Grilled by NC lawmaker on Epstein case, Pam Bondi deflects to light rail killing

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi testified Wednesday before a congressional committee over the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files, engaging in several heated exchanges with lawmakers.

One of those exchanges was with Rep. Deborah Ross, who represents North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District. Ross, a Raleigh Democrat, pressed Bondi about the privileges granted to Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein in a sex trafficking scheme and was transferred in August from a low-security Florida prison to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas.

“She received perk after perk in prison,” Ross said before the House Judiciary Committee during the hearing.

When pressed, Bondi, while saying she hoped to see Maxwell “die in prison,” repeatedly shifted the discussion to the killing of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian woman who was fatally attacked on a Charlotte light rail train in August.

Ghislaine Maxwell’s prison sentence

In July, Maxwell participated in a two-day interview with Todd Blanche, a deputy attorney general and a former defense attorney for President Donald Trump. She was transferred to Texas just days later, Ross noted.

During that interview, Maxwell is reported to have said that she did not witness any inappropriate behavior by Trump.

Maxwell, who was indicted during Trump’s first term and convicted under the Biden administration, has previously been accused of lying to federal officials and has sought a pardon from Trump.

Ross said the transfer and accommodations were privileges Maxwell “as a sex offender, would normally be ineligible for.”

Ross cited reports that Maxwell had been granted special privileges at the prison camp, including puppy therapy, private workout time, personal mail services and secretarial assistance.

She asked Bondi whether Maxwell deserved those privileges. Bondi responded that she did not.

“Every time she does get these perks … the folks she’s abused, the survivors who are sitting here, they see themselves as being denied justice,” said Ross. “I’m glad that we agree on that, but she should not be in that prison, and she needs to be moved back to a maximum security prison as soon as possible,” Ross said.

Ross also noted that Maxwell’s legal team has indicated Maxwell would not cooperate unless she received clemency from Trump.

“It’s just crazy to consider that she can be wielding this kind of influence within the administration,” Ross said.

Ross questioned Bondi about who had ordered Maxwell’s transfer and who had signed off on the special privileges.

“I do not agree she should receive special treatment. She was transferred, I learned after the fact, to the same level facility, and that is a question for the Bureau of Prisons. I was not involved in that at all,” Bondi said.

Maxwell is reportedly in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the woman’s minimum security Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Bryan, Texas. Nicknamed “Club Fed,” it’s reported to house largely white-collar criminals, including Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and Jen Shah of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Maxwell was previously in the Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee, a low-security federal prison for women in Florida.

It’s been reported that Maxwell has written in emails obtained by NBC News that she is “much, much happier” in the Texas facility.

Shift to Iryna Zarutska

Then Bondi first shifted the discussion to Zarutska.

“Instead of talking about Ghislaine Maxwell, who hopefully will die in prison ... you should be talking about Iryna Zarutska,” Bondi said.

Ross said she had been talking about it, and she returned to the Epstein case, asking whether Bondi thought Trump should pardon or commute Maxwell’s sentence.

Bondi said she’d answered that but “you don’t want to talk about Iryna Zarutska.”

Ross questioned who may advise Trump on pardons.

“I’m not going to speculate, and you couldn’t even identify properly, that’s why you don’t want to talk about Iryna Zarutska,” she said.

Ross replied that Zarutska’s family “appreciates all of the condolences, all of the help, everything that our law enforcement in North Carolina has been doing to help her family.”

This story was originally published February 12, 2026 at 12:29 PM.

Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi

The News & Observer

Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi is a politics reporter for the News & Observer. She reports on health care, including mental health and Medicaid expansion, hurricane recovery efforts and lobbying. Luciana previously worked as a Roy W. Howard Fellow at Searchlight New Mexico, an investigative news organization.