How Pam Bondi's Missteps on the Epstein Files Jeopardized Her Job

Attorney General Pam Bondi emerged from a House Judiciary Committee hearing in February in an upbeat mood after delivering what she believed was her best, which is to say most bombastically defiant, defense of her handling of the release of the Epstein files.

Many others, including some of her allies, thought her testimony — hours of high-volume insults and non sequiturs ("The Dow is over 50,000 now!") — was a miscalculation that only deepened distrust of Ms. Bondi. She even declined to make eye contact with victims of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who were seated behind her.

When bad reviews started pouring in, Ms. Bondi did not blame herself. Instead, she told an associate that the committee's Republican chairman, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, had refused to defend her and had enabled Democratic questioners, according to people in her orbit speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.