When Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche arrived on Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon, they hoped to spice up members’ confidence on their dealing with of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Within half an hour, Democratic lawmakers had walked out.
The closed-door briefing for members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform was held on the request of the Justice Department, which has spent the final 12 months staving off accusations that it led a haphazard assessment of Epstein’s case, botched the redaction course of and held again vital info from public launch.
Bondi has additionally been subpoenaed by the Republican-led committee to look for a deposition subsequent month and reply questions beneath oath in regards to the investigation.
The lawyer common started Wednesday by telling the committee members that she was comfortable to reply any questions, a supply acquainted with the matter stated, and that she introduced Blanche with as a result of he oversaw the discharge of the so-called Epstein information.
But nearly instantly, the democratic members on the committee introduced that they’d maintain their questions for the lawyer common’s on-the-record deposition, sources acquainted with the matter stated. What adopted was, in response to one supply, an “unmitigated circus.”
Democrats pushed Bondi to say whether or not she nonetheless deliberate to look for a deposition, in response to sources. The lawyer common stated repeatedly that she deliberate to “follow the law,” the sources stated — a solution Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia later described as “infuriating” and half of a “White House cover up.”
Those tensions erupted when Democratic Rep. Summer Lee challenged the briefing’s function, in response to individuals acquainted with the matter, saying Bondi “hasn’t offered any information” in regards to the Epstein investigation and the assembly had as a substitute was “a hearing without the cameras.”
“You want me to scoot some chairs around and make a circle, would that make it feel more like a briefing,” committee Chairman James Comer stated, including, “Are you trying to find information or are you trying to embarrass the attorney general?”
Lee responded that Bondi may defend herself, and that she was solely questioning Comer in regards to the briefing’s logistics.
“You wasted three minutes of everybody’s time kind of b*tching,” Comer stated, to audible gasps within the room.
Every Democratic lawmaker on the committee walked out of the briefing quickly after. Outside, they instructed reporters that the briefing was a “complete disrespect of the process.” GOP Rep. Tim Burchett claimed the walkout was “all staged.”
The briefing continued with Republican lawmakers, who one supply stated requested detailed questions in regards to the assessment course of, whether or not there have been any ongoing investigations and about Epstein’s relationship with former President Bill Clinton.
When Bondi emerged from the briefing, she repeated the identical chorus in regards to the subpoena that she instructed lawmakers contained in the room: “I made it crystal clear, I will follow the law.”
“I personally don’t see any reason for her to do a deposition,” Comer instructed reporters when the assembly concluded. And some of the members who voted to subpoena Bondi, he stated, “were pretty embarrassed by the way the Democrats acted in their lack of sincerity.”