Reporter’s Notebook: AG Bondi’s binder strategy turns hearing into political firestorm

The overstuffed white folders appeared moments earlier than Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi left her motorcade and walked by the horseshoe-shaped entrance of the Rayburn Home workplace constructing.

Roll Name photographer Tom Williams and I stood within the hallway negotiating our place for Bondi’s entrance. Williams would place himself on the opposite aspect. I slid to the wall closest to the horseshoe-shaped entrance. MS NOW’s Ali Vitali and ABC’s Jay O’Brien labored the sidewall.

A bunch of Bondi’s assistants appeared. One jammed by the massive binders.

BONDI HEARING DEGRADES INTO SCREAMING CHAOS AS AG ACCUSES TOP DEMOCRATS OF ‘THEATRY’

Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi arrives on the Rayburn Home workplace constructing on Capitol Hill and solutions questions from Fox Information congressional correspondent Chad Pergram forward of a listening to within the Home of Representatives. (Tom Williams)

“Let her enter the room,” the assistant instructed.

I politely reminded the assistant that the hallway was an open hallway on Capitol Hill. It was not shut down by the US Capitol Police. So it was honest recreation to ask questions of the legal professional normal.

And so started a brand new dance amongst reporters, safety officers, U.S. Capitol Police, aides and Cupboard members as they appeared for main congressional hearings.

We had no concept on the time what was within the folders. However you could not ignore the sheer measurement of it.

It isn’t uncommon for assistants to convey briefing books for a director when testifying. Since Kinko’s was nonetheless in enterprise, nobody has seen these kinds of binders.

The contents of what the folders contained had been about to play a central position in Bondi’s testimony earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee.

However the first order of the morning was to interrogate Bondi. A lot occurred. These are all subjects that the Legal professional Normal might tackle.

Talking of recordsdata…

Bondi wasn’t essentially there to testify in regards to the Epstein recordsdata. However Democrats — and one Republican — would make the Justice Division’s disclosure of partially redacted paperwork a topic of the listening to. So there was lots to ask Bondi about.

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Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi arrives on the Rayburn Home workplace constructing on Capitol Hill and solutions questions from Fox Information congressional correspondent Chad Pergram forward of a listening to within the Home of Representatives. (Tom Williams)

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Nonetheless, there have been in a single day developments from Arizona. Authorities have arrested an individual close to the border with Mexico in reference to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. What Bondi may know in regards to the FBI’s position on this was value asking.

Then there was a cryptic warning that officers would shut El Paso airport to all air site visitors for 10 days. Was there a menace of terrorism? One thing about cartels? Lastly, in a single day, the story broke that the Justice Division needed to cost six Democratic lawmakers as a result of their video service members weren’t required to adjust to illegal orders. A District of Columbia grand jury declined to indict any of them.

So the press corps waited for Bondi and her safety guards to hurry in. We had a couple of minute to pepper her with questions as she walked from the horseshoe-shaped entrance to a again room.

Reporters should be strategic with such brief walk-and-talks. Fast, Gatling gun-like questions. Concise. Straight to the purpose. And agile sufficient to maneuver on to the subsequent query if the determine arriving on Capitol Hill would not reply or provides a brief reply.

In one other universe, I may need began with Epstein. However the story of Nancy Guthrie has been gripping the nation for weeks. There was an in a single day growth. Virtually each story on this planet at all times includes a job on Capitol Hill someplace. The Nancy Guthrie saga was no exception.

I had positioned myself on the within observe as we walked down the corridor. Capable of stand near Bondi as she walked by the constructing.

“Madam Legal professional Normal, any touch upon the Guthrie investigation? Is there any replace on that for the time being?’ I began and went to Bondi first.

‘Sure, I can not discuss that now. Praying for Savannah and her household,” Bondi replied.

Invoice. To proceed.

‘What occurred in El Paso? Why did they shut down El Paso? Do not you recognize something about that? Or are you able to simply not remark?’ I requested.

“I can not discuss it,” Bondi replied.

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Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi testifies earlier than a Home Judiciary Committee listening to on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Washington, as Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors stand at left. (Tom Brenner/AP Photograph)

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Then the principle occasion.

“What in regards to the Epstein recordsdata? Many members are offended that a few of these recordsdata will not be utterly unredacted. What do you say to that?” I requested.

“We’ll talk about that right this moment,” Bondi replied.

I withdrew to offer my colleagues an opportunity to ask questions.

“However why was sure data redacted that’s opposite to the character of the regulation? Why was sure data redacted that’s opposite to the regulation?” Vitali requested.

No response.

So I logged again in and returned to the preliminary questions.

“Have you ever acquired any updates on the Guthrie investigation in a single day? Had been you stored knowledgeable about that in a single day? And when did you first hear in regards to the scenario in El Paso? When did you first hear in regards to the scenario in El Paso, Madam Legal professional Normal?”

Bondi was silent.

The scrum flowed down the hallway, digital camera operators and reporters bumping over one another and sliding again. Half a dollop of safety personnel protected Bondi considerably.

However the finish was close to. The gang approached the again door of the Judiciary Committee. Bondi would quickly flip proper and disappear inside.

Simply sufficient time for one final matter.

“What in regards to the try to prosecute the six lawmakers? Any touch upon that failed grand jury indictment?” I screamed.

“I’ll refer that to U.S. Legal professional Pirro,” Bondi responded, referring to U.S. Legal professional for the District of Columbia Jeannine Pirro, who sought to indict the six.

HOW PAM BONDI AND THE Democrats Turned A Listening to Into Hysteria Proper Earlier than Jeffrey Epstein’s Victims

The Justice Division launched a trove of Epstein paperwork on December 19, following President Trump’s signing of the Epstein Information Transparency Act in November 2025. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan through Getty Photographs)

“Are you aware why that went fallacious?” I requested.

However that was it. The shot clock has expired.

Bondi ignored the query, turned proper together with her safety element and retreated to the entrance room.

When he hosted Meet the Press on NBC, the late host Tim Russert generally boasted that they’d the Vice President or Secretary of State “all hour.”

The conversations with Bondi had been a fraction of that, taking only one minute and three seconds. From 9:42:03 am to 9:43:06 am et. Questioning was carried out effectively. And Bondi answered the questions. However there wasn’t a lot to maneuver the tales ahead. Nonetheless, it is necessary to ask the questions and get the exchanges on digital camera. That made it a productive train. Typically the Capitol press corps would not even see the massive witnesses arrive. Or if we do, they do not even reply to questions.

The group of assistants ducked into the Judiciary Committee suite, one assistant dragging the large binders like a stack of Christmas presents.

These folders had been about to change into essentially the most well-known folios in American politics since former Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) proclaimed throughout a 2012 debate with President Obama that he had “folders full of girls.”

The listening to was scheduled to start moments later and be broadcast stay on a number of TV networks. The aim of the binders quickly grew to become clear. Every folder contained recordsdata on each Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Bondi turned to a selected part in every folder, in search of barbs to wave again on the Democrats on stage. Typically about their voting historical past. Typically a couple of regulation enforcement or immigration concern of their district. Bondi commonly bombarded Democrats – and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) – with advert hominem assaults. She derided Massie as a “failed politician.” She known as Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the highest Democrat on the panel, “a washed-up, loser lawyer.”

U.S. Consultant Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, questions U.S. Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi earlier than a Home Judiciary Committee listening to on “Oversight of the Division of Justice” on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on February 11, 2026. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP through Getty)

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) tried to bait Bondi by asking her to “give me your finest” piece of opposition analysis. The Florida Democrat would then evaluate what Bondi’s workers had provide you with.

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The listening to devolved into 5 hours of yelling, screaming and chaos. Some of the chaotic, cacophonous hearings in current historical past. The spectacle spoke volumes.

All this might fill a stack of overstuffed binders.