Performance and Protest: Bondi’s Volatile Judiciary Testimony

The House Judiciary Committee hearing room became a theater of intense political friction on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, as Attorney General Pam Bondi faced hours of blistering questions. While the session was ostensibly a standard oversight hearing, it quickly transformed into a high-stakes confrontation over the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and its current prosecutorial priorities.

A Confrontation with Survivors

The most poignant moment of the hearing occurred when Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) recognized several Jeffrey Epstein survivors seated in the audience. In a coordinated display:

• The Request: Jayapal asked the survivors to stand if they felt comfortable and to raise their hands if they had been unable to secure a meeting with Bondi’s Department of Justice.
• The Response: Every survivor present raised their hand, signaling a deep frustration with the department’s engagement process.
• The Refusal: When pressed by Jayapal to turn and apologize directly to the victims for the “unacceptable” handling of the Epstein files—which included the accidental release of unredacted victim names and explicit images—Bondi declined. She dismissed the request as “theatrics” and stated she would not “get in the gutter” with her political opponents.

Economic Diversions and Partisan Sparring

Bondi frequently parried questions about the Epstein investigation and the “weaponization” of the DOJ by pointing toward the administration’s economic metrics.

• The Stock Market Defense: At several points, Bondi cited the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassing 50,000 and the S&P 500 nearing 7,000 as the “real” topics the committee should be discussing.
• Clashes with Leadership: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) accused the Attorney General of running a “vendetta factory,” to which Bondi retorted by questioning Raskin’s own legal credentials and mocking his stock trading history.
• Redaction Scandals: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) challenged Bondi on why certain powerful names, such as Les Wexner, were initially obscured in the files as co-conspirators. Bondi attributed any errors to the massive volume of data (over 3.5 million documents) and the tight timeline mandated by law.

The “Jekyll and Hyde” Accusation

The hearing’s tone remained aggressive throughout, with Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) describing Bondi’s demeanor as a “Jekyll and Hyde routine”—complimenting victims in scripted opening remarks while attacking their representatives moments later. Bondi leaned into the confrontation, often accusing her questioners of suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

Key Takeaways from the Testimony