Former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is currently battling thyroid cancer, made an appearance at a congressional meeting on Friday concerning the Jeffrey Epstein documents. She was seen with a bandage on her neck.
Bondi, aged 60, was dismissed by Donald Trump on April 2, with her position being filled by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Blanche, who once served as Bondi’s deputy, is also known for his past role as Trump’s personal attorney.
Reports indicate that Bondi received her cancer diagnosis soon after departing from her role at the Department of Justice. She is currently undergoing treatment and is said to be on the road to recovery.
“Pam has been quietly kicking cancer’s ass the last few weeks,” shared Katie Miller, a former Trump official and spouse of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller, in a recent post.
Bondi is participating in a private interview with the House Oversight Committee, which is under the leadership of Republican Chairman James Comer.
The committee has specific inquiries regarding Bondi’s actions in releasing the Epstein files.
Early last year, Bondi told reporters that the sex offender and pedophile’s client list was ‘sitting on my desk right now,’ but no additional arrests have been made since the former Attorney General said she’d conduct a review.
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi, center, arrives for her closed-door interview on Capitol Hill Friday morning
Bondi, who has undergone treatment for thyroid cancer, appeared with a bandage on her neck
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (L) has questions for Bondi about Jeffrey Epstein
Further, some lawmakers have outstanding questions about whether all documents were released as mandated by the Epstein Transparency Act passed last fall.
‘We’ll come and tell you what she (Bondi) said,’ Comer told reporters. ‘We’ll release all the transcripts, and if anyone is lying to Congress, that’s a felony.’
He noted it was Bondi’s second time ‘voluntarily’ coming to speak with the Oversight panel.
‘The government has failed the (Epstein) survivors. There’s no question about that, and that dates back five presidential administrations,’ Comer said. ‘We want to try to provide justice for the survivors.’
The committee could have subpoenaed Bondi to testify in a public setting, but has explained that since she was ousted from the DOJ, she will instead do a closed-door interview.
Had she sat for official testimony before the committee, the session would have been televised.
The top Democratic lawmaker on the committee, Congressman Robert Garcia, slammed Republicans for not having Bondi sworn in under oath for her interview.
He also slammed Comer for not videotaping the interview for future publication.
Donald Trump and his then-girlfriend Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, February 12, 2000
The First Lady said that rumors on social media that linked her to Epstein are false, and that she met Donald Trump at a party in 1998, not through the sex offender
The Committee subpoenaed Bondi in March after Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace moved to compel the ex-AG’s testimony. It passed with four GOP and all Democratic votes.
Though after Bondi was removed from the DOJ, Comer clarified that the session would be downgraded to a closed-door hearing.
Several of Epstein’s victims were in attendance on the Capitol complex for the private interview.
Last month, First Lady Melania Trump stunned when she delivered a press conference addressing her reported ties to Epstein, where she denied the two were close.
‘I am not Epstein’s victim,’ the First Lady stated during the address. ‘Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband by chance at a New York City party in 1998.’
Trump and Melania met that year at the Kit Kat Klub in New York when the former supermodel was 28 years old. Paolo Zampolli, a modeling agency boss who is serving as Trump’s special envoy for global partnerships, claims he introduced the couple. They later married in 2005.
‘I’ve never been friends with Epstein,’ she added.
The announcement came as a shock, as there had not been recent revelations linking her to the disgraced financier, who the government says committed suicide while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges in August 2019.
The First Lady noted then that Epstein did not work ‘alone,’ and she called for the government to aid his victims.
‘I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimized by Epstein with a public hearing specifically centered around the survivors,’ she added.
