Bondi grilled as DOJ limits access to Epstein files (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Now, for the Biggest Stories of the Week, Amber, Aaron, please watch the clip and tell me what is the story.

[00:00:09] Speaker 2: This is Pam Bondi testifying about Epstein, and she talked and talked and talked and didn't say shit.

[00:00:19] Speaker 1: -♪♪♪ The story is Pam Bondi and Trump's Department of Justice. The DOJ has America saying WTF, and it all starts with a certain PDF file full of PDF files. On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared before the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions about her handling of the Epstein files, and Bondi was nothing but a professional.

[00:00:44] Speaker 3: No, I'm gonna answer the question the way I want to answer the question.

[00:00:47] Speaker 1: You're theatrics are ridiculous.

[00:00:49] Speaker 3: Chairman Jordan, I'm not gonna get in the gutter with these people. You don't tell me anything.

[00:00:53] Speaker 4: Oh, I did tell you because we saw what you did in the Senate. You're not even a lawyer.

[00:00:57] Speaker 3: I'm talking. I'm talking. If they're not privileged... Don't yell at me. ...didn't ask Merrick Garland anything about Epstein, not once, when he was... Weak sauce. Weak sauce.

[00:01:07] Speaker 1: And also... You got to give Pam Bondi this. She's good at spinning some shit. Well, you don't get that good overnight. That's hours of, like, complaining at McDonald's and Home Depot. What I really love is this one woman's facial expression. Just says it all. Why was Pam Bondi in front of the Judiciary Committee in the first place?

[00:01:28] Speaker 5: Because the DOJ wouldn't release the Epstein files the way they should have. Redaction, redaction, redaction. That's all you got.

[00:01:34] Speaker 1: Yeah, Congress was granted access to unredacted versions of the Epstein files for the first time, but they hit some roadblocks. Uh, question. What's been standing in the way of Congress gaining full unredacted access to the Epstein files?

[00:01:51] Speaker 6: First of all, the Department of Justice, if you want to see them as a congressperson, they've got four computers. Four computers.

[00:01:57] Speaker 7: There's four computers. So, um, it would take many months to actually have the time. I... You know, I only had a few hours. I think the transparency argument is really kind of a sham, because it's not really possible.

[00:02:11] Speaker 3: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Did you have to wait to get a computer? It is not possible.

[00:02:16] Speaker 7: Four computers.

[00:02:17] Speaker 1: Like the library, bitch. Like, you just... My library has more than four computers. I got to be honest. Turns out Congress can only look at the files between 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, and they have to give the DOJ 24 hours notice before they look at them. And only members of Congress are allowed to look at the files and log in and read them.

[00:02:38] Speaker 6: What is the average age of a member of Congress? It's, like, 87, 88, something like that?

[00:02:44] Speaker 1: They don't know how to use computers. What is the one thing that's making matters even worse since they've accessed the files? Is it that they're scratching SNF? It's because the DOJ is tracking which members of Congress looked at the files, and they're tracking which files they looked at.

[00:03:02] Speaker 8: We have learned from this photo that the searches that members of Congress are performing are apparently being tracked and then read by the Department of Justice, by the attorney general.

[00:03:14] Speaker 1: If you look at the photo from inside Bundy's binder, you can see she literally has a list of everything that Representative Jayapal searched for. One congressperson even clocked what she was doing as it happened.

[00:03:27] Speaker 9: I'd like to see you flip to the Jared Moskowitz section of the binder. I'm interested to see what staff provided on the... on the oppo on me, and because we're in the Olympics, I'm gonna give it a grade. I just want to see how... how good it is.

[00:03:42] Speaker 3: So give me your best one. So, first of all, nothing is funny about mocking the Bible and holding up a Trump Bible. That's what you did. You made a joke, and I find offense to that. That's all I have to say to you.

[00:03:51] Speaker 9: I want it from the Bern book. Shame. I want it from the Bern book, which is the best one. What you got?

[00:03:59] Speaker 1: -♪♪♪♪ -♪♪♪♪ Maryland Rep. Jimmy Raskin didn't think there was anything fun about Pam's peeking, though.

[00:04:05] Speaker 4: It is a violation of the separation of powers for them to essentially be monitoring our computer searches on the Epstein file. So I think it's outrageous that they would do that, and it's Orwellian, and, uh, we're gonna have some more to say about it soon.

[00:04:21] Speaker 6: I mean, Mike Johnson and his son monitor each other's porn usage, so this seems fine.

[00:04:28] Speaker 1: Bondi continued to blow up throughout her testimony, and what was the most damning moment for A.G. Bondi during this hearing?

[00:04:36] Speaker 2: When she was finally honest and was like, look, I love to protect pedophiles. It's what I was hired to do, and I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna fight anyone who says I can't. Do you remember that part? I do.

[00:04:54] Speaker 1: I must admit, I was flipping between that and the Olympics, so I must have missed it.

[00:04:57] Speaker 5: There was a moment where all the survivors, about a dozen of them, stood up, right, and-and they all looked at Pam Bondi, and Pam Bondi didn't look at them once. That moment right there, I think, ends her tenure as attorney general. Yes.

[00:05:11] Speaker 1: Points for Erin. How would anyone ever expect Pam Bondi to make a stand against assault?

[00:05:20] Speaker 6: She made a big show right at the beginning of the administration. We're gonna-we're gonna get out these files, and-and she gave them to a bunch of, uh, right-wing influencers, and she-she was making a whole big deal of it.

[00:05:29] Speaker 1: The reason why it's so shocking that Pam Bondi is against defending victims of assault is because she said she would in 2014 during this campaign ad.

[00:05:40] Speaker 3: Florida ranks third nationally in calls for help for human trafficking, where young women and children are enslaved and abused. I'll fight to put human trafficking monsters where they belong behind bars.

[00:05:55] Speaker 4: Pam Bondi, our attorney general.

[00:05:59] Speaker 6: That's our attorney general, you're booing. Boo.

[00:06:06] Speaker 1: Boo. I'll put human traffickers behind bars. I mean, little black bars on sheets of paper.

[00:06:14] Speaker 10: Bars are slimming. They are. That's what they told me when they put me in jail the first time.

[00:06:21] Speaker 1: Here's Pam saying what we should be talking about instead.

[00:06:24] Speaker 3: The Dow 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' 401ks and retirement savings are booming. That's what we should be talking about. What does a Dow have to do with anything? That's what they just asked. Are you kidding?

[00:06:53] Speaker 6: The stock market's at $50,000.

[00:06:56] Speaker 5: The market did fall below $50,000 after she finished testifying, so... You were at that hearing, right? I was right outside. They didn't let me in.

[00:07:05] Speaker 6: Did you speak to the survivors? And what can you share about what they said after the hearing? They're horrified, right?

[00:07:12] Speaker 5: They're horrified. It's not just Pam Bondi. It's been five administrations. It's been several departments of justice. They just want justice. And instead, they get their own witness statements that they told the FBI, and it's all blacked out. They can't even see their own documents. Right? So they're horrified.

[00:07:30] Speaker 1: Bondi wasn't the only Trump administration official to testify about Epstein this week. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick answered questions about his relationship with the apex pedophile before a congressional committee this week. What did Howard have to say about his association with Epstein?

[00:07:49] Speaker 2: That it was nothing. Why are you even talking about it? It barely, barely knows the guy. Yes, they spent a lot of time together.

[00:08:00] Speaker 11: Here's Lutnick. I did have lunch with him once I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies. I had another couple with... They were there, as well, with their children. And we had lunch on the island. That is true. For an hour. And we left with all of my children.

[00:08:26] Speaker 6: He knows how bad it is because he felt the need to say that he left with his children. If I... If I go to a friend's house for lunch with my kids and I'm telling somebody about it, I then don't say, and my children left, too.

[00:08:43] Speaker 1: Who's actually facing consequences for their connections to Epstein and being in the files? The royal formerly known as Prince. That's one of them. Oh, that's true. When you say Prince, you got to put Andrew right behind that immediately. Right, right. The black people, no. You don't just... You don't just go formerly known as Prince.

[00:09:05] Speaker 6: There's a bunch of Brits, I feel like, who are in a lot of trouble.

[00:09:08] Speaker 5: Oh, you got the ambassador, Mendelsohn. You got the sultan from Dubai who has just resigned today.

[00:09:13] Speaker 10: Wait, sultans can resign?

[00:09:15] Speaker 5: Well, I think his first name's Sultan. Oh, okay.

[00:09:19] Speaker 2: That's right, baby. Get up. Thank you.

[00:09:24] Speaker 1: And then there's Elon Musk. Who's Elon Musk been coming for this week? It's Steve Bannon. That sounds so right, Eric. Right, Eric? I want to trade teammates. Yeah. Yeah. It is Steve Bannon. Despite being mentioned in the files himself, Elon's been tweeting about human mucinect blob Steve Bannon. Bannon's all over the files. He and Jeffrey Epstein have a selfie together. And in 2019, the same year Epstein went to jail for the last time, Bannon texted Epstein an offer to rebuild his image in a documentary about what a great philanthropist he is. Yes. The name of that documentary? Melania. Now, Pam Bondi might not be interested in what Epstein's victims have to say, but some of those victims sat down with NBC News just after the hearing.

[00:10:20] Speaker 3: So there's the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, and then there's the crimes of the cover-up. And she's part of that continuing cover-up.

[00:10:28] Speaker 2: So she didn't apologize for that. It's like, oh, the theater. And I'm like, yes, you're the main character in this. The circus act. Yes. She was a comedian, too, all of a sudden. Everyone was laughing at her. Do you believe they did the best they could?

[00:10:45] Speaker 6: Do they not know the Dow is at $50,000?