Did Ted Lieu claim Epstein paid Pam Bondi’s college, law school tuition?

Claim:

Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu of California claimed that sex offender Jeffrey Epstein paid for Attorney General Pam Bondi’s college and law school.

Rating:

In late March 2026, social media posts claimed Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu of California accused Attorney General Pam Bondi of having a close connection to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. According to Lieu’s purported accusations, Epstein paid for Bondi’s college and law school.

The rumor spread on Facebook, with one post stating:

Rep. Ted Lieυ Raises Explosive Qυestioпs Aboυt Pam Boпdi’s Alleged Ties to Jeffrey Epsteiп aпd Coпtroversial Legal History

“REPRESENTATIVE TED LIEU” It appears Epstein paid for Pam Bondi’s college and law school tuition so she could work for them. Bondi helped Epstein get acquitted when he was charged with sex crimes in Florida. Legally, one could argue she did nothing wrong, but… she knew he was a pimp, and the evidence gathered by the Palm Beach police department was overwhelming.

(Facebook user JK News Hour)

Other reels sharing the same claim linked to an ad-filled blog post with the headline: “Rep. Ted Lieυ Raises Explosive Qυestioпs Aboυt Pam Boпdi’s Alleged Ties to Jeffrey Epsteiп aпd Coпtroversial Legal History.” The article stated that Leiu’s claims remain “unverified.” Snopes readers also contacted us to ask whether the claim was true.

Snopes found no evidence of Lieu making such a claim, let alone of Epstein paying Bondi’s educational expenses. The above rumor is an example of AI slop, which refers to low-quality content generated by artificial intelligence, often using shocking or overly inspirational information to generate clickbait. 

As such, we rate this claim false.

The article with the claim is suspicious because of the overwhelming number of advertisements and pop-ups, indicating it is clickbait. It also did not directly quote Lieu, instead relying on vague and unsubstantiated claims without attributing to proper sources. 

We searched for news coverage or video evidence of Lieu making the claim about Bondi and Epstein and found no evidence other than unsourced Facebook posts. Authentic news coverage focused on Lieu and Bondi’s heated exchange on Feb. 11, 2026, during a House judiciary committee hearing. Lieu played an old clip of President Donald Trump talking to Epstein and questioned Bondi on her handling of the files related to the government’s investigation of the disgraced financier. Bondi called Lieu’s question on whether there were minor girls at parties Trump attended with Epstein “ridiculous.” 

If Lieu had made such a claim about Bondi and Epstein’s ties publicly, reputable news outlets like The Associated Press or Reuters would have covered it. This was not the case.

The images of Lieu and Bondi shouting at each other appear to be digitally manipulated versions of real photographs of them at other hearings, including the one in February 2026. A Google reverse image search presented no authentic photographer’s name or source. We also previously fact-checked the purported photograph of a young girl with Epstein and Trump on the bottom right of the image collage, and found it to be fake. 

Bondi attended college at the University of Florida and graduated in 1987. She then went to Stetson College of Law, also in Florida, and graduated in 1990. At the time, Epstein was a high-profile consultant for a New York financial company and regularly flew to Palm Beach, Florida, according to reports, where he eventually bought his mansion. There is no available evidence tying Bondi in her student days to Epstein. 

For further reading, Snopes has previously reported on fake images supposedly showing a young Bondi with Trump and Epstein. 

Sources