Congress
Bondi defends DOJ’s handling of Epstein files to members of Congress
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the administration’s handling of the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files in closed door remarks Friday, amid bipartisan criticism of botched redactions in the millions of pages that were made public during her tenure.
“There were redaction errors,” Bondi acknowledged, according to her prepared opening statement to members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee obtained by Blue Light News. “But since day one of this process, this Department has been committed to accountability and transparency.”
She continued, “Our stance has always been that the Department stands ready to review any potential evidence of criminal activity related to Epstein and his associates and would pursue appropriate investigative or prosecutorial action wherever the facts and law warrant.”
She also said she delegated oversight of the Epstein files release process to her then-deputy, Todd Blanche, who is now acting attorney general.
Bondi is on Capitol Hill for a transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee as part of the panel’s ongoing investigation into the late, convicted sex offender. She specifically is being asked to speak about the DOJ’s compliance, or lack thereof, with the Epstein Files Transparency Act — legislation passed by Congress in November that compelled the government to release documents and materials in the federal government’s possession related to the Epstein case.
The committee voted to subpoena Bondi for her testimony in March in a surprising move initiated by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and backed by four other House Republicans, a stunning rebuke of the administration’s handling of the Epstein matter. Rarely, if ever, does the party in the majority subpoena a sitting Cabinet member of their own party.
After Bondi was fired by President Donald Trump about a month later, Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) downgraded the terms of her appearance to a transcribed interview rather than a formal deposition — meaning she would not have to answer questions under oath and the proceedings would not be videotaped.
Bondi last appeared before Congress in February in an oversight hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, during which several of Epstein’s victims sat in the audience behind her. Despite entreaties from Democrats to engage with the victims, Bondi declined.
She referred back to that February hearing in her opening statement Friday, saying that she was “deeply sorry for what any victim has been through, especially as a result of that monster.”
But a group of Epstein’s victims returned to Capitol Hill for Bondi’s transcribed interview Friday, where they pleaded outside the hearing room for witnesses in the Oversight investigation to be sworn in and videotaped for full transparency and accountability.
One of the victims, Sharlene Rochard, confronted Comer on Friday morning as he addressed reporters before joining for the start of Bondi’s interview, asking him to promise that individuals brought in as part of the congressional Epstein investigation testify under oath.
“If you lie to Congress, it’s a felony,” Comer said, defending his own panel’s process. “We’re bringing people in that have never been brought in before.”
Liz Stein, another victim, asked Comer to commit to getting answers from the former attorney general about the redaction process, specifically why details about victims were exposed while information about potential perpetrators was withheld.
“Those are questions we’re going to ask, and we’re doing this. We want justice for the survivors,” Comer said, adding that if Epstein’s victims were not satisfied by Bondi’s responses, the committee would work to get them answers.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the Oversight Committee’s top Democrat, told reporters he and his colleagues were “incredibly disappointed” by the majority’s decision not to force Bondi to testify under the parameters of a subpoena.
“We obviously have a lot of questions as it relates to why only 50 percent of the files have been released, why many of the survivors … were literally put in danger by the way the files were released,” Garcia said. “And of course, why this continues to be some type of cover-up.”
More than half a dozen Democrats are on hand to question Bondi, while Comer is the only Republican to come back to Washington early from the weeklong congressional recess. Mace had previously said she planned to come back to town to question the former attorney general but was not present Friday morning, explaining she was busy preparing for the South Carolina gubernatorial primary election next month.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton raised $18 million in the third quarter of 2026 across his campaign and his joint fundraising committees, his campaign tells Blue Light News, a significant haul for the homestretch of the election.
Paxton’s number is double his $9 million second-quarter total, and signals Republican donors are rallying behind their Texas nominee. The campaign did not provide a current cash-on-hand total.
Democrat James Talarico’s campaign has yet to release his fundraising totals for the quarter. He raised $30 million last quarter.
“We now have the resources to make sure every Texan sees Talarico’s radical record between now and Election Day,” said Nick Maddux, senior adviser to the Paxton campaign.
The past quarter — the first full reporting period after Paxton’s primary runoff victory in May — saw Republicans flock to Texas for their midterm convention, which featured pro-Paxton fundraisers on the sidelines. Last week, the Paxton campaign announced a massive $20 million ad buy across the state, one of the largest-ever single media investments in a Texas Senate race.
Paxton needs the money: In a recording of a private donor event last month shared with POLITICO, he said he has “never been in a race where I felt less control over the campaign,” pointing to influence “from D.C.”
Texas has emerged as a huge money suck for Senate Republicans, who have poured tens of millions into the state to aid Paxton. Senate Leadership Fund, their top super PAC, has spent or reserved well over $100 million in the state to date, and the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. and its affiliates plan to spend near $45 million in the state through Oct. 12.
Paxton has acknowledged that money has changed the race’s narrative: In a recording of a private donor event last monthshared with POLITICO, he said he has “never been in a race where I felt less control over the campaign,” pointing to influence “from D.C.”
Most recent public polling shows Talarico with a small lead in the race in spite of the recent onslaught in GOP spending, though Paxton’s campaign released an internal poll last week showing Paxton leading by three points.
Sen. Raphael Warnock is hitting the road for the last month before Election Day.
The Georgia Democrat’s final midterm campaign surrogate sprint will only increase chatter around the possibility that he might run for president in 2028, according to a nine-stop itinerary shared first with Blue Light News.
First, he’ll touch down in New Hampshire on Tuesday before hitting Nevada on Wednesday. Next, he’ll travel to South Carolina (Oct. 13), Mississippi (Oct. 14), North Carolina (Oct. 15), South Carolina (Oct. 16-17), Michigan (Oct. 20-21), Wisconsin (Oct. 23) and Ohio (Oct. 24-26).
“Senator Reverend Warnock will be hitting the trail to energize voters who are sick of the President enriching himself while ordinary people continue to pay more for everything,” a spokesperson told Playbook. “Tapping into the righteous anger that voters are feeling across the country, the pastor in the Senate will again make the campaign trail his pulpit: calling out Trump’s corruption, while leaving voters hopeful for the next generation of Democratic leadership.”
Asked recently at the Texas Tribune Festival about whether he would run for president, Warnock said: “We’ll see what happens.”
Democrats are eager to win back subpoena power if they retake Congress, but they’re split on how hard they’ll go after corporate America.
The party is united by the idea of aggressive oversight of President Donald Trump’s administration, which will help shape their messaging in the run-up to the 2028 election. But Democrats are at odds over how fiercely to use their probing power to go after the corporations, law firms and universities that courted the White House over the past two years.
“We don’t want to turn into a banana republic where you lose an election and it’s all about retribution,” Rep. Bill Foster, a senior member of the Financial Services Committee, said.
“We’re going to have to be a little bit wise about when companies simply did something they had to do to survive this unprecedented level of corruption, compared to companies that actually got on board and profited more by being a partner in his corruption,” he added.
Some progressives counter that a restrained approach would sit uneasily with the party’s base.
“It would be political suicide for Democrats to campaign on fighting corruption and then turn around and go easy on the very companies that are facilitating it,” said Ella Fanger, corporate power policy adviser at the liberal nonprofit group Demand Progress.
Prime targets for some Democrats are the tech companies that have taken steps to be on the president’s good side, like Apple, Amazon and Meta, which have all donated to Trump’s ballroom effort. Major cryptocurrency players, including Coinbase, Ripple and Tether also chipped in for the ballroom, and will be subject to questioning from Democrats.
The late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s networks and associates are also poised for probes — a push that has ensnared big banks like JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America in the past.
Sen. Chris Murphy said the party should focus on the nexus between Trump and corporate corruption.
“We should get to the bottom of the corrupt relationship that exists between corporations in this country and the Trump administration,” Murphy said, pointing to questions he’s posed about a tobacco company’s donation to Trump’s super PAC before new e-cigarette rules were unveiled.
Still, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who serves on Senate Banking, warned against the weaponization of power.
“Our focus should be solving problems that we’re seeing happening,” she said, pointing to cost-of-living issues around health care, housing and energy.
What else we’re watching:
— FIRST IN IC: BUILD AMERICA CAUCUS AGENDA — Energized by progress on permitting and housing legislation this term, a bipartisan development-focused caucus is rolling out a detailed agenda for next term. The 40-member Build America Caucus is releasing a 95-page package of proposals, first shared with Blue Light News, that outlines plans touching on health care, transportation, child care and research. The group launched last year with the goal of cutting red tape and regulatory bottlenecks to spur development.
— AI COLLAB STILL ILLUSIVE FOR CRUZ, CANTWELL — Commerce Chair Ted Cruz and ranking member Maria Cantwell might still be celebrating Senate passage of their landmark college sports bill last week, but it’s unclear the momentum will carry forward to agreement on another committee priority: artificial intelligence. Among the dozen lawmakers, aides and industry experts who spoke to Blue Light News, few expect the two senators to shed their well-established ideologies and styles after the mutual win. That could doom their ability to replicate their latest achievement in something as complex and divisive as an AI regulatory framework.
Jasper Goodman, Katherine Hapgood, Riley Rogerson and Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.
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