Pam Bondi, the former Attorney General, arrived at Capitol Hill on Friday for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee. Bondi defended the administration’s release of investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein, claiming that "justice and transparency" were delivered. However, Representative Robert Garcia told reporters that only 50 percent of the files have been released to the public. Democrats and some Republicans are pressing for the remaining documents, which were mandated for release by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Oversight Chairman James Comer said his committee has obtained documents from the Epstein estate but argued the government has "failed the survivors." Former Epstein assistant Sarah Kellen has reportedly named new individuals potentially implicated in the financier’s sex-trafficking ring. Critics claim Bondi was part of a cover-up to protect high-ranking officials. The transcript of the interview shows Bondi stood behind the "delayed, error-riddled" release process, which included the personal information of potential victims while redacting the names of powerful associates.

While this testimony took place, Donald Trump refiled a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over its reporting on his ties to Epstein. The legal battle highlights the "Ghost Era" of governance, where systemic scandals are treated as personal defamation disputes. Despite the legal mandates for transparency, the most sensitive parts of the record remain locked away. The public is left with a fractured narrative where half the truth is permanently hidden behind a wall of bureaucratic redactions.