Tensions boiled over during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday as Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi flat-out refused to answer questions about FBI involvement in scrubbing or flagging Jeffrey Epstein records related to Donald Trump.
The exchange came when Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) grilled Bondi over her past claims on Fox News that she had the elusive “Epstein client list” in hand—only to later walk that back and claim the list didn’t actually exist.
Durbin didn’t let it go.
“Going back to the Epstein files, according to another whistleblower who made a protected disclosure to my office, you pushed the FBI to review approximately 100,000 Epstein-related records on an arbitrarily short deadline in March, and the FBI was directed to flag any documents that mentioned President Trump,” Durbin said.
Instead of answering the question, Bondi swerved.
“And, you know, Senator Durbin, I find it very interesting that you refused repeated Republican requests to release the Epstein flight logs,” she snapped. “Why did you fight to not disclose the flight log, Senator Durbin?”
It was a blatant dodge. Durbin pushed again, more directly: “So who gave the order to flag records related to President Trump? To flag records for President Trump. To flag any records which included his name.”
Bondi didn’t flinch, but made it crystal clear she had no intention of cooperating.
“I’m not going to discuss anything about that with you, Senator,” she fired back.
That’s when Durbin drew the line: “Eventually you’re going to have to answer for your conduct in this,” he said. “You won’t do it today, but eventually you will.”
The hearing marked one of the most explosive confrontations in what’s become a deeply tangled web of political interests, secrecy, and the long shadow of Epstein’s criminal network.
And Bondi’s stonewalling isn’t just a political move—it’s a red flag. Refusing to answer basic questions about whether FBI agents were instructed to prioritize protecting Trump’s name in the Epstein files only adds fuel to a fire that’s far from burning out.
Whether or not Bondi is ever forced to answer those questions remains to be seen. But if Tuesday’s hearing is any indication, this story is far from over.
Watch the full exchange in the clip below — the Epstein question comes in at the 6:56 mark.
