Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California said Sunday that Democrats should consider impeaching Attorney General Pam Bondi if they take the House and Senate in 2026.
The Trump administration missed a Dec. 19 deadline to release documents pertaining to disgraced financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, citing internal reviews and a desire to protect victims. “The Weekend” co-host Laura Barron-Lopez asked if Bondi could be impeached.
“Congressman, it sounds like you’re saying that inherent contempt — holding these officials in inherent contempt or even a possible — a vote on impeachment of someone like Pam Bondi?” Barron-Lopez asked, with Swalwell responding, “Or restrict funding, yeah.”
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“Or restricting funding. It sounds like, though, that may not happen until or if Democrats actually win the House in 2026. Is that right?” Barron-Lopez continued, with Swalwell replying, “Yes. And so we have to telegraph that that’s what we are willing to do if we are given the majority.”
The administration did release a tranche of Epstein files on Dec. 19, but Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said during a Dec. 21 appearance on “Meet the Press” that the administration would release additional files.
More files were released on Tuesday, but the Justice Department noted they contained “untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election.”
Some of President Donald Trump’s supporters criticized him and Attorney General Pam Bondi in July over their handling of the Epstein files, with the president being “ratioed” on Truth Social over the matter, Newsweek reported.
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Swalwell faced misconduct allegations over an alleged affair with Christine Fang, who reportedly worked with the Ministry of State Security of the People’s Republic of China. Although Swalwell denied any wrongdoing, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy removed Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee on Jan. 24, 2023, citing the allegations surrounding his relationship with Fang.
While Democrats have sought to tar Trump over his past friendship with Epstein, Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent victims, did not accuse Trump of misconduct in her memoirs, which were released after she committed suicide.
Giuffre’s ghostwriter told People that she was a huge fan of Trump, believing he would release the Epstein files while promoting her posthumous memoirs in an October interview.
Other victims of Epstein told NBC News reporter Hallie Jackson during a Sept. 3 panel that they had no knowledge of any wrongdoing by Trump. Bradley Edwards, an attorney who represented some of Epstein’s victims, described Trump as someone who assisted his efforts in a 2018 interview.
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“The only thing that I can say about President Trump is that he is the only person who in 2009, when I served a lot of subpoenas against a lot of people … he is the only person that picked up the phone and said, ‘let’s just talk, I’ll give ya as much time as you want, I’ll tell ya what you need to know,’” Edwards said in the 2018 video.
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