Attorney General Pam Bondi walked into the room with her attorney and what looked like a plan — a slick workaround to sidestep sworn testimony while still passing it off as cooperation. Democrats saw it for what it was almost immediately.
What was billed as a routine Epstein files briefing started to unravel fast, a staged “deposition” without the oath, without the stakes and, as the pressure closed in, without much cover.
By the time it was over, Bondi and her team were scrambling to clean it up and steer the narrative back in their favor — but in doing so, they let something slip that could come back to haunt them.
Bondi arrived on Capitol Hill Wednesday for a private briefing before the House Judiciary Committee as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and its handling of files on him. A hearing that did not require her to answer questions under oath.
Legally, only depositions require sworn testimony, but the committee can use its discretion in other instances. That distinction quickly became the sticking point and before the hour mark, Democrats had stormed out.
Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost said lawmakers found themselves inside a committee room with no cameras, no staff, no official transcript — conditions he said would have allowed Bondi to “lie and BS all she wants” with zero accountability.
“Essentially what they were trying to do is have a fake deposition, a fake hearing where we can ask her questions, that she can answer them, but she’s not under oath,” Frost said, adding that his suspicions hardened when Bondi declined to clearly state whether she would comply with the subpoena requiring her to sit for a sworn deposition next month.
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Frost argued Wednesday’s session was designed to mimic a formal proceeding without the legal consequences.
“We want her under oath, why? Because we don’t trust you, we don’t trust her. You’re involved in one of the biggest coverups in the history of our nation you’re gonna be in front of us under oath. We’re gonna hold you accountable,” Frost said.
Social media reactions were brutal, with posts reading: “Can you imagine the horrors they’re still hiding…” and “They are scrambling!”
Others went further, writing, “Pam Bondi Is The Pedophile Ring’s Lawyer” and “Pam Bondi has zero regard for the law . She should be disbarred.”
“She belongs in prison!” another fumed.
Other critics spelled out the repercussions “Okay, so charge her with contempt of court, arrest her, then fine the crap out of her. The standing Attorney General of the United States must feel the consequences for the very behavior she is charged with prosecuting. This is insanity.”
Rep. Summer Lee offered an even sharper account of what unfolded when she pressed Committee Chairman James Comer for a direct answer about enforcement. “So I just walked out of a fake deposition, fake hearing with Pam Bondi, where Chairman Comer called me a b*tch,” Lee said.
She said she repeatedly pressed Comer on whether the committee would hold Bondi in contempt if she refused to comply with the subpoena — the same step he had threatened in the case involving the Clintons.
“He said that I was b–ching and that I was wasting his time and that we didn’t have to talk about this anymore,” she said.
Lee, who introduced articles of impeachment against Bondi on Tuesday, framed the standoff as part of a broader refusal to comply with congressional oversight.
“She has no intention on cooperating with Congress. She has no intention on cooperating with the American people,” Lee said, adding that Wednesday’s briefing appeared designed to bypass the subpoena altogether.
Lee appeared again with Rep. Robert Garcia later that evening on CNN with Kaitlin Collins.
“It became very clear quickly, that they’d set up this kind of fake hearing or briefing,” he said. “There was no briefing by the way, she just began saying “I’m ready to answer your questions.””
Garcia didn’t hold back, saying it’s clear Bondi doesn’t want to show up for the real hearing — the one that would be transcribed and under oath. “We’re not going to participate in games or this cover-up, and we’re certainly not going to sit here while the chairman disparages and insults members of this committee,” he said. “We’ll be back when she’s deposed before the oversight committee, under oath, as she’s legally required to do under the subpoena.”
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“I think she’s terrified of being disbarred and convicted of perjury,” said one viewer.
“You gotta take the damn gloves off and get in the gutter — that’s where the Republicans live. Comer is a disgrace…” another fumed.
Comer rejected that characterization, accusing Democrats of staging a walkout rather than using the opportunity to press for answers, even though Bondi was not sworn to tell the truth.
“For the Democrats, it’s a political game, and they just demonstrated that today,” he said. “There’s no reason for them to walk out and clutch their pearls and act like they were offended and outraged.”
Comer also questioned the need for a deposition in the first place.
“I, personally, don’t see any reason for her to do a deposition,” he said, even as he acknowledged he had issued the subpoena under bipartisan pressure.
Outside the briefing, Bondi did not answer directly when asked whether she would comply with the subpoena. “I made it crystal clear I will follow the law,” she said.
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But even as she defended her handling of the files, Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledged problems with the document release itself — an admission that added fuel to the controversy.
“I think it was less than 1 percent error,” Bondi stated about the botched release of files during a press gaggle, before quickly turning it over to Blanche.
“Yeah, no, that’s right,” Blanche said. “We said from the beginning that any mistakes that were made, and there should be no mistakes.” He emphasized that corrections were made as soon as issues were flagged.
Blanche repeated they fixed the mistakes “immediately” several times before stammering, “And so of course we don’t ever want to do anything to re-victimize anybody that was victimized by the horrible crimes of Mr. Epstein. But, but, and we didn’t. And we didn’t.”
The acknowledgment did little to calm critics, who have questioned how sensitive material—including details tied to victims — was handled in the first place.
“These two are tripping hard because Rep Dan Goldman read the truth on the House floor today and now it’s a matter of Congressional Record,” wrote one viewer.
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Some critics focused on the legal stakes of avoiding sworn testimony.
“Didn’t Hillary go under oath? And Bill? Depositions are always under oath,” one comment read, while another added, “I remember her telling a sitting senator to never accuse her of committing a crime. So now she refuses to go under oath because she would be cooked and she knows it. This is our top law official at her finest…NOT!!!”
The Justice Department has pushed back, arguing the subpoena is unnecessary and noting that lawmakers have already been invited to review unredacted files. Justice Department officials also insist there is no effort to shield powerful figures connected to Epstein and say they remain open to pursuing new evidence if it emerges.
Still, the dispute shows no sign of fading. With a deposition date set and both sides digging in, the question now is whether Bondi will ultimately testify under oath — or whether the standoff over how to get answers will continue to overshadow the answers themselves.