To my right is an email sent to the lawyers of the victims by the DOJ. It had a list of names that were supposed to stay private. What did the DOJ do with this email? They included it in the documents they released! That’s one of the worst things you could do to the survivors, and now they’re getting phone calls,” Massie said during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. “A lot of these people didn’t want their names to be known.”
“And we know you touched the document because you redacted one name and the lawyer’s name, but you left the survivor’s name there!
” continued Massie.
“The next document I want to show you has the survivor’s name in the title!”
he said, pointing at the document in question and then another. “This one is titled ‘Child sex trafficking.’ The other is fully redacted, with the names of the co-conspirators hidden!”
“And by the way, we’re going to unredact them here.
Les Wexner is in this,” said Massie, peeling away gray tape to reveal the billionaire in question. “Now your assistant, your deputy attorney general, said ‘Oh well he appears hundreds of times in the files.’ But he doesn’t appear in this file until I forced you to release it! And here he’s listed as a co-conspirator, not for tax evasion, but for child sex trafficking! Not for prostitution, not for money laundering, but for child sex trafficking!”
There’s no simple or innocent reason for these redactions.
The Trump administration went out of its way to protect the identities of wealthy and powerful people because this is a White House that exists only to serve the rich and well-connected. By hiding Epstein’s co-conspirators, they’re also trying to protect Trump, who is deeply involved in the files.
“And then finally, what we have here is the third exhibit that I have, which is emblematic of the FD 302 release,” Massie continued.
“These are the documents we need, but you’re holding onto them and over-redacting because they have the names of the men who are implicated. How do we know? Because the survivors gave testimony to the FBI, and it’s in there. What happens when you go to the DOJ’s portal to look behind the redaction? Another redaction!”
“So we can’t even see them.
And then there are some of these files you’ve pulled down from the website that we will never see because we can’t search through the redactions. So I have several questions for you…” said Massie.
“Who’s responsible?
Are you able to track who in your organization made this massive error and released the victims’ names?” Massie asked. “Are you able to track who it was that hid Les Wexner’s name as a co-conspirator in an FBI document? Do you have that kind of accountability?”
“I believe Wexner’s name was listed more than four thousand times about—” said Bondi.
“Yeah, I already told you that.
This is where he’s listed as a co-conspirator,” shot back Massie.
“Can I finish my answer!?”
screeched Bondi. “Come on! Let me finish my answer. We corrected that within forty minutes. He was already— You’re acting like everybody’s trying to cover up Wexner’s name—”
“Reclaiming my time,” said Massie.
“I’m going to answer this question,” whined Bondi.
“Reclaiming my time. Mr. Chairman?” said Massie.
“This isn’t how this works!” insisted Bondi.
“Mr. Chairman? Can I have my time back? Mr. Chairman?” said Massie, visibly uninterested in Bondi’s obfuscations.
“The gentlelady can give her answer.
The time belongs to the gentleman,” said Chairman Jim Jordan, a MAGA supporter best known for ignoring rampant sexual abuse during his time as a wrestling coach at Ohio State University.
“All right, I’m reclaiming my time,” said Massie.
“So I’m going to put the language of the bill up on the screen…”
“Chairman, may I give my answer on that?
This is a political joke, and I need to give my answer on that,” interrupted Bondi, desperate to get her spin out.
“Let the attorney general respond, and then the gentleman can move to his next question,” said Jordan.
“Chairman, it’s my time,” said Massie.
“Within forty minutes— You asked me a question,” said Bondi.
“Within forty minutes, Wexner’s name was added back.”
“Within forty minutes of me catching you red-handed!”
Massie said.
“Red-handed!?”
said Bondi with an awkward laugh. “There was one redaction out of over 4,700—”
“Where he’s listed as a co-conspirator!”
said Massie.
“…and we invited you in,” continued Bondi.
“This guy has Trump derangement syndrome! You’re a failed politician.”
At that point, it became abundantly clear that Bondi had run out of room to maneuver.
Unable to defend the terrible actions of her Justice Department, she resorted to cheap, pathetic insults. The only failure here is Pam Bondi, a woman who swore to defend the Constitution only to then devote herself to protecting wealthy pedophiles from the consequences of their actions.
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