It’s one thing to embarrass yourself before a national audience, but when you embarrass the entire United States with your nonsensical responses to questions from members of Congress, it’s time for a major change.

That’s what U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi did when she recently testified before the House Judiciary Committee concerning the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Some headlines called her responses fiery, others called them explosive. The Times editorial board calls them what they truly were — disgraceful.

Because of her “performance” in the Washington hearing and her refusal to allow the FBI to share evidence with Minnesota law enforcement to investigate the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Bondi should resign.

The likelihood of that happening is slim. Therefore, if there are enough members of Congress who feel that same sense of disgrace, impeachment is one solution.

For that to happen, Democrats would need three Republican House members to vote against corruption and for justice. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who sparred with Bondi during the hearing, is one who would likely vote for justice. Others who realize her role and style would be a drag on the GOP ticket this fall could possibly join in removing Bondi.

A conviction in the Senate with its larger margins, however, would be the challenge. Still, an impeachment of Bondi would be a sign that recalcitrant Republicans are starting to share the consternation of American voters over how Bondi has so compromised the crucial role that the DOJ historically has played.

Among her transgressions is the release of documents that included the unredacted names of some of Epstein’s sex-trafficked survivors, but redacted names of rich and powerful men associated with Epstein.

In the hearing, she accused a Jewish member of Congress, Rep. Becca Balint, D- Vermont, of antisemitism. And after Balint, whose grandfather was killed during the Holocaust, responded with great emotion and stormed out of the room, Bondi laughed.

In response to New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler’s chastisement for not indicting anyone in the Epstein investigation despite photos and other evidence pointing toward possible culpability, her response was “Americans’ 401(k)s and retirement savings are booming. That’s what we should be talking about.”

An astonishing development is that Bondi’s DOJ also apparently monitored House members’ computer activity as they accessed some of the 3 million documents related to the Epstein files in preparation for the hearing. That included the search history of Washington’s Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle.

Worse, Bondi did not deign even to glance at the survivors of Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sick behavior, even though those women sat just a few feet behind her.

Bondi’s failures are numerous, which reflects on the Trump administration, and thus the nation as a whole. A nation governed by laws can’t afford to have lawlessness in a department that was created to assure justice for all.

She is protecting Trump; she is protecting Epstein’s rich friends. She is not protecting the victims.

_____

©2026 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.