalists. In fact, we know after Georgia Fort and Don Lemon
    were arrested, we know that there were homes of journalists
    that were raided. We know that threat and prosecution against
    students for testing your actions and force tech companies to
    remove apps used to track ICE's activities. Let's circle back
    to you protecting pedophiles and creeps. Because I want to talk
    about the President and his possible involvement with Jeffrey
    Epstein. Now, I don't know what the President might've done
    with Jeffrey Epstein, but unlike this administration, I believe
    that facts matter, so let's talk about the facts.
        Fact 1: Donald Trump is one of the most named people in the
    Epstein files. At least 5,000 files contained more than 38,000
    references to Trump, his wife, or Mar-a-Lago.
        Fact 2: Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell made young
    girls available to Trump on multiple occasions. For example,
    according to this file, Ghislaine Maxwell presented a young
    girl to President Trump, who spent more than 20 minutes
    apparently flirting with her. Here's another example: This
    shows notes from FBI investigators that describe Jeffrey
    Epstein transporting a victim to Mar-a-Lago to meet with
    President Trump, where he bragged to Trump that, quote, ``this
    is a good one.''
        Now, I'm not saying that the President is a pedophile, but
    there is a lot of evidence in these files that suggest that
    he's very close friends with a lot of men who are pedophiles.
    What's crazy about all of this is just that this is a big
    cover-up and this administration is engaged in it; in fact,
    this administration is complicit. There are numerous others,
    like how the DOJ is attempting to obstruct justice in the
    investigation of the rogue agents who have murdered American
    citizens, or how the DOJ seized voter data from Fulton County
    in an attempt to steal the 2026 midterm elections, or how
    Federal agents have Tom Homan on tape accepting a bribe and
    your agency killed the investigation, or how your agency is
    ready to give the President a $230 million pay day, which is
    unconstitutional.
        The Constitution is clear: The President shall not receive
    any payment except his salary while in office.
        The fact of the matter is that you will be remembered as
    one of the worst Attorney Generals in history. An Attorney
    General who has prioritized obstruction over justice,
    corruption over the law, fealty to the President over loyalty
    to the Constitution. Mr. Chair, I will yield.
        Chair Jordan. The gentlelady yields. The gentleman from
    Missouri is recognized--excuse me, the gentleman from Kansas,
    the Attorney General, the former Attorney General, Mr. Schmidt.
        Mr. Schmidt. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Attorney General Bondi,
    thanks for being here. Did you have anything you wanted to say
    before we talk?
        AG Bondi. I do, thank you, Congressman. Thank you, my
    friend, for many years. I find it interesting that she didn't
    even want to try, Congresswoman Crockett, to ask any questions,
    because she certainly did not condemn her leader, Hakeem
    Jefferies, for taking money from Jeffrey Epstein after Epstein
    was convicted. I will be brief to give you your time,
    Congressman. This is what she didn't want to talk about. Texas
    from Cuba, convicted, homicide, arson, weapon offense--
        Ms. Crockett. Convicted. What are we talking about?
        AG Bondi. Convicted--
        Ms. Crockett. Convict some of these perpetrators that raped
    these women that are sitting--
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs--the time belongs--
        Ms. Crockett. That you refuse to acknowledge, say, or hear.
        AG Bondi. Texas.
        Chair Jordan. The time belongs to the gentleman from
    Kansas.
        Mr. Schmidt. Mr. Chair, can I have a few seconds back to
    make up for the yelling?
        Chair Jordan. You bet. You bet.
        Mr. Schmidt. Attorney General, did you have anything to
    say?
        AG Bondi. Thank you, Congressman. Texas, convicted of
    homicide. Cecil Joseph from Dominican Republic. Texas,
    convicted for kidnapping, rape. Khalil Khan from Afghanistan.
    That's why they want to talk about Epstein and not about what's
    happening in their own State.
        Mr. Schmidt. Thank you, general, and thank you for being
    here. This has been quite a spectacle to observe today. I think
    it's sad I ran for Congress because I thought we had serious
    problems in this country we wanted to try to fix together. This
    performance today, not yours, general, but some of my
    colleagues', has not shored up my confidence that we are up to
    the task. You and I served together for eight years while you
    were Attorney General of Florida and I in Kansas. You served
    professionally and I'm glad to be able to serve with you in
    these new roles and I'm glad you're there both generally and
    today.
        Part of the reason I ran for Congress is because in my
    former role I saw, in the real world and in my State, the
    consequences of failed U.S. immigration and border security
    policy. I'll spare you the lengthy recitation but let me give
    you the short version. I sit here and think about a fellow who
    was running, I believe it was, drugs for the cartels and shot a
    police officer in Oklahoma, drove across the border into my
    State, kidnaped an old man, and then invaded a house and shot
    at cops before we ultimately neutralized him. He's in prison
    now for, I believe, the rest of his life. Thinking about a
    drunk driver who was in our country illegally and never should
    have been here, and one night killed a young deputy on Southern
    Johnson County, Kansas. He was making a traffic stop on another
    individual, the drunk driver ran into him, never should have
    been here, shouldn't have happened. Thinking about a guy who
    was deported repeatedly, came back, and ultimately murdered, I
    believe it was, four people in Kansas City, Kansas, and then
    fled to Missouri, killed a fifth guy; he died in prison.
    Thinking about a guy we prosecuted who wasn't supposed to be in
    this country who raped a child in a little rural county up
    North on the Nebraska border and we sent him to prison for, I
    believe, the rest of his life. Thinking about a guy who wasn't
    supposed to be here at all who murdered, I think it was his
    wife or his domestic partner in an act of domestic violence in
    Northwest Kansas. Thinking about another guy who was here and
    joined up with some folks who were citizens and committed a
    crime spree and then thought he might get caught, so he killed
    one of his accomplices and we sent him to prison for the rest
    of his life. That's just the ones I'm thinking about sitting
    right here. You know what's common in all of those? They all
    committed violations of my State's law, they were caught by my
    State's law enforcement, they were prosecuted by my State's
    prosecutors, they are serving time in my State's prisons, and
    if and when they ever get out, the United States has said they
    need to be sent out of this country because of what they did.
        There's a list--you're holding up photos, general, there's
    a list on the Department of Homeland Security's website, it has
    about 280-290 people like that in my State of Kansas. You know
    what? We haven't made headlines like Minneapolis. We haven't
    made headlines like Memphis. We haven't made headlines like Los
    Angeles. Do you know why? Because our cops are professionals
    and our politicians, by law, allow them to do their job and to
    work with Federal agents for safe hand-offs to do everything
    that's supposed to be done. Justice under State law and the
    justice of deportation on the back end.
        I want to do something that's been rare here today,
    general, I want to ask you about public policy. Donald Trump
    won't be President forever. I would like to lock-in some of
    these gains we have made in public safety. Should we be
    exploring the idea, for example, of beefing up 287(g)
    partnerships, or maybe replicating that so that State
    prosecutors can work more closely with Federal prosecutors to
    get deportation orders as well as State convictions?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely.
        Mr. Schmidt. In terms of sanctuary jurisdictions, when a
    sanctuary jurisdiction says, as a matter of politics, go pound
    sand to the feds, we won't honor your detainer, so they release
    those people I'm talking about out into their communities, and
    those people commit another crime of property or violence
    against citizens, should those citizens have some type of civil
    redress against the jurisdiction that, as a matter of public
    policy, turned those people loose who created the new victims?
        AG Bondi. Congressman, it's risking the lives of all the
    citizens of that jurisdiction.
        Mr. Schmidt. You have been sued a lot, or the
    administration has, by folks who don't like your policies.
        AG Bondi. Hundreds of times.
        Mr. Schmidt. You've won many of those.
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Schmidt. Isn't it the case that the law says, under
    Rule 65, that when you win those and there's a wrongfully
    entered injunction that there's supposed to be a monetary
    remedy for that, so there's a cost?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Schmidt. Didn't the President direct you and other
    agency heads to start seeking bonds in those cases?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Schmidt. Should we beef up the law in that area by
    codifying that requirement going forward?
        AG Bondi. I would love to discuss that with you.
        Mr. Schmidt. Thank you, general. Thank you for being here.
        Chair Jordan. Gentleman yields back. Well done. Some of the
    questions he raised we plan on taking up during a markup in a
    couple weeks on the whole sanctuary jurisdiction issue. With
    that, I recognize the gentleman from Texas.
        Mr. Gill. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Madam Attorney
    General, for taking the time to speak with us. We certainly
    really appreciate it. I've got a series of questions for you
    that we can get through pretty quickly, I think. Can you tell
    me, is it true that the Biden-Harris DOJ raided President
    Trump's home?
        AG Bondi. They did.
        Mr. Gill. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ allow Jack Smith to spy
    on over a dozen Republican Members of Congress?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely.
        Mr. Gill. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ seize the phone of a
    sitting Republican Congressman?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Gill. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ and Jack Smith pay at
    least $20,000 to confidential human sources to provide
    information on President Trump?
        AG Bondi. At least.
        Mr. Gill. At least. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ and FBI fail
    to apprehend the suspect who placed pipe bombs near the Capitol
    ahead of January 6th?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Gill. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ target parents as
    domestic terrorists?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely.
        Mr. Gill. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ target prolife
    Catholics, going so far as to interview a priest and a choir
    director?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Gill. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ send FBI SWAT teams to
    arrest prolife advocates with no criminal histories?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Gill. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ use the FACE Act to
    target prolife advocates while it allowed antilife agitators to
    vandalize, destroy, and firebomb pregnancy resource centers and
    churches.
        AG Bondi. Multiple times, I believe.
        Mr. Gill. Multiple times. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ ever
    determine who leaked the Dobbs decision?
        AG Bondi. I can't discuss. Oh, no, under Biden-Harris, no.
        Mr. Gill. Got it. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ and FBI target
    whistleblowers for revealing waste, fraud, and abuse within the
    Department to Congress?
        AG Bondi. Not to my knowledge.
        Mr. Gill. The Biden-Harris DOJ refused to say whether it
    coordinated with Alvin Bragg, Fannie Willis, and Letitia James
    in their lawfare against President Trump.
        AG Bondi. They refused.
        Mr. Gill. The Biden-Harris DOJ slow-walked the criminal
    investigation and prosecution of Hunter Biden.
        AG Bondi. That's an understatement, in my opinion.
        Mr. Gill. Yes. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ determine who
    brought cocaine into the Biden White House?
        AG Bondi. They did not.
        Mr. Gill. They did not. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ cover up
    the extent--
        AG Bondi. Well, as far as we know, they did not.
        Mr. Gill. Right. Right. That's right. Did the Biden-Harris
    DOJ cover up the extent of the Russia collusion hoax?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely, in my opinion. Yes.
        Mr. Gill. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ, excuse me, seek
    leniency from a Federal court for an IRS contractor who leaked
    sensitive tax information on over 7,600 Americans, including
    President Trump?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Gill. Did the Biden-Harris DOJ sue Texas because the
    State wanted to secure its own Southern border?
        AG Bondi. Yes.
        Mr. Gill. Finally, did the Biden-Harris DOJ attack SpaceX
    for hiring too many Americans?
        AG Bondi. I believe they did. Unbelievable.
        Mr. Gill. It is unbelievable. I appreciate that a lot of
    this is being cleaned up under your leadership. Thank you for
    returning the DOJ back to its core focus, which is on the rule
    of the law and that we see the results of that. I've got a few
    more similar questions for you. Over the past year since
    President Trump has been in office, how have murders trended in
    the United States?
        AG Bondi. Since President Trump has been in office, the
    murder rate has dropped to a historic 20 percent drop in the
    national murder rate. Lowest since 1900.
        Mr. Gill. The 20 percent drop in one year. That's
    incredible, isn't it?
        AG Bondi. That's thanks to the incredible men and women of
    law enforcement. FBI, DEA, and ATF, everyone working together
    to solve violent crime along with our sheriffs, our local law
    enforcement working as a team throughout this country, and our
    great State and Federal prosecutors.
        Mr. Gill. How have robberies trended? Have they--even if
    they've--
        AG Bondi. Robberies, all violent crime is--all violent
    crime--violent crime has decreased as well as robberies.
        Mr. Gill. Murders and violent crimes, the country is more
    safe now, it's fair to say, would you agree, than it was a
    year-and-a-half ago under Joe Biden?
        AG Bondi. Absolutely, Director Patel is working tirelessly
    to catch those, I'm sure you've been seeing, on the most wanted
    list. He and Deputy Director Bongino, from day one, said,
    ``we're going to get the most wanted list.'' That's what's been
    happening, working hand-in-hand with all our agencies.
        Mr. Gill. I want to thank you for that. Thank you for the
    work you've been doing to refocus the DOJ, again, on doing your
    core job. We're very happy about it. I'll yield the remainder
    of my time to the Chair.
        Chair Jordan. All right. I appreciate the gentleman. I
    would just say, earlier one of the Democrats said that--they
    said who are you, who you are. I think you're the Attorney
    General who on the first day disbanded the FIDIF (phonetic).
    The first day on the job, rescinded the memo that required
    spying on parents that Mr. Garland had issued and set up the
    weaponization working group. You did that all on day one. Not
    to mention, you're the first Justice Department that's put in
    place, we talked about earlier, this Deputy Attorney General
    for Combatting Fraud. We appreciate that and of course all the
    things Mr. Gill pointed out about with the crime stats that had
    wengonewn. The last question of the day, not the least,
    gentleman--oh, I'm sorry. We're going to have two more, we've
    got Mr. Onder and Mr. Baumgartner. Mr. Baumgartner--well, let's
    do it that way since you're here. You're ready to go. Mr.
    Baumgartner, then we'll come back to Mr. Onder.
        Mr. Baumgartner. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Attorney
    General Bondi. Being a freshman on this Committee, you always
    get a bit surprised, I guess, even one year into my term, how
    theatrical days like this can be. You've performed well today
    and answered questions well today, and that's a credit to you
    and appreciated by the American people. The Epstein issue is
    certainly important and it is important to the victims. Both I
    and the American people have a little bit of trouble taking the
    Democrats super seriously on this issue when they have been so
    uncurious about President Clinton's relations with Jeffrey
    Epstein. Even myself, I had no idea that there was actually a
    sitting Democrat Congresswoman who had taken substantial
    campaign donations from Mr. Epstein. Only when that came to
    light on the floor of the potential resolution, and there would
    be more outrage on those types of things and that we would be
    taking credible--but, we do know that the performance value of
    what goes on in this Committee. I want to talk about the big
    things that Department of Justice is doing, and when I look at
    the dramatic decrease in crime in this country in the last year
    since the Trump Administration has come--you see the board
    behind me, violent crime plummets across major U.S. cities. I
    guess my first question would be, when it comes to the big
    stuff, how are you guys getting this stuff so right? What
    contributes from your perspective to this dramatic decrease in
    crime in major U.S. cities under the Trump Administration?
        AG Bondi. When I first took office, I met with all our
    agencies. The one thing that stuck with me that one of the
    heads of the departments said to me, one of the law enforcement
    heads, ``President Trump has taken the handcuffs off us, so we
    can keep the people of America safe.'' That's what he's done.
    He has given our law enforcement officers the tools that they
    need, the backing that they need, and the support that they
    need to combat violent crime and all crime throughout this
    country. I'd be remiss--we've talked about the FBI, we've
    talked about DEA a bit, but can I please brag about ATF? Rob
    Cekada and Dan Driscoll, of course, who has been our acting
    head of ATF, have done a remarkable job stopping guns from
    flowing into Mexico, not harassing gun owners. The 26,965
    violent crime cases have been initiated, including more than
    4,300 firearms trafficking cases. More than 1,200 of those are
    tied to gun trafficking in Mexico. I talk to them almost
    daily--
        Mr. Baumgartner. Thank you.
        AG Bondi. They're working so hard.
        Mr. Baumgartner. Well, thank you, Attorney General. Again,
    I look back at this last year, and we've had this historic tax
    cut. Yesterday, in the Wall Street Journal, the national
    council--or the National Cancer Foundation ran a full-page ads
    thanking Congress and the administration for doing more for
    cancer research than has ever been done before. I was just
    meeting with Habitat for Humanity out in the hallway, and they
    came and thanked us for doing more than has ever been done for
    Habitat for Humanity. There's been so many accomplishments, but
    I really think this crime is the biggest deal of all. I do have
    some concerns on this issue, those also are respect how keep
    people safe with those sanctuary cities and sanctuary states. I
    remind everyone, as I'm sure you know, Ms. Madam Attorney
    General, that when we had the terrible terrorist attacks of 9/
    11, the No. 1 recommendation of the 9/11 Commission was to
    reduce barriers between all levels of law enforcement. They
    specifically pointed to things like fusion centers, joint
    terrorism task force, and getting local law enforcement and
    Federal law enforcement to work together and communicate on a
    regular basis, and I would just like your perspective because
    we have a complex global threat than any time since World War
    II, we still have Islamic terrorism, we have spies from China,
    Iran, Russia, all these things, and what does sanctuary cities
    and States do for communication law enforcement; how does it
    make us less safe?
        AG Bondi. Sanctuary cities and states are attempting to
    prevent communication among all the law enforcement agencies,
    of course, that's keeping all of America less safe, especially
    when the violent criminals are fleeing to those jurisdictions
    because they believe they're protected. With all our joint task
    forces, I see it every day, Congressman, how well, despite what
    these liberals are trying to do, Donald Trump's Administration
    is working tirelessly to protect all Americans and all our
    agencies working hand-in-hand to keep America safe.
        Mr. Baumgartner. Well, you guys are getting the big stuff
    right. You look at that decrease in crime across the country,
    you ought to take a victory lap. Well done.
        Chair Jordan. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman from
    Missouri is recognized.
        Mr. Onder. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Attorney
    General Bondi, for being here on this long day. I want to thank
    you most of all for your leadership in your whole career
    defending victims. Now, I want to take a moment to talk about
    you protecting victims from a different kind of child abuse,
    that medicalized child abuse that goes under the banner of
    gender affirming care that too many of my Democrat colleagues
    enthusiastically support and unapologetically support. Shortly
    after returning to office, President Trump signed an Executive
    Order directing HHS to review the clinical evidence and
    determine whether sex-rejecting interventions caused more harm
    than good. HHS reached same conclusions that the UK, Finland,
    and Sweden reached. The risks are serious and that imposing
    this, so-called, care on minors was not appropriate. This
    Executive Order also directed you, as Attorney General, to
    quote, ``work to draft, propose, and promote legislation to
    enact a private right-of-action for children and the parents of
    children whose healthy body parts have been damaged by medical
    professionals practicing chemical and surgical mutilation,
    which should include a lengthy statute of limitations.''
        Last September, you transmitted that bill to Congress. It
    has been my honor to introduce that bill as the Chloe Cole Act.
    We named the bill after Chloe Cole, who sat where you're
    sitting just a few years ago on her 19th birthday. During a
    hearing Chair by now-Speaker Mike Johnson, I'd like to play a
    clip of her testimony that day to remind us of her story.
        [Video plays.]
        Mr. Onder. Chloe testified that day that what she needed
    was mental health therapy, but she never received it. She was
    not suicidal until after they did these horrible things to her.
    She pleaded with Congress to act so that future children would
    not suffer what she did. Last week was a major turning point
    for these medical malpractice claims when a detransitioner was
    the first to successfully hold doctors liable with a $2 million
    settlement for what they did to that poor girl. Just days
    later, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons announced that
    they would no longer do transgender surgeries on minors, and
    the AMA followed suit. This proves that if the bill your DOJ
    drafted, if it were passed into law, these barbaric practices
    would end immediately, because all victims would be able to
    hold those who harmed them accountable. Could you share with us
    a little bit about your work in advocating for victims like
    Chloe and what a private right-of-action would mean for victims
    like her and their families?
        AG Bondi. Yes. First, Congressman, thank you for
    championing this bill. Also, to Chloe, what a brave, young
    woman to come before this body--
        Mr. Onder. Yes, at age 19.
        AG Bondi. At age 19. Talk about what happened to her. It's
    not about just giving relief to children who have been harmed,
    it allows victims whose healthy body parts have been damaged to
    seek relief and obtain relief. Thanks to you, and we are proud
    to work hand-in-hand with you on this issue, and it's pretty
    sad that none of your colleagues on the other side of the aisle
    even brought that up. I hope they support this to protect all
    children throughout this country.
        Mr. Onder. General Bondi, thank you so much to you, to your
    department, to President Trump. I yield back.
        Chair Jordan. Gentleman yields back.
        Mr. Raskin. I just saved some UC requests for the end, Mr.
    Chair.
        Chair Jordan. OK. Go right ahead.
        Mr. Raskin. Thank you, kindly.
        First, ``Record low crime during the Biden-Harris
    administration.''
        Second, ``Crime down in every category in 2024 under Biden,
    FBI report says.''
        Third, ``Trump takes credit for violent crime drop where
    rates were already falling.''
        Fourth, From NPR, ``Trump administration targets ATF with
    plans to cut jobs and ease gun restrictions.''
        Then, a few oldies but goodies, I've introduced these
    before about the claim that we didn't have anything to say
    about Epstein before the Trump Aadministration.
        Fifth, ``Raskin joins call for Attorney General to reopen
    Epstein case and publicly release Acosta misconduct
    investigation and documents,'' March 1, 2019.
        Sixth, ``Oversight Committee plans hearing with Acosta on
    plea deal with Epstein,'' July 10, 2019.
        Seventh, ``68 House Members call for resignation of Labor
    Secretary Acosta,'' July 10, 2019.
        Chair Jordan. Without objection. Attorney General Bondi,
    thank you for your service to the country. Thank you for being
    here for a long day. We appreciate your willingness to come and
    answer our questions and the great job you're doing for our
    country. I've got one thing I got to say.
        This concludes today's hearing. We thank our witness for
    appearing before the Committee. Without objection, all members
    will have five legislative days to submit additional written
    questions for the witness or additional materials for the
    record. Without objection, the hearing is adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 3:20 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

        All materials submitted for the record by Members of the
    Committee on the Judiciary can be found at: https://
    docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=118951.

                               [all]