US lawmaker threatens Pam Bondi with contempt of court over undisclosed Epstein material

Two U.S. lawmakers are threatening legal action against U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi after she only met part of a deadline to release all government documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

There were high hopes for the release of the Department of Justice (DoJ) documents, but ultimately only a portion of the available material was made public.

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a leading activist on the issue, said he might try to file contempt proceedings against the attorney general as a result.

The Justice Department insists it is complying with its legal obligations, and Bundy herself has said she was part of “the most transparent administration in American history.”

The term “Epstein Dossier” refers to the trove of information collected by the U.S. Department of Justice during two criminal investigations into Epstein.

Under pressure from his supporters and members of the Republican Party, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a law in November forcing the release of the entire collection. Friday is the deadline for releasing materials.

Although some material was released, much was redacted and other information withheld — angering Massey and his allies, as well as survivors of Epstein’s abuse. Trump himself has yet to comment.

The U.S. Department of Justice said it would provide more materials in the coming weeks.

But Massie told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the Justice Department “disdains the spirit and letter of the law.”

He continued: “The quickest way to get justice for these victims, and I think the quickest way, is to hold Pam Bundy in inherent contempt, and that doesn’t require going through the courts.”

Inherent contempt is a rarely used legal recourse available to either the Senate or the House of Representatives (the upper and lower houses of Congress, respectively), but has not been invoked in nearly a century. American Bar Association.

Massey added that “Ro Kana and I are discussing and drafting this document right now,” referring to a Democratic congressman who also played a major role in the campaign to release Epstein’s complete documents.

Speaking on the same programme, Khanna gave further details on how contempt proceedings would proceed. “We are building a bipartisan coalition and if every day that Pam Bondi doesn’t release these documents, she will be fined,” he said.

Massey noted that unlike impeachment efforts, which are another option theoretically available to Bundy’s critics, a contempt move would only require support from the House of Representatives.

Bundy’s deputy, Todd Branch, appeared defiant in an interview with another broadcaster on Sunday.

Asked on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” whether he took threats from members of Congress seriously, the deputy attorney general said: “Not at all. Come on. We’re doing everything we can to comply.”

Branch noted the enormity of the task. “You’re talking about a million pages of documents,” he said. “Almost all of them contain victim information.”

He continued: “If we comply with the regulations, we don’t make everything on Friday, we make the product the next week and the week after that, which is still in compliance with the regulations.”

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, another member of Khanna’s party, said on the same show that efforts to scorn or impeach were “premature.”

“If someone is stalling, we have appropriations bills and other tools to enforce compliance, and I’d rather focus on those tools,” Kaine said.

Branch said elsewhere on Sunday that the Justice Department later removed certain Epstein-related documents originally posted on Friday from its website after victims raised concerns.

Branch said one of the documents – a photo of Trump – was reviewed and recovered.