Lawmakers walked into what they were told would be a straightforward briefing on the government’s release of the Epstein files, expecting answers after weeks of pressure and a subpoena looming for sworn testimony in less than a month. What they got instead was a slick power move led by Attorney General Pam Bondi — a dog and pony show, a setup that looked like an official deposition but carried none of the weight. Within minutes, frustrations spilled over. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on February 11, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Bondi had arrived on Capitol Hill Wednesday for the private briefing before the House Judiciary Committee, one 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. The format raised alarms almost as soon as it began, and before the hour mark, Democrats stormed out, convinced they had been handed a workaround dressed up as cooperation. Trump Starts Ranting, Admits He’s Being ‘Controversial’ — Then Lets Something Slip and It Just Keeps Getting Worse Until It Becomes a Full-Blown Breakdown on Camera The walkout laid bare the central fight: Democrats believe Bondi tried to sidestep a legally binding subpoena by offering a controlled setting where she could speak without being sworn in, while Republicans accused Democrats of turning a fact-finding effort into a spectacle.  After the fiasco, Bondi and her top deputy acknowledged that errors were made in releasing millions of Epstein-related documents, even as they insist those mistakes were minor and quickly fixed. The clash has only deepened suspicions about how the Justice Department handled the files—and whether the full story is still being withheld to shield President Donald Trump. After the subpeona landed on Bondi’s desk, Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost said lawmakers were told Bondi would deliver a private briefing. Instead, they 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.  View on Threads 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 “Bondi must be disbarred for violating federal court orders.” “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 behind closed doors, saying the exchange turned personal 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. LEE: I asked Chairman Comer, if Pam Bondi did not come, would he force her to or if he would move for contempt hearings as he did for other people who did not respond to our subpoena? Instead of answering as an adult, he said that I was “bitching” pic.twitter.com/16sWBGQz8d— Acyn (@Acyn) March 18, 2026 “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. 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. View on Threads 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. View on Threads 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. ‘This Is Insanity!’: Bondi Just Admitted Epstein Files ‘Mistakes’ — Then Tries a Slick ‘Fake Deposition’ Setup and Gets Humiliated When Democrats Call Her Bluff and Flip the Script ...read more read less