[0:00]Great, thank you. Um, I'm ranking member Robert Garcia, Oversight Democrats. I'm going to have some remarks and then I'm going to have a few folks are also going to give some remarks and then I'll answer any questions. We are on a break right now from the interview, and
[0:15]so I want to make sure that we answer some questions. Let me just start by um sharing with the American public what we're actually right now in this transcribed interview to repeat what we continue to say. It is a shame and a disservice to the American people that
[0:29]this interview is not being recorded videotaped, and then released to the American public and that she was not brought in under oath. We continue to say that this should be recorded by video and released
[0:42]to the American public, and we're also asking that Chairman Comer immediate immediately release the transcripts that right now are being done throughout today. I want to also say just uh a few, a few other things. It is clear in justice, this, this part of the, of the interview.
[1:00]that she continues to push all of the investigation and the blame on acting AG Todd Blanch. She said, and I quote Acting AG Blanche was managing the entire investigation, end quote.
[1:17]And what you're going to hear in that interview, and what she's saying here in her words and remarks is that it was Todd Blanche, the current acting AG that was leading the Epson investigation and quite frankly
[1:32]all of the mistakes that we saw. the redactions, not protecting survivors. She continues to push that back onto the acting AG Todd Blanche, who by the way, was Donald Trump's former personal lawyer. I also
[1:46]personally asked the former AG 5 times and 5 different questions about her conversations with President Trump. whether he directed her at any given time on
[1:59]the Epstein files. what he knew, what he asked her to redact or not, and she refused to answer any questions. about President Trump. In fact, she said that she would not speak or respond to any questions that had anything to do
[2:16]with President Trump It's also interesting that sitting next to her is DOJ counsel, somebody that currently works for the Department of Justice who on multiple occasions. stepped in and told the former Attorney General that she
[2:31]was not going to answer those questions, and especially when we ask questions of what the president directed her to do. The DOJ is in there right now, stopping questions about President Trump and about
[2:46]what happened in the release of these files and why so many survivors were docked and their information of course released to the public. Let me also just say finally before I turn this over to Liz Stein here. We asked questions about Gallaine Maxwell and the transfer.
[3:02]And again she referred those questions to Todd Blanche and the Bureau of Prisons. So let's be clear, we have many questions for Mr. Blanche and for the Bureau of Prisons that yet Republicans are refusing to
[3:14]ask why was she transferred to a less secure facility. and Ms. Bondi claims to have no knowledge of the of the actual transfer. No knowledge that it was a less secure prison and didn't know about it until she
[3:29]found out after the fact, and then we'll refuse to answer additional questions. So let me introduce Miss Stein, of course, to a brave survivor with some remarks. My name is Liz Stein. In 1994, I was 21 years old and a senior in
[3:50]college when I met Gillaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. For years, the Epstein case has been treated like entertainment in this country. a spectacle, a conspiracy theory, an endless cycle
[4:04]of headlines and social media focused on sensationalism and powerful people. Republicans versus Democrats. Conspiracy versus cover-up. Left versus right That framing is wrong What has gotten lost in all
[4:20]of this is the reality of what this is, the crime of sex trafficking. More than 1000 vulnerable girls and young women were identified, groomed, trafficked, and abused in a system Jeffrey Epstein built
[4:35]around power, coercion, exploitation, and access to wealth and influence. and I think many Americans still do not fully understand what that
[4:48]means Because if they did, they would never accept the way that this case is being handled. The partial release of the Epstein files riddled with redactions that expose identifying information about survivors
[5:03]while protecting perpetrators is not just bureaucratic incompetence. It reflects something much deeper about whose dignity our Department of Justice is prioritizing in whose suffering it is willing to sacrifice,
[5:20]and survivors see that clearly. For survivors, privacy is safety. Privacy is dignity Privacy is the ability to rebuild a life without being re-traumatized by the very institutions that are supposed to
[5:36]protect us. And while survivors identifying information was exposed. The Department of Justice is simultaneously telling the American people that there are no additional investigative leads worth pursuing.
[5:51]We can see with our own eyes when we look at the Epsom files, that this is not true. These files contain leads, names, connections, friendships, patterns, witnesses, travel records, financial relationships,
[6:08]and institutional failures In any other sex trafficking case of this magnitude, those leads would be aggressively pursued. But in this case, they have not been
[6:20]And as citizens of this country, we should all be asking why. That is why people are losing trust in our Department of Justice. not because this case is politically inconvenient, but because Americans
[6:34]understand instinctively that justice should not operate differently for wealthy people who have power. And that is also why many of us have serious concerns about today's proceedings. This should not
[6:47]be a transcribed interview. Former Attorney Pam Bondi should testify under oath on video with a full transcript and recording released publicly. because the American people deserve transparency. and accountability
[7:04]cannot only exist when it's politically convenient for survivors, this has never been about politics. It's about whether we as victims of this crime matter when the cameras
[7:17]are off. It's about whether the United States Department of Justice is willing to fully confront a massive sex trafficking operation when wealthy and powerful people are implicated.
[7:30]That should concern every American because if the law only applies selectively, it is liberty for some. but not justice at all. Thank you Now we're going to hear from Melanie Sanford
[7:47]Good afternoon. I'm Melanie Stansbury and I represent New Mexico's first congressional district, and I want to be clear today that one thing is clear that this is absolutely a cover-up and a smokescreen
[8:01]to prevent Pam Bondi from having to testify under oath pursuant to a congressional subpoena. Now, let me explain a few things about what we have seen in the room. First and foremost
[8:16]if Pam Bondi was complying with a congressional deposition to testify under oath, Department of Justice attorneys would not be intervening and essentially trying to stop her from answering basic questions
[8:33]about her conversations with Donald Trump, with the administration, and trying to claim that she does not have to answer questions. In fact, as the ranking member said, she has been asked multiple times
[8:47]about the Trump administration, about her conversations with the president about her conversations with other administration officials, and when asked specifically about a conversation with Donald Trump.
[8:59]One of the Department of Justice attorneys intervened and said that she did not have to answer the question because it was a voluntary interview and said, in fact, quote, We don't even have to assert
[9:14]privilege because of that and said, quote, We refuse to provide answers. That means that the United States Department of Justice is intervening on behalf of Pam Bondi to stop her from answering questions about
[9:30]what happened in the cover-up of this case, and her conversations with Donald Trump and is asserting that she does not have to answer questions because she is not required to, because she is not being deposed under oath. This is a coverup.
[9:46]This will be remembered as the largest cover-up likely in American history, and it is clear that this interview is a smokescreen to try to show the American people that they are complying while they
[9:58]are not. Now I also want to point out that there is not a single Republican in the room besides the chairman. For a supposed group of individuals who care deeply about justice for the survivors, not
[10:14]a single Republican could be bothered to travel across the country today to come hear testimony from the former Attorney General, not one. They're not here And they won't allow this interview to be put
[10:30]on video for the American people to see. And that means that only those of us who are allowed in the room can tell you what is actually happening. And what I can tell you is that when we started to ask difficult questions, Miss Bondi got combative
[10:47]The DOJA attorneys began rolling their eyes. They started intervene and intervening, and they tried to shut down any questions about the President and these administrations handling of the files.
[11:01]Now, I just want to end by saying this could all end now. The administration could end this by releasing the 3 million files they still have. In fact, Pam Bondi confirmed that they had 6 million files in their possession and have only released 3 million. She said
[11:17]that today They could end this now by investigating crimes of known perpetrators that we have seen in the files. They could end this now. by turning the Epstein files into Epstein trials, and they could
[11:30]end this now by actually speaking with survivors and Pam Bondi herself said today that she had never spoken to a single survivor. She said that multiple times in the room today. So it's time to end the cover-up
[11:46]now. I turn it now to Mr. Maxwell Frost of Florida's 10. Thank you. I'll be really quick. Every single one of our questions got one of 3 responses. One, not to my recollection or I don't know.
[11:59]Number 2, talk with Todd Blanche. I don't know anything about it. And number 3, I am not talking about Donald Trump Those are the three answers we're getting to every single question that we ask. This actually really reminds me of our deposition with Alex Acosta, where
[12:13]he obviously didn't know anything about anything going on in his own damn office. It's the same thing with Pam Bondi. Either she doesn't know or Todd Blanche was running the entire operation. So, OK, we're going to want to talk with Todd Blanche, and we're hoping that not
[12:27]just Chairman Comer but every single Republican on this committee joined us in issuing a subpoena to him because we need to speak with him because obviously the former attorney general is in that room placing every single thing on the current acting attorney General
[12:39]of the United States, and the fact that you won't answer any questions relating to Donald Trump is disgusting and shows just how much of a cover up this is. First it started off with her saying, I'm not going to talk about any private conversations I've had with the president.
[12:54]OK, then we ask questions about the president generally, and she says, I'm not answering any questions having to do with the president at all. Any time we ask for any information relating to this administration. Somebody from the Department of Justice sitting right next to her
[13:09]puts their hand over the mic and tells her, do not answer that question. It's disgusting It's a cover up in broad daylight, and what they're hoping will happen is we'll walk out of here and we'll stop, but we're not going to stop. We are committed to this. We're not going
[13:24]to let this story die. We're not going to lie to the survivors to just go off, right, and people forget about this. We're going to keep fighting for justice. We're going to talk with Todd Blanche. We're going to talk with people and we're going to get the answers here. We're not going to let this story die. It's a disgrace what
[13:39]Pam Bondi's doing in that room. It's the same thing she did months ago when she came to try to evade the subpoena by coming in and speaking to us, not under oath, but we're going to keep this fight up. got it. Uh, thank you all so much for being here. I'm Lee representing
[13:55]Pennsylvania's 12th congressional districts. And listen, my colleagues have really laid it out, but what we've been seeing has been a consistent theme, not just since last August when um our ranking member, uh
[14:07]Garcia and I were able to help to secure the initial subpoena to actually bring in the DOJ to release all of the fouls to our committee, but it has been an ongoing theme here. Will we just witness from
[14:20]Pam Bondi, would she them demonstrated was, uh, the fact that they believe and that they are an unaccountable DOJ that's running cover for and protecting an unaccountable president and administration.
[14:34]But the real problem is that while we might expect Donald Trump to move in this way, someone who has himself been named in these vows. We shouldn't expect that Chairman Comer, that our Congress, that
[14:46]Republicans here, sorry to make it political, but those folks who do have the power to actually use what influence, what tools we have with the United States Congress to actually bring about some justice
[14:58]right now and to allow her to continually to continually abate justice, to abate questions as we've seen today. It's a continuation of the indignity that they've inflicted upon our survivors. the indignity
[15:11]they they've inflicted upon the American population who have continuously had to watch and unaccountable justice system, a two-tiered justice system in our country and people all over the world who are looking to see if the United States will get their shit together. And the
[15:25]reality is, is that they are refusing to do that. Every step of this last year that we've gone through this process, which is, as we know, simply a renewed process here. because survivors have been fighting
[15:38]for justice for decades now. But since the Congress has taken up this particular fight in the ways that we've been able to by being able to press for subpoenas. We've seen over and over and over an
[15:50]unwillingness of power to be accountable to people. An unwillingness of our Congress to be a co-equal branch of government with the presidency, with the, with the executive branch, and surely an unwillingness for us to actually demonstrate that we are willing to put women,
[16:05]children, and survivors first. So right now what we want to do and what we're committed to doing is continuing to keep the main story, the main story. That justice doesn't have a time limit and no matter how much Comeer or Bonzie or Blanche
[16:18]or Trump or whoever else fights back against the truth coming out. that this fight will continue, that we will not relent until every single person who has been impacted not just by Jeffrey Epstein or
[16:32]Gullaine Maxwell, but everyone who's being covered up or hidden and the fouls are in people's personal knowledge that they won't share truthfully with us and whether they are unofficial transcripts or real depositions on the record, that it's important that they recognize
[16:46]that not only will the oversight dim, but also the American people will not back down. The survivors have not and will not back down. And it's important that we continue to keep this pressure on them and and remind them that legally binding subpoenas must be answered.
[17:00]So right now, Pam Bondi is in a non-compliance with two for herself. And we have to keep putting that pressure on them. Um, and we'll continue to do that. I will hand it over now to Rep Supermannum. Thank you. I just want to talk about the survivors for a second.
[17:15]Thank you so much for your words. They're here today. They were with us in Palm Beach a few weeks ago and we had a hearing there, and they've asked the Department of Justice repeatedly to meet with them. They've asked repeatedly to release certain files to them at least,
[17:28]uh such as their witness statements. And so we asked Pam Bondi about that today. She said it would be appropriate to meet with them for some reason, she said she doesn't recall anything about them asking for their witness statements. She's forgotten all about all of their
[17:42]requests, even their public letters. It seems as though she was ignoring survivors this whole time, which is pretty astounding to me. So I also asked her pretty basic questions about whether she knew about any effort to look for Donald Trump's name in the files before they
[17:58]were released, and she says she doesn't recall. And so I think it wasn't that long ago before they were releasing the files, yet somehow she doesn't recall things that happened about 6 months ago, and then finally, going back to Gallaine Maxwell, she said she wasn't involved
[18:13]at all in the process of moving her moving her to another prison, but she wasn't sure if that new prison was even a lower security prison which factually it is. She also thinks that the Bureau of Prisons is doing a great job, and she said that these things happen
[18:26]all the time because you want to protect some of these folks in prison. Well, that's true, but if we really need to protect Elaine Maxwell right after she just talked to Todd Bla about the Epstein files. Seem too coincidental, but again she doesn't recall a lot of other
[18:40]things. I was a really unimpress ive and disappointing interview today, but we're not surprising to us, we're not going to stop our investigation. I'm going to hand it over to Sin Ansari.
[18:54]Thank you. Today's ridiculous charade has made astonishingly clear that the United States Department of Justice has been weaponized by Donald Trump to ensure that the most massive cover-up in American
[19:08]history is carried out, and this is being enabled by Republicans in Congress led by Republican Chairman James Comer and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. This entire Epstein investigation led by
[19:21]Chairman Comer has been absurd. We are, we have two legal subpoenas against attorney former Attorney General Pam Bondi. She is supposed to be here under oath today on video,
[19:35]answering questions for the American people about her role and the direct hand that she had in this cover-up. Instead, she is deflecting. She is refusing to answer questions, and she continues to refuse
[19:47]to answer specific questions about the President of the United States. It is so clear that whether it be Pam Bondi, whether it be Chairman Comer, whether it be Mike Johnson. The entire party is terrified
[20:01]of Donald Trump and his retaliation as it pertains to the cover-up of the Epstein files. It's unacceptable. It is notable that she continues to blame Todd Blanche and Kash Patel. We of course want to speak to them, but I think what I want to make
[20:16]clear to the American public and to everybody and to the survivors especially is that we are not going to give up on this. I think Republicans believe that they just kind of carry out these nonsense transcribed
[20:29]interviews and don't show up here today that we will forget about this. We are just getting started as it pertains to accountability and justice for the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, Gelaine Maxwell,
[20:43]and any other rich and powerful person in this country who perpetrated these crimes. I'm gonna hand it over to Congressman Miller. Thank you very much, Congressman Dave Mann at a California 47, and yes,
[20:55]I have an election in 40. It's a very important one. Robert Garcia and I have our primary elections on Tuesday of next week, but I'm here rather than in my district because this is important. We look at the survivors in the eye last year and made a promise to them
[21:08]that we would try to find justice, find transparency. Republicans also look these women in the eye and did not follow through. It's a shame that James Comer is the only Republican here today because this is the biggest cover-up in history. This should not be a partisan
[21:22]issue As a former law professor, as a lawyer, I just want to note a couple of things that struck out to me. One, the fact that she is appearing as a voluntary witness today. Voluntary interview is important because she's claiming that she's not complying
[21:36]with the subpoena. She can the subpoena doesn't apply to her because she's no longer with the Department of Justice, but at the same time, as has been noted, you have two DOJ attorneys in there. If it's a personal interview, voluntarily done, why is the DOJ so heavily involved?
[21:50]It doesn't make any sense unless you think about it as a cover-up The second point I want to make, we got a pretty important insight today into the flimsy basis on which they're not turning over 3 million documents right now. They claimed earlier that Cambodi claimed that
[22:06]documents that were related to any decisions to prosecute or not prosecute were being withheld. That is all the witness interviews. It's all the evidence gathered by the FBI. There's a reason we don't have the smoking guns. We don't have the video evidence. We don't have the witness interviews because they're claiming that's all privileged,
[22:21]and that is a bunch of bullshit, pardon my language. Any lawyer will tell you that our subpoena, whether it's the oversight penal or the Epstein files Transparency Act, specifically applies to these types of documents. We don't have the real information here because they're
[22:34]claiming it's all privileged, and that is something that we need to get to the bottom of this, I think, actually exposed a lot of what they're doing right now. We need those documents. This should give us the basis to overturn them, and I'll just echo what everyone else is saying in there. It's a sham in there. They are not answering
[22:48]any questions. And with that, I want to turn it over to my friend, uh James Walkinshaw from Virginia. There's a terrible and tragic irony at play this week because behind these closed doors. the Department
[23:00]of Justice is continuing to cover up and stonewall the courageous Epstein survivors like Liz here at the same time. the same Department of Justice led by Hami Dillon and others, Todd
[23:16]Blanche has launched an investigation into Eugene Carroll. and those who supported her successful legal effort that found Donald Trump liable of sexual assault. So the message to survivors of sexual assault
[23:31]from this administration and this Department of Justice, sadly is quite clear. this week I want to share one piece of information, one question that the former Attorney general did answer. She was asked specifically
[23:47]about Donald Trump, President Trump's awareness of Epstein's crimes. before they became public knowledge. She had the opportunity to say Donald Trump certainly wasn't aware
[24:01]of those crimes. She had the opportunity to say, I know Donald Trump, and if he was aware of those crimes, he would have done something. Instead, she said, I don't know She also said, quote, This is a direct quote. I'm not certain of
[24:15]the extent. of his knowledge I think that's a perfect example as to why we need Pam Bondi under oath in a real deposition for the cameras so the
[24:30]American people can see and hear her answers to our questions for themselves. I'll turn over to the ranking. A couple of questions that we're it's continuing so we've got to keep going. So a couple of questions. Thank you, Mr. Ranking member. So is your next step
[24:42]to try to subpoena Todd Blanche to compel his testimony, and if so, do you have the votes? Well, the request is going in today to Chairman Comer to have Todd Llan come in. It's clear that after this testimony
[24:55]that is where a lot of the information is and so we're going to, if he doesn't do it, we're going to force a subpoena and try to get votes, but he's got to come in. Kash Patel's name was also mentioned, where there'll be a subpoena for him as well. Cash Patel is #2 on the list, so Cash Patel was multiple times that we had questions
[25:08]about the FBI, the way the files were redacted, why redactions were done so so messy and why there was doxing that happened in certain cases, survivors. The finger was pointed back at Kash Patel, and so we have questions for Kash Patel as well. Yes more than the Justice
[25:22]Department's man. Did a Miller take the lead on that? How many times do they intervene and you speak a lot to Well, first, let's be really clear, it's it's bizarre that the DOJ is also someone from the DOJ
[25:35]a high ranking official is also acting now as personal counsel to Ms. Bonney. And so the fact that the DOJ is essentially stopping Miss Bondi from answering questions and interjecting, particularly
[25:47]around President Trump is incredibly concerning, and the fact that it's being allowed by Chairman Comer is also as concerning. She stopped Ms. Boy multiple times from answering questions and interjected multiple
[25:59]times, especially as related to President Trump. One last question. oversight on next step to uh compel more of these of the Estebos. Look, I think there are still 50% of the documents have not been
[26:12]released to the public or the Congress. If you're going to continue to get those, that's breaking the law, the Transparency Act, and the subpoena. And of course we have additional subpoena ideas on the way. We're going to go back in, guys. Thank you very much.