Republicans en masse skip Bondi's closed-door Epstein hearing
House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) was apparently the only Republican lawmaker attending the interview with former Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday, MS NOW reported.
Sources told MS NOW that the atmosphere in the room was tense as Bondi appeared frustrated over the questions during the closed-door, transcribed interview with lawmakers as they continued their investigation into late financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) commented that Republicans had skipped the Bondi interview — and called them out.
"I want to point out there's not a single Republican in the room besides the chairman [Comer]," Stansbury said, adding, "For a supposed group of individuals who care deeply about justice for the survivors, not a single one could be bothered to travel across the country today."
"It's sort of a curious fact of today's closed door transcribed interview, because the thing that set this all in motion was the fact that the Oversight Committee back in March had voted to subpoena Pam Bondi when she was still attorney general," MS NOW Congressional reporter Mychael Schnell told anchor Chris Jansing.
"And the reason why it was successful was because there were five Republicans who crossed ranks and joined that effort make putting it over the finish line, which was a stunning, stunning move considering the fact that President Trump, on a number of occasions has tried to push back on the Epstein files and the investigation overall, whether or not you know why they're not here today, as you mentioned, James Comer is here," Schnell said. "We did hear from him earlier. It's worth noting that currently Congress is out of session. They're on recess. So members are back home in their districts. Of course, that doesn't take away from the fact that they could have come into town for such an important interview. So certainly an interesting fact here as we go through the motions of this transcribed interview. But certainly Comer said that he was going to be asking Pam Bondi all the questions that the survivors had raised, including about redactions, withholding and Ghislaine Maxwell's prison sentence."
Bondi's comments had prompted questions over whether the committee would subpoena Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who at the time was Bondi's deputy, and current FBI Director Kash Patel, Jansing said.
But that could be difficult to do, said MS NOW Senior Legal Reporter Lisa Rubin, and Republicans could have deliberately chosen not to show up.
"Certainly it would be hard for the committee today to vote on a subpoena like that because they don't have the votes," Rubin explained.
"Chairman Comer would have to be the one to initiate that vote, but also authorize the subpoena," Rubin said. "And I think that this today, the transcribed interview was conveniently scheduled in a way that many Republicans would not be there, meaning they gave the Democrats the interview that they were seeking after having subpoenaed Pam Bondi. But they set it up at a time where she would not be subject to hard questions from members of her own party."
There could be more questioning to come for both Blanche and Patel, Rubin added.
"In terms of Todd Blanche and Kash Patel, those are absolutely people to whom these questions should be directed," Rubin said. "And I have to say this may be inconvenient for some of the Democrats, but it was absolutely predictable and intelligible, legally, that Pam Bondi would say that she could not discuss her conversations with the president. That is something that is protected by executive privilege."