Lawmakers leave closed-door meeting after AG refuses to commit to honoring subpoena to testify under oath
Democrats on the House oversight committee walked out of a closed-door briefing from attorney general Pam Bondi about the Jeffrey Epstein files on Wednesday, leaving what California congressman Robert Garcia called “an outrageous fake hearing” after Bondi refused to commit to honoring a subpoena to testify under oath.
The committee voted to subpoena Bondi earlier this month, with five Republicans joining Democrats to demand that the attorney general answer questions about the justice department’s failure to properly release files from the federal investigations into Epstein.
Bondi and deputy attorney general Todd Blanche went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to try to quell bipartisan frustration over the justice department’s handling of millions of files related to Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation. But less than an hour into the briefing, Democrats walked out in protest of the arrangement.
Speaking outside the hearing room, Florida congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost said: “We asked her multiple times, are you going to come and speak with us under oath? She would not say yes. Filibuster, filibuster, filibuster, would not say yes.”
