House Republicans aren’t all persuaded by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s attempt to defuse a bipartisan investigation into the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files — but some are appearing to waver.
Bondi answered a bipartisan Oversight Committee subpoena by offering a private Wednesday night briefing with her and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. The move seemed designed to assuage the five Republicans who voted with every Democrat on the panel to force her to answer questions under oath, though it didn’t fully work as intended.
Three of the five Republicans remained unconvinced. Democrats are skeptical that the GOP will ultimately compel Bondi to talk about the Epstein files under oath, but unless Bondi can win over more Republicans, she’s still in line for the same harsh intraparty questioning under oath that brought down ex-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“The important thing is to get the answers. So, you know, at the moment, the subpoena is still issued, and we’ll be looking at questions, and then we’ll see where we go from there,” said Texas Rep. Michael Cloud, one of the five GOP panel members who’d voted to force Bondi to speak under oath.
The attorney general has faced long-running backlash from the MAGA base for her handling of the investigation into the late sex offender, as well as her compliance with a law requiring the release of the vast trove of DOJ documents on Epstein’s case.
Bondi’s standing with President Donald Trump is not as shaky as Noem’s was when she testified this month that he approved a $220 million ad campaign on self-deportation — a claim Trump denied. But Bondi’s own colleagues have grown irritated with her over Epstein in the past, particularly in the runup to passage of legislation forcing the DOJ to release the files.
Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry, another of the five GOP lawmakers who’d voted to subpoena her, said prior to the briefing that he had “some frustrations” with the DOJ. “And I’m going to ask questions regarding those frustrations to get some answers.”
A spokesperson for Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who didn’t attend the briefing, said the congresswoman wanted testimony from Bondi under oath “with time for detailed and specific questions about what the Justice Department knows, what it has sat on, and what it has buried.”
Republican lawmakers have sought to question the attorney general on a variety of different topics related to the Epstein probe, including the status of document production, the redactions of the reams of released documents, and potential criminal charges related to Epstein’s network.
But Bondi appeared to have won over two of the Republicans who’d voted to subpoena her. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., told Bondi in the briefing she was embarrassed to have voted to subpoena her and wanted to withdraw it if it were possible, according to a person in the room.
The fifth of those Republicans, Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, said he wasn’t sure how much more lawmakers might learn from Bondi herself, even in another closed-door setting.
“I don’t know what else you’re going to ask her,” Burchett said of a deposition. “It’s the same stuff, same questions, over and over and over again. You’re going to get the same answer.”
Bondi, for her part, told Oversight members she would “follow the law” when asked about coming in for a deposition next month, as their subpoena states. Committee Democrats took as a sign she wouldn’t directly commit to doing so.
Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., told reporters Thursday that he still planned to move forward with the subpoena, though he added he’d never pulled one back before and had to confer with committee lawyers.
“I don’t know what is going to happen. We will talk to the other Republicans. As of now, I plan on moving forward with all of our subpoenas,” he said.
If Comer wanted to withdraw the subpoena, it would require a full committee vote. And it’s not clear he would have the votes to do so, even if Boebert were to vote to claw back the summons, given the initial 24-19 tally.
