'​Catching you red-handed!' Massie gets sassy with Bondi over Epstein redactions

Attorney General Pam Bondi and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky shared a heated exchange over Epstein file redactions during a Wednesday congressional hearing.

Massie was one of the handful of Republicans who pushed Congress to pass legislation mandating the Department of Justice to release all files pertaining to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in an attempt to reveal the real extent of his deviancy.

'Literally the worst thing you could do to the survivors, you did.'

Massie and his Democratic colleague Rep. Ro Khanna of California expressed outrage over the DOJ's alleged concealment of suspected co-conspirators after viewing the unreacted files over a month after they were supposed to be made public. Their legislation did allow the redaction of victims' names, but even then the DOJ failed to conceal the names of the victims in certain documents.

After Massie and Khanna shed light on suspected co-conspirators whose names were protected, the DOJ removed the redactions.

RELATED: 'This isn't a CIRCUS!' Bondi fends off attacks from Democrat lawmakers in combative hearing

Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images

"To my right is an email that was sent by the victims' lawyers to the DOJ ... a list of names not to release," Massie said. "What did the DOJ do with this email? They released this email in the document production! Literally the worst thing you could do to the survivors, you did."

"We know you touched the document, because you redacted one name," Massie added. "You redacted the lawyer's name, but you left the survivor's name there."

One redaction Massie was particularly focused on was that of Les Wexner, the former CEO of Victoria's Secret, who the congressman implicitly alleged was a co-conspirator. Wexner was long associated with Epstein, even allowing him to take charge of his finances.

"Within 40 minutes, Wexner's name was added back in," Bondi said.

"Within 40 minutes of me catching you red-handed!" Massie replied.

Wexner stated in July 2019 that he had long since severed any connection with Epstein and "would not have continued to work with any individual capable of such egregious, sickening behavior as has been reported about him."

"When Mr. Epstein was my personal money manager, he was involved in many aspects of my financial life. But let me assure you that I was NEVER aware of the illegal activity charged in the indictment," added Wexner.

This week, a spokesperson for Wexner told the Columbus Dispatch: "The assistant U.S. attorney told Mr. Wexner’s legal counsel in 2019 that Mr. Wexner was neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect. Mr. Wexner cooperated fully by providing background information on Epstein and was never contacted again."

RELATED: 'Smoking Gun': Yale prof nearly blown up by Unabomber defends his Epstein emails

The interaction between Bondi and Massie escalated to a shouting match, in which Bondi rebuked Massie for being a thorn in the Trump administration's side.

"There was one redaction out of over 4,700," Bondi laughed.

"This guy has Trump derangement syndrome! You're a failed politician!"

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!