CNN host Erin Burnett was left speechless by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s performance on Capitol Hill.
Appearing before the House Judiciary Committee for questioning, Bondi refused to apologize for how the Justice Department handled the release of the Epstein files, even when confronted by a group of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims who were in attendance.
Instead, she became visibly agitated and went on the attack, attempting to deflect by bringing up her predecessor, Merrick Garland. She also hurled insults at lawmakers, reading directly from a burn book, at one point shouting at ranking committee member Jamie Raskin, “You don’t tell me anything, you washed-up loser lawyer!”
Responding to the footage on Wednesday night, Burnett was visibly stunned, telling CNN reporter Paula Reid, “I mean... just incredible to watch all of that. As you said, 10 years of covering it, and just... wow. Sometimes there just aren’t words for the things we’re seeing these days.”
Bondi also accused Raskin of having ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome,’ and screamed at him for not talking about the economy.
“I don’t know why you’re laughing. You’re a great stock trader as I hear, Raskin. The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P at almost 7,000, and the Nasdaq smashing records. That’s what we should be talking about!” Bondi yelled.
She also became irate after California Rep. Ted Lieu suggested that Bondi lied under oath when she said there was no evidence the president had committed any crimes during his friendship with Epstein, pointing to a tip-off received by the FBI with an uncorroborated allegation about a girl who claimed she had been raped by the president.
“There is no evidence that Donald Trump has committed a crime - everyone knows that. This has been the most transparent presidency,” Bondi said.
“I believe you just lied under oath,” Lieu fired back, prompting Bondi to shout in response, “Don’t you ever accuse me of a crime!”
Bondi began her appearance on Capitol Hill with an opening statement in which she acknowledged the victims of Epstein’s crimes, many of whom were present at the time.
“I am deeply sorry for what any victim, any victim, has been through, especially as a result of that monster,” Bondi said.
However, when asked by Rep. Pramila Jayapal to acknowledge the survivors in the room who said they had been unable to meet with the Justice Department, Bondi declined to do so, instead deflecting and attempting to blame Merrick Garland, who served as attorney general under President Joe Biden.
“This is not about anybody who came before you. It is about you taking responsibility for your Department of Justice and the harm that it has done to the survivors who are standing right behind you and are waiting for you to turn to them and apologize for what your Department of Justice has done,” Jayapal fired back.
In addition to her opening statement, Bondi came prepared with ready-made insults scrawled on flash cards, rebel GOP Rep. Thomas Massie revealed after the hearing.
“A funny thing about Bondi’s insults to members of Congress who had serious questions,” Massie wrote on X. “Staff literally gave her flash cards with individualized insults, but she couldn’t memorize them, so you can see her shuffle through them to find the flash-cards-insult that matches the member.”
