Here’s what happened with Rep. Summer Lee and Chairman James Comer behind closed doors during the briefing with Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche, I’m told:
Lee: “Mr. Chairman, there are no cameras here. You don’t have to perform. We were told this was a briefing.”
Comer: “It’s a briefing!”
Lee: “But she hasn’t offered any information…. This is a hearing. This is a hearing without the cameras. This is a hearing without C-SPAN. And it’s a hearing without the public. So, what I’m asking is …”
Comer: “You want me to scoot some chairs around and make a circle. Would that make it feel more like a briefing?”
Lee: “I would like C-SPAN. I would like you to bring the transcribers. I would like you to go through with the decorum and with the rules …”
Comer: “Are you trying to find information, or trying to embarrass the attorney general?”
Lee: “Absolutely not. I think the attorney general is a woman who is completely able to defend herself, and I’m not attacking her. I’m questioning you. You run this place. What I’m asking you is … will you commit to going as far as …”
Comer: “I’ve already issued the subpoena …”
Lee: “And this is not the deposition …”
Comer: “You’ve wasted three minutes of everyone’s time just kind of, bitching …”
Lee: “Really? Wow! Bitching?”
Comer later responded on X.
“FACT CHECK: True. I said Democrats were bitching and wasting everyone’s time because Democrats were bitching and wasting everyone’s time,” he wrote.
“Fact check: You said a woman was “bitching” because you’re too basic to answer simple questions without throwing a temper tantrum,” Lee responded. “And you’re too weak to keep Bondi from disrespecting YOU and your subpeona. Twice a failure.”
