'Republicans are TERRIFIED of TRUMP': Rep. Ansari ACCUSES Pam Bondi of cover-up in Epstein probe

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]United States Department of Justice has been weaponized by Donald Trump and this is being enabled by Republicans in Congress led by Republican Chairman James Comer and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. She is deflecting. She is refusing to answer questions whether it be Pam Bondi, whether it be Chairman [music] Comer, whether it be Mike Johnson. The entire party is terrified of Donald Trump. 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 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 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 answering questions for the American people about her role and the direct hand that she had in this cover-up. Instead, she is deflecting.

[00:01:13]She is refusing to answer questions and she continues to refuse 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 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 Cash Patel. We of course want to speak to them, but I think what I want to make 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 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, Ghislaine Maxwell, and any other rich and powerful person in this country who who perpetrated these crimes. I'm going to hand it over to Congressman Lieu.

[00:02:21]>> Thank you very much. Congressman Dave Min out of California 47. And yes, 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 looked the survivors in the eye last year and made a promise to them that we would try to find justice, find transparency. Republicans also looked 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 issue. Now, as a former law professor, as a lawyer, I just want to note a couple things that struck out to me.

[00:02:58]One, the fact that she is appearing as voluntary witness today, voluntary interview is important because she's claiming that she's not complying with the subpoena. She's claiming 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? 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.

[00:03:31]They claimed earlier that Pam Bondi claimed that 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. And that is a bunch of pardon my language. Uh any lawyer will tell you that our subpoena, whether it's the oversight subpoena or the Epstein Files Transparency Act, specifically applies to these types of documents. We don't have the real information here because they're claiming it's all privileged. And that is something that we need to get to the bottom of. Uh 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 any questions. And with that, I want to turn it over to my friend uh James Walkinshaw from Virginia.

[00:04:23]>> There's a terrible and tragic irony at play this week because behind these closed doors, the Department 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 Harmeet Dhillon and others, Todd Blanche, has launched an investigation into E.

[00:04:48]Jean Carroll and those who supported her successful legal effort that found Donald Trump liable of sexual assault.

[00:04:57]So, the message to survivors of sexual assault from this administration and this Department of Justice, sadly, is quite clear this week.

[00:05:08]I want to share one piece of information, one question that the former Attorney General did answer.

[00:05:14]She was asked specifically 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 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."

[00:05:41]She also said, quote, this is a direct quote, "I'm not certain of the extent of his knowledge.

[00:05:49]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 American people can see and hear her answers to our questions for themselves. I'll turn it over to the ranking member.

[00:06:06]>> Well, a couple questions and we got to go we got to it's continuing so we got to keep going. So a couple questions.

[00:06:10]>> Thank you Mr. Ranking Member. So what is your next step to try to subpoena Todd Blanche testimony and if so do you have >> Well, the the request is going in today to Chairman Comer to have Todd Blanche come in. It's clear that after this testimony that is where a lot of the information is and so we're going to if 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.

[00:06:31]>> Kash Patel's name was also mentioned.

[00:06:32]Will there be a subpoena for him as well?

[00:06:34]>> Kash Patel is number two on the list. So Kash Patel was also multiple times that we had questions 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 of survivors. The finger was pointed back at Kash Patel and so we have questions for Kash Patel as well. Yes.

[00:06:50]>> Can you characterize a little bit more about the Justice Department's involvement? Did AG Garland take the lead on that? How many times did they interview him? And can you share any details with >> Well, first let's be really clear. It's it's it's bizarre that the DOJ is also someone from the DOJ a high-ranking official is also acting now as personal counsel to Ms. Bondi.

[00:07:10]And so the fact that the DOJ is essentially stopping Ms. Bondi from answering questions and interjecting particularly around President Trump is incredibly concerning and the fact that it's being allowed by Chairman Comer is also as concerning. She stopped Ms. Bondi multiple times from answering questions and interjected multiple times especially as as related to President Trump. One last question.

[00:07:33]>> What is Oversight and Accountability next step to compel more >> Look, I think there are still half 50% of the documents have not been released to the public or the Congress. We'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