House Dems storm out of Pam Bondi's Epstein Files briefing: 'Won’t participate in a fake hearing'

WASHINGTON, DC: Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee walked out of a closed-door briefing with Pam Bondi, accusing her of showing “complete disrespect” while addressing questions about the Justice Department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

The contentious meeting came less than 24 hours after Committee Chair James Comer issued a subpoena for Bondi, intensifying a political clash over transparency, compliance and the pace of document disclosures tied to the Epstein investigation.

Walkout over testimony

Bondi appeared alongside Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for the briefing, which lawmakers said lacked formal procedures. Democrats raised concerns that Bondi was not testifying under oath and that no official transcript would be produced.

Ranking member Robert Garcia told reporters, “The American public should be outraged by what is happening right now.” He added that Bondi refused “on multiple occasions” to agree to testify for a transcribed interview under oath that could later be made available to the public.

“We won’t participate in a fake hearing that’s not under oath and not transcribed,” Garcia posted to X. “The American people deserve transparency and the truth. We are going to end this White House cover-up.”

Bondi accused of trying to skirt questions

Representative Suhas Subramanyam said the format of the session limited lawmakers’ ability to question Bondi effectively. “It was a ‘briefing’ so we weren’t allowed to follow the rules of the committee. So, long story short, she is trying to skirt answering questions, she does not want to be under oath when she’s talking about Epstein.”

“I don’t blame her because she is probably lying and she’ll probably be perjuring herself,” Subramanyam added. “But in any case we are going to continue trying to get her to testify … under oath.”

In a separate post, Representative Maxwell Frost said, “We’ll see her at her sworn deposition.”

GOP calls it ‘political theater’

Republicans on the committee accused Democrats of staging the walkout. In a post on X, the GOP conference said, “Democrats just walked out of our briefing with AG Pam Bondi. This clearly was their plan all along.”

“AG Bondi and Deputy AG Blanche were answering substantive questions,” the statement added. “The Attorney General said she’d follow the law. Democrats don’t want answers or justice for survivors. They just want content for their political theater.”

Representative Lauren Boebert echoed the criticism, writing, “If this was truly about the victims, my Democrat colleagues would have stuck around and continued to ask questions. Sadly, they consider this an opportunity for press, not for justice. Totally pathetic.”