During the questioning led by Massie in the hearing held on Wednesday, Bondi remarked that the congressman was exhibiting "Trump derangement syndrome," a criticism that President Donald Trump often directs towards his detractors. In a separate moment, Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal requested that the group of Epstein survivors positioned behind Bondi raise their hands if they had not had the chance to meet with Bondi's Justice Department.
Every survivor present raised their hand. Despite Jayapal's request for her to look at the victims, Bondi refrained from doing so, referring to it as "theatrics." Massie described Bondi's choice to avoid facing the survivors as "cold," suggesting that he believed she was "afraid" to do so.
The hearing on Wednesday followed the Justice Department's release of more than 3 million pages related to the Epstein case. This huge release has sparked significant criticism and resignations globally. Within the United States, numerous influential individuals were mentioned—though they were not accused of any misconduct—in the latest file dissemination.
Massie has alleged that the Justice Department has, in some instances, revealed the identities of victims while excessively blacking out the names of prominent men and potential accomplices linked to Epstein's sex trafficking activities. "[Bondi] acknowledged that 40 minutes after I pointed out to the DOJ that they had excessively redacted some documents, they did go ahead and unredact them," Massie stated.
It is clear that their efforts concerning this issue remain unfinished. After the release of the documents, the Justice Department allowed congressional representatives to examine versions of the files with fewer redactions last week. After analyzing the files, Massie asserted that the DOJ had incorrectly obscured details in an undated document that seemingly listed 20 names along with corresponding images.
In the publicly available version of this document posted on the DOJ’s website, the only two names and images initially visible belonged to Epstein and Maxwell. After Massie and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna, who has been advocating for the release of the files alongside Massie, voiced their worries about the redactions, Massie shared in a post on X that the DOJ "swiftly removed the redactions from the men’s names as well as several women listed who we hadn't identified."
Massie also shared the less-redacted version of the document, which included an additional 16 names, both male and female, that had been unredacted. Khanna subsequently announced the names of the four men mentioned on the document during the House floor session and criticized the DOJ for redactions affecting other specific documents that hid the identities of Leslie Wexner and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, whose names were found unredacted hundreds of times throughout other disclosures from the DOJ.
Sulayem, the billionaire head of the logistics company DP World, resigned "effective immediately" following the revelation of his interactions with Epstein, as stated in a company announcement. A spokesperson for the company did not reply to a request from ABC News for a comment. A legal spokesperson for Wexner informed ABC News, "In 2019, the Assistant U.S.
Attorney conveyed to Mr. Wexner's legal team that he was neither a suspect nor implicated in any way. Mr. Wexner fully complied by sharing relevant details about Epstein and was never contacted afterward."
Following a report from the Guardian on Friday about the DOJ stating that the four individuals mentioned on the House floor were included in a photo lineup set up by federal prosecutors and had "no clear link to Epstein," Khanna expressed his discontent towards the DOJ.
I hope the Department of Justice had explained this earlier rather than keeping their identities secret. They have not safeguarded survivors, caused confusion for innocent people, and have shielded wealthy and influential perpetrators," he shared on X. "We need complete transparency."
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