Pam Bondi Accused a Republican of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” for Asking About Epstein
The Attorney General's 5-hour testimony revealed who this DOJ protects—and who it exposes.
The House Judiciary Committee hearing on February 11, 2026 was supposed to be about Department of Justice oversight. It became something else: a five-hour demonstration of who this administration protects and who it exposes.
The Survivors Raised Their Hands
The moment that will define this hearing came early.
Rep. Jamie Raskin asked the Epstein survivors in the gallery a simple question: Had the Department of Justice reached out to meet with them about the files release?
The survivors raised their hands. They had not been contacted.
Three and a half million files. Internal memos, investigation notes, correspondence. The largest document release in DOJ history. And the survivors learned about it from the news, like everyone else.
Rep. Thomas Massie—a Republican from Kentucky, no ally of the Democratic caucus—put it plainly:
“Literally the worst thing you could do to survivors, you did. You exposed them to the perpetrators without preparation.”
Bondi’s response was to accuse Massie of having “Trump derangement syndrome.”
A Republican. Asking about Epstein survivors. Trump derangement syndrome.
The Pattern
The hearing revealed a consistent pattern in how this DOJ operates:
Protected: Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirators. The files were released without redacting survivor names, without warning survivors, without any apparent effort to use the information to prosecute the people who trafficked children for decades.
Exposed: The survivors themselves. Their names. Their trauma. Made public for anyone to find.
Protected: ICE agents who shot Renee Good three times through her windshield. Jonathan Ross has not been charged. The DOJ has not announced an investigation.
Exposed: Renee Good’s final moments. Her last words—”That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you”—became a viral video while her killer remains unnamed in official proceedings.
Protected: Border Patrol agents who shot Alex Pretti ten times in five seconds after he was already on the ground, disarmed, pepper-sprayed, with a phone in his raised palm.
Exposed: Pretti’s name, his face, his nursing career, his attempt to help a woman who’d been pushed down—all of it public while the shooters (now identified as Anthony Ochoa and Oscar Gutierrez by ProPublica) face no charges.
Protected: David Easterwood, the ICE field director who presides over 96 court order violations in a single month while preaching at Cities Church on Sundays.
Exposed: Nekima Levy Armstrong, the ordained minister arrested for entering Easterwood’s church to ask questions. She faces federal prosecution under Section 241—”conspiracy against rights.” The DOJ moved within hours.
Rep. Lucy McBath of Georgia asked Bondi directly about the Good and Pretti killings. “American citizens, shot by federal agents. What is DOJ doing?”
Bondi’s answer was to praise ICE’s “heroic work” and pivot to fentanyl.
“Operation Pullout”
The hearing also revealed the case of reporter Don Lemon.
On January 23, 2026, protesters gathered outside Cities Church in St. Paul—the congregation where David Easterwood preaches on weekends, while also being the director of ICE in Minniapolis. Among them was a man the DOJ charged under the name “Don Lemon.”
His alleged crime: leading chants. Speaking into a megaphone. Exercising what used to be called the First Amendment.
The operation to arrest him was internally called “Operation Pullout.”
The naming was not accidental. This administration has turned enforcement into content—memes, slogans, spectacle. The White House posted AI-doctored images of Nekima Levy Armstrong, who was arrested with Lemon, with tears digitally added to her face, her skin digitally darkened. When called out, the official response was: “The arrests will continue. The memes will continue.”
The cruelty is the point. The naming is the flex. They want you to know they’re enjoying this.
The Julie Le Transcript
The hearing happened the same week that court transcripts emerged from Minneapolis showing the collapse of the DOJ’s own immigration enforcement infrastructure.
Julie Le, an assistant U.S. attorney, stood before Judge Patrick Schiltz—a Bush appointee, former Scalia clerk—and said:
“This system sucks. My job sucks right now. Hold me in contempt. I could use the sleep.”
She was explaining why the government couldn’t comply with court orders requiring them to notify the court before deportations. She described working 12-16-hour days, sleeping on her office floor, being handed impossible timelines by political appointees.
Judge Schiltz’s ruling named David Easterwood, Kristi Noem, and Todd Lyons as the officials responsible for 96 court order violations in January 2026 alone.
Ninety-six. In one month.
The same week, eight more federal prosecutors announced they were quitting. Six had already resigned. The DOJ is hemorrhaging the people who actually know how to prosecute cases, replacing institutional knowledge with political loyalty.
This is political theater. And the stagehands are walking out.
“Washed-Up Loser Lawyer”
Bondi called Rep. Jamie Raskin a “washed-up loser lawyer.”
Raskin—former constitutional law professor, lead impeachment manager, author of Unthinkable about losing his son to suicide and then walking back into the Capitol on January 6—asked about the Epstein files. He asked why survivors weren’t contacted. He asked what investigations were proceeding.
Washed-up loser lawyer.
This is the Attorney General of the United States. The chief law enforcement officer of the nation. The person responsible for equal justice under law.
She also threatened Rep. Eric Swalwell: “You’re lucky that’s not defamatory, or you’d be hearing from me.”
She told Rep. Massie he had “Trump derangement syndrome”—for asking why Epstein survivors were exposed without warning.
She praised the agents who killed American citizens and offered nothing about accountability.
The posture is consistent: aggression toward oversight, protection for enforcers, exposure for victims.
Two Justice Systems
The hearing made visible what Minneapolis has been living:
There is one justice system for federal agents. Shoot a citizen through her windshield, and the DOJ offers silence. Shoot a nurse ten times after he’s on the ground, and the official story becomes “assassination attempt” within hours—a narrative that collapsed as soon as six camera angles went public.
There is another justice system for everyone else. Protest outside a church, face federal charges. Enter a church to ask questions, face Section 241. Lead a chant, become “Don Lemon” in an operation named for the joke.
The asymmetry is not a bug. It is the product.
This is what “law and order” means in 2026: law applied selectively for political purpose.
What the Files Contain
Three and a half million Epstein files.
The release included:
Internal FBI memos
Investigation correspondence
Tips from the public—many anonymous, many unverified
Material that names survivors without redaction
What the release did not include: any announcement of new prosecutions.
The co-conspirators—the wealthy and powerful people who trafficked children alongside Jeffrey Epstein—remain uncharged. The survivors remain exposed.
Rep. Massie asked the question that will echo: “Did you consider the survivors before releasing their names?”
Bondi’s non-answer speaks volumes.
The Redaction Inversion
The Epstein Files Transparency Act required the DOJ to:
Release names of perpetrators, co-conspirators, accomplices
Redact victim and survivor identifying information
DOJ did the exact opposite.
On an “Epstein victim list” document containing 32 survivor names, someone at DOJ reviewed the file and chose to redact one name while leaving 31 exposed.
Meanwhile, the names of powerful men were systematically concealed.
Rep. Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna spent two hours at DOJ on Monday reviewing unredacted files. They found six names the department had been hiding. Khanna’s reaction: “If we found six men that they were hiding in two hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those 3 million files.”
One of those names: Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman and CEO of DP World, one of the world’s largest port operators.
“I Loved the Torture Video”
The email that forced the DOJ’s hand was dated April 24, 2009—one year after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution.
“where are you? are you ok , I loved the torture video”
That was Epstein, writing to a redacted recipient.
The reply came the next day, from China:
“I am in china I will be in the US 2nd week of may”
DOJ redacted the sender’s name. Massie revealed it: Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.
The chairman of a company operating ports in 78 countries, including the United States, exchanging messages about a “torture video” with a convicted sex offender.
The likely context: Two days earlier, on April 22, 2009, ABC News had broadcast a graphic video smuggled out of the UAE showing Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan — brother of the UAE Crown Prince — torturing an Afghan grain merchant with cattle prods, whips, and a car driven over his body. The tape became a global news event. Bin Sulayem, as Chairman of Dubai World, sat near the top of the UAE hierarchy. Epstein, watching the news from New York, apparently found it entertaining.
But the files show more.
December 10, 2013: Bin Sulayem emails Epstein from Tokyo with the subject line “Just tried this massage.” Attached: a price list for a Japanese sex service, complete with tiered pricing for selecting women by “hotness” level, explicit service descriptions, and delivery-to-residence options.
“I am in Tokyo I just tried the full massage,” bin Sulayem wrote. Five years after Epstein’s conviction. The Chairman of DP World, recommending sex services to a registered sex offender.
January 6, 2017: Bin Sulayem emails Epstein asking: “Should I accept the invitation sent by Tom barrack.” Barrack was chairing Trump’s inaugural committee. Bin Sulayem was consulting Epstein about whether to attend the inauguration—and whether he could “shake hand with trump.”
May 2018: Epstein brokers a meeting between bin Sulayem and a Goldman Sachs board member who was “stuck at the White House” and had just spoken with “the Vice President.”
July 6, 2019: The day Epstein was arrested, bin Sulayem sent him an email with three attachments.
Bin Sulayem appears 4,700 times in the Epstein files. More than twenty times the mentions of Les Wexner.
And DOJ redacted his name to protect him.
Les Wexner: “Co-Conspirator”
Massie found something else in the files DOJ tried to hide.
An FBI document from 2019 listed individuals the Bureau had identified as “child sex trafficking co-conspirators.” The names were fully redacted in the public release.
When Massie caught it and demanded unredaction, DOJ complied “within 40 minutes”—meaning they knew it was there and chose to hide it.
One of the names: Les Wexner, the billionaire former Victoria’s Secret CEO who employed Epstein as a financial manager and gave him the Manhattan townhouse where much of the abuse occurred.
Not tax evasion. Not money laundering. Child sex trafficking co-conspirator. That’s what the FBI called him.
Wexner has never been charged.
What’s Still Hidden
Rep. Dan Goldman went to DOJ yesterday and found:
An 86-page prosecution memo from the Southern District of New York—still redacted even for members of Congress
A draft indictment from Florida against Epstein co-conspirators—still redacted for members
An email from Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell containing notes of Trump’s statements about his relationship with Epstein—still redacted
Bondi claimed “privilege” on the Epstein-to-Maxwell email. Goldman noted this cannot be attorney-client privilege since neither party was an attorney.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren observed: 435 House members, 4 computers at DOJ. “It would take many months to actually have the time.”
Three million pages released—with victim names exposed and perpetrator names hidden. Three million more pages still withheld entirely.
What Wasn’t Asked
The hearing lasted five hours. Some questions were never asked:
Why hasn’t Jonathan Ross been charged for killing Renee Good?
Why haven’t Anthony Ochoa and Oscar Gutierrez been charged for killing Alex Pretti?
What is the DOJ doing about the 96 court order violations in Minneapolis?
Why was “Operation Pullout” approved as an operation name?
Why are survivors of child trafficking being prosecuted for protesting while perpetrators of that trafficking remain uncharged?
What accountability exists for federal agents who violate constitutional rights under color of law?
The questions weren’t asked because the answers are already visible. This DOJ does not investigate its own. It prosecutes those who document what its own are doing.
The Spectacle
Bondi arrived with props: photos of fentanyl seizures, charts about border crossings, a video montage of “heroic” ICE operations.
The staging was intentional. Make the hearing about drugs. Make it about the border. Make it about anything except the pattern of who gets protected and who gets exposed.
When McBath asked about Good and Pretti, Bondi pivoted to fentanyl.
When Massie asked about Epstein survivors, Bondi called him deranged.
When Raskin asked about accountability, Bondi called him a loser.
The deflection is the message. There is no accountability to discuss. There is only loyalty to perform.
The Question
Pam Bondi is the Attorney General of the United States.
She oversees a department that has prosecuted an ordained minister for asking questions in church, but has not charged the agents who killed two American citizens in their own city.
She oversees a department that released 3.5 million Epstein files without warning survivors, but calls a Republican congressman “deranged” for asking about it.
She oversees a department where line prosecutors are quitting, where court orders are ignored, where the naming of operations has become a form of trolling.
The question is not whether this DOJ will provide accountability. That question was answered today.
The question is what comes next when the chief law enforcement officer of the nation performs contempt for oversight as a feature, not a bug.
The survivors raised their hands. They had not been contacted.
The agents who killed Good and Pretti remain uncharged.
The memes continue.
Related Coverage
The ICE Director Who Preaches on Sundays — David Easterwood and Cities Church
An Ordained Minister Was Arrested for Asking Questions in Church — Armstrong’s prosecution
The White House Memelord and the Doctored Photo — AI fakes and Kaelan Dorr
Two Christianities Went to War in Minneapolis — The theological battle
Sources
House Judiciary Hearing (February 11, 2026)
C-SPAN: “Attorney General Pam Bondi Testifies Before House Judiciary Committee” — Full video
NBC News: “Pam Bondi hearing devolves into shouting matches with Democrats over Epstein and DOJ prosecutions”
PBS News: “Bondi battled with lawmakers over handling of Epstein files. Here are 3 big takeaways”
The Hill: “Fiery exchanges dominate Pam Bondi appearance before House Judiciary Committee”
The Hill: “Thomas Massie slams Pam Bondi’s defense of DOJ Epstein files release”
NPR: “Pam Bondi clashes with House Democrats over Epstein files at DOJ oversight hearing”
Court Order Violations
ABC News: “Conservative judge in Minnesota tries to keep Trump administration in check during crackdown”
NPR: “Judge says Immigration and Customs Enforcement has violated 96 court orders this month in Minn.”
Word & Way: “GOP Judge Blasts ICE Pastor for ‘Extraordinary’ Court Order Violations”
FOX 9: “ICE is frustrating judges and exhausting DOJ attorneys” — Julie Le transcript
Shootings
ProPublica: “CBP Agents Jesus Ochoa, Raymundo Gutierrez ID’d in Alex Pretti Shooting”
Will Bunch, Philadelphia Inquirer: “The toxic culture that killed Alex Pretti”
CNN: “Whistles, then gunfire: How the deadly ICE shooting unfolded in Minneapolis”
CNN: “Reports, videos show how ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good”
Episcopal Response
Episcopal News Service: “154 Episcopal bishops issue message calling for immigration policies respecting the dignity of all” — February 2, 2026
Sheikh Issa Torture Tape
ABC News: “Torture Tape Implicates UAE Royal Sheikh” — April 22, 2009
The complete documented timeline of events is available at capturecascade.org/viewer
It did not make the cut for the article, but I wanted to point out that Ken Klepenstein's substack post on NSPM-7 (https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trumps-nspm-7-labels-common-beliefs) was added to the congressional record in the Pam Bondi hearing, and was the basis for congressional questions.
Please support independent media.
We need to keep talking about all of this and keep identifying and calling out the patterns.
Thanks, Mark.