Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel are expected to testify before Congress on the Trump administration’s handling of the so-called Epstein Files, according to a report.
Patel is scheduled to give testimony on September 17, while Bondi is scheduled for October 9, Politico reported. They were invited to take the stand as part of the House Judiciary Committee’s general oversight work, according to the outlet.
The Trump administration has been grappling with the fallout of the Epstein Files for more than a month since the Justice Department released a July 6 memo that said the FBI determined late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide behind bars in 2019 while awaiting his sex trafficking trial. The memo also said there was no evidence to support a so-called “client list” and said there will be no further disclosures, citing “no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials.”
While the hearings will also include questions about Trump’s “comprehensive crime bill,” they are expected to mostly focus on the handling and fallout of the high-profile case, according to Politico.
The Independent has asked the DOJ for comment.
Prominent voices from both sides of the aisle have called for increased transparency around the case.
Last week, the DOJ released a tranche of files to the House Oversight Committee after the panel subpoenaed the files. Democrats on the committee have said only 3 percent of the documents contain information that was not previously publicly available.
The department shared 33,000 pages, 97 percent of which are already public, said California Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.
The Republican-led committee issued a subpoena on August 5 demanding all communications and documents related to the criminal cases of Epstein and Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. The 63-year-old is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison after she was convicted in 2021 for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse minors with Epstein.
She spoke with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and other top DOJ officials last month.
The Justice Department last week also released hundreds of pages of transcripts and hours of audio recordings from top DOJ officials meetings with Maxwell.
Bondi has been the subject of a barrage of criticism surrounding the case.
Earlier this year, the attorney general said she had a “truckload” of files to review from the FBI, and suggested that the “client list”was sitting on her desk.
In February, she released “Phase 1” of the files, a tranche of documents that included mostly publicly available information. Then came the July 6 memo, decisively putting an end to any additional disclosures.
On week after the memo was released, President Donald Trump came to her defense, telling reporters in July: “The attorney general has handled that very well. She’s really done a very good job, and I think that when you look at that, you’ll understand it.”
