'Make me?' DOJ flouts Epstein Transparency Act, angering Congress

The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle

MS NOW, Stephanie Ruhle

Politics, Washington, Congress, News, Ms Now, President, Versant Media, Policy, Msnbc, Versant, Government, Senate

4.4 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2026

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Growing outrage as the AG Pam Bondi tells Congress that all of the Epstein files have been released. Then, no signs of compromise to end the partial government shutdown, as thousands of workers face more financial uncertainty. Plus, Fmr. President Barack Obama gives his first public response to racist video posted by Trump. Symone Sanders Townsend hosts.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Tonight, growing outrage as the Attorney General tells Congress all of the Epstein files have been released,
0:07.0	why lawmakers say it's not enough.
0:10.0	And no signs of compromise to end the partial government shutdown, as hundreds of thousands
0:15.0	of workers face another round of financial uncertainty.
0:19.0	Plus, former President Barack Obama gives his first public response
0:22.7	to a racist video posted by the current president as the 11th hour gets underway on this Monday night.
0:33.1	Greetings. I'm Simone Sanders Townsend, in for Stephanie Rule. We are now 259 days away from the midterms,
0:40.1	and the administration is trying to put the Epstein files behind them. Over the weekend,
0:44.6	Attorney General Pam Bondi notified Congress that all the materials had been released,
0:49.9	along with an explanation of all the redactions made, plus a list of public figures whose names appear in the files.
0:56.7	Here's a reminder. The Epstein Transparency Act that Trump signed into law actually required the Department of Justice to publicly release all of the Epstein files and to explain its redactions to Congress.
1:08.7	But the deadline was nearly two months ago, and lawmakers,
1:11.3	they are not satisfied. The Democratic co-author of the bill, Congressman Roecona, responded on social
1:17.0	media, quote, The Department of Justice, or DOJ, is once again purposefully muddying the waters
1:22.3	on who was a predator and who was mentioned in an email. His Republican counterpart, Congressman Thomas
1:28.9	Massey, took it a step further yesterday. I don't think Pam Bondi has confidence in Pam Bondi.
1:36.6	She wasn't confident enough to engage in anything but name-calling in a hearing. And so, no, I don't
1:43.3	have confidence in her. She hasn't got any sort of
1:46.9	accountability there at the DOJ. When I asked her specifically who redacted Leslie Wexner's name
1:53.0	from the one document that mattered, she couldn't give me an answer. She wouldn't give me an answer.
1:58.1	But ultimately, it's her who is responsible for the document production.
2:03.3	Across Washington, the Department of Homeland Security is shut down, and the employees are going
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