“Pam Bondi refused to look at us. We felt pure rage”, The Times
The attorney-general refused to face the survivors of paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, instead accusing Democrats of distracting from Trump’s successes
London, New York
Thursday February 12 2026
Pam Bondi, the US attorney-general, has been criticised by a group of Jeffrey Epstein victims for not acknowledging them during a combative appearance before Congress.
Bondi, the nation’s top law enforcement officer, faced a barrage of questions from Democrats in a congressional hearing on Wednesday about the US Department of Justice’s handling of the Epstein files.
In her opening remarks, Bondi said she was “deeply sorry for what any victim has been through” but did not turn to face the nearly a dozen Epstein victims sitting behind her.
Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat representative for Washington, asked the women to stand up and raise their hands if they had not been able to meet with the justicedepartment. She then challenged Bondi to look them in the eye and apologise for the failure to redact their names fully when the files were made public.
Bondi, who previously worked as President Trump’s personal lawyer, declined and later said: “I’m not going to get into the gutter for [Jayapal’s] theatrics.”
A picture of all the Epstein survivors raising their hands has since gone viral online.
Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein raise their hands, including Sharlene Rochard, second from left
AP PHOTO/J SCOTT APPLEWHITE
“Bondi didn’t even turn around and acknowledge our existence,” said Danielle Bensky, who was abused by Epstein as a teenager, after the hearing. “We knew this was going to be a hard day, but just not to acknowledge our baseline humanity — I felt pure rage. I could feel myself shaking with anger and frustration. I feel like we’ve been revictimised,” she said. “She’s gaslighting the American people over and over. The DoJ needs to do its job: release all the files.”
Sharlene Rochard, who was among the Epstein survivors sitting at the back of the hearing, said she “felt humiliated” and “started to cry at that moment”.
Anouska de Georgiou, a British victim of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, said: “This is bigger than us. When you can’t acknowledge survivors of sex crimes, how do you expect other victims watching to feel safe coming forward?”
Bondi accused Democrats of using the so-called Epstein files to distract from Trump’s successes. She also asked Democrats whether they had “apologised to President Trump for their involvement in past impeachment efforts”.
The attorney-general has faced heavy backlash over the Epstein files since she handed out a collection of binders containing information from the documents to a group of conservative social media influencers in February last year.
The binders, distributed during an event at the White House, included no new revelations about Epstein and led to increased calls from Trump’s base for the full files to be released.
A photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, released in the Epstein files, is displayed before the House judiciary committee on Wednesday
WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES
Since the release of more than three million documents by the justice department, Democrats have been pressuring Bondi to investigate alleged co-conspirators of Epstein whose names appear in the files. She told the survivors that “any accusation of criminal wrongdoing will be taken seriously and investigated”.
Bondi’s criticism extended to Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky who co-authored the bill compelling the justice department to release the records from its Epstein investigation.
“This guy has Trump derangement syndrome,” Bondi said of Massie, who has criticised the justice department’s handling of the files.
• Epstein survivors like me were failed by the FBI
The hearing quickly devolved into a partisan verbal brawl, with Bondi lobbing insults at Democrats while insisting she was not “going to get in the gutter” with them.
In another particularly fiery exchange, Jamie Raskin of Maryland accused Bondi of refusing to answer his questions, prompting the attorney-general to call the top Democrat on the committee a “washed-up loser lawyer”.
Steve Cohen, a Democratic representative from Tennessee and a member of the judiciary panel, said Bondi’s performance on Wednesday might have boosted the Democrats’ case in the midterm elections.
“She did an excellent job in appealing to Donald Trump, and it was [for] … one-person audience: Donald Trump,” said Cohen, adding that the hearing “gave the public some information about what the justice department’s not doing correctly”.