Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel are slated to testify before Congress in what’s expected to be a bruising examination of the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein Files—a case that continues to send political shockwaves through Washington and beyond.
According to Politico, Patel is scheduled to testify on September 17, with Bondi following on October 9. Both were called by the House Judiciary Committee as part of its general oversight responsibilities. But no one is pretending this is business as usual.
The hearings come amid intensifying scrutiny over how the administration addressed public demands for transparency in the wake of the Department of Justice’s July 6 memo. That document, which officially concluded Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking, has been widely condemned. The DOJ asserted Epstein left behind no “client list” and closed the door on further investigation—a move that was met with bipartisan backlash and renewed public distrust.
In short, the DOJ’s attempt to shut the book only lit it on fire.
The committee’s focus will include the Trump administration’s so-called “comprehensive crime bill,” but insiders say Epstein’s name will dominate the discussion.
Meanwhile, public and political pressure continues to mount.
Following a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee, the DOJ turned over 33,000 pages of documents. But Democrats quickly pointed out the obvious: only 3 percent of the information was new. “Ninety-seven percent of this is already public,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the committee’s ranking Democrat. “The American people are being stonewalled.”
The committee’s subpoena, issued August 5, demands all communications and documentation related to both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell—the disgraced British socialite now serving 20 years in federal prison for trafficking and abusing minors.
As the pressure campaign escalated, Bondi made a rare move: she asked federal judges to unseal grand jury transcripts from the Epstein and Maxwell cases. Legal experts warned they would contain little of substance, and the courts agreed. One judge dismissed the request outright, stating the transcripts “pale in comparison to the Epstein investigative information and materials” already in the DOJ’s possession.
Still, Bondi had previously fanned expectations. Earlier this year, she publicly claimed to have a “truckload” of files from the FBI, and even implied the much-speculated “client list” was sitting on her desk. That statement, now infamous, has only intensified scrutiny around her upcoming testimony.
The political heat turned white-hot when The Wall Street Journal reported in early August that Bondi had privately informed President Trump back in May that he—along with hundreds of others—was named in the files. Trump has long maintained he was never mentioned in any Epstein documentation. While such a mention does not imply wrongdoing, the inconsistency opened a new line of political vulnerability.
The White House quickly dismissed the story as a “fake news” smear. But the damage was done.
The outrage didn’t just come from Democrats. Conservatives and Trump loyalists in the MAGA camp were equally furious with what they saw as a cover-up. The July 6 DOJ memo was derided across right-wing media, with calls for full transparency echoing from corners of Congress and conspiracy-ridden social media platforms alike.
President Trump, for his part, has stood firmly by Bondi. “The attorney general has handled that very well,” he said in July. “She’s really done a very good job, and I think that when you look at that, you’ll understand it.”
But many aren’t so sure.
As Bondi and Patel prepare for the congressional hot seat, one thing is clear: the Epstein Files aren’t going away. The public wants answers. Congress wants accountability. And both are about to converge in what promises to be one of the most contentious hearings in recent political memory.
The question hanging over Washington is no longer if there was a cover-up—it’s who is going to take the fall.
