Attorney General Pam Bondi clashed repeatedly with Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday in a fiery hearing.

Among other heated topics was the release of the Epstein documents and the redactions and lack thereof on those files.

Top House Committee Democrat Representative Jamie Raskin, accused the Justice

Department of redacting the names of multiple men for political reasons.

As Attorney General, you're siding with the perpetrators and you're ignoring the victims.

That will be your legacy unless you act quickly to change course.

You're running a massive Epstein cover up right out of the Department of Justice.

Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt.

I'm Dana Taylor.

Today is Thursday, February 12, 26.

Here to help me dig into the substance of the hearing yesterday is USA Today

Justice Department correspondent, Aisha Bakshi.

Asia, it's so good to speak to you.

It's good to be here. Thanks, Dana.

In short, this hearing was very much a story of Epstein, Epstein, Epstein. Not surprisingly, lawmakers split very much along party lines with Bondi's questioning.

What did Democrats accuse her up and how did

she respond? Yes, Epstein was the biggest story of the day, basically, in the hearing and multiple

Democrats on the committee. And one prominent Republican accused Pam Bondi of basically engaging in a

massive cover-up when it comes to the Epstein files. This goes back

quite a way because there are a lot of allies of President Donald Trump who are in the Trump

administration right now who, going back to years before Trump even retook the Oval Office,

were suggesting to the American public that the FBI, the Department of Justice, knew things

...