House Democrats walk out of tense briefing with Bondi over Epstein files, calling it a “fake hearing”
A group of House Democrats walked out of a closed-door briefing with Attorney General Pam Bondi on the Jeffrey Epstein investigation Wednesday evening, as tensions over the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein case continue to simmer.
The faceoff came a day after the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Republican James Comer of Kentucky, subpoenaed Bondi to testify about Epstein next month.
Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche traveled to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to meet with panel members. Less than an hour later, the Democrats left the room.
The committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, told reporters that Bondi had not committed to honoring the committee’s subpoena. He called Wednesday’s session a “fake hearing,” adding that Bondi was not under oath and did not make an opening statement.
“It’s outrageous, it’s infuriating and it continues this White House cover-up of the Epstein files,” Garcia said. “We won’t accept this anymore.”
Another Democrat, Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida, called it a “fake deposition where no one can see what’s going on,” pointing to the lack of C-SPAN cameras for the closed-door meeting.
Comer, meanwhile, suggested the walkout was “premeditated” and part of a “political game.”
“They came out, clutching their pearls, complaining that she wasn’t answering questions,” he said. “The first three people to ask questions did nothing but complain.”
At one point during the hearing, there was a verbal argument between Comer and Democratic Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, both lawmakers acknowledged.
Lee told reporters that she asked Comer if he would force Bondi to comply with the subpoena and initiate proceedings to hold her in contempt of Congress if she did not appear, and, “instead of responding as an adult, he said I was ‘whining’.”
Comer confirmed this interaction, saying Lee was “just complaining about the format.”
He later wrote on »
Asked if she would comply with the subpoena, Bondi said after the briefing that she “made it very clear, I will follow the law” — an answer Garcia called insufficient. Bondi also criticized the Democratic walkout.
“One congresswoman yelled, ‘C-SPAN wasn’t there, so she didn’t want to ask questions.’ Yet all day long they have been on social media saying they have all these questions,” Bondi said.
CBS News has contacted the Justice Department for comment.
The incident highlighted how caustic the Epstein question became. The Justice Department has faced intense questions for years over its handling of the disgraced financier, who avoided federal charges for child sex crimes until 2019, when he was indicted on sex trafficking charges but committed suicide. in prison – arouse public fascination and conspiracy theories.
The department freed millions government files on Epstein in recent months – covering several federal investigations into him and his convicted associate Ghislaine Maxwell – after Congress passed a law late last year requiring him to release his files on Epstein.
Members of both parties have criticized the Justice Department’s handling of the release of records, arguing that some records have been inappropriate. retained or excessively redacted. Some victims of sexual abuse also claim their personal information was exposed. The department defended its release process, saying hundreds of lawyers reviewed records to verify survivors’ names and removed documents if there were clerical errors.
Democrats accused Bondi of engaging in a “cover-up.”
“We want her under oath because we don’t trust her,” Frost said Wednesday evening.
Comer said Republicans are committed to a serious investigation and want to work with the Justice Department to get answers.
“Does this look like a cover-up?” he said. “The Attorney General, Blanche and all the top brass at the DOJ [were] here to answer questions, and yet they don’t ask a single question. »
