WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats walked out of a briefing with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that was intended to cover the Justice Department’s handling of files related to sex trafficking investigations of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Representative Robert Garcia of California denounced the Wednesday evening session of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as a “fake hearing” and said Bondi had repeatedly refused to say whether she would comply with a subpoena for a committee deposition regarding the Epstein inquiry.

“This has been completely set up in a way that’s been irresponsible. And quite frankly, we believe a way for the attorney general to get out of her answering questions under oath and to the public which will not accept,” Garcia told reporters.

Asked as she left Capitol Hill whether she would appear for the deposition, scheduled for on April 14, Bondi said “I made it crystal clear, I will follow the law.”

Representative James Comer, the Republican chair of the oversight panel, said that he continues to pursue the subpoena for Bondi’s testimony and said that lawmakers will “talk about” holding her in contempt of Congress if she does not comply.

“We were there to answer questions,” Bondi said about her appearance Wednesday. “We sat there saying, ‘anything you want to ask us,’” and then Democrats “stormed out of the meeting.”

In an X post a short time later, the Republican-led panel said that “both Attorney General Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Blanche were answering substantive questions, and Attorney General Bondi stated she would follow the law regarding her subpoena.”

“It’s clear Democrats don’t want answers or justice for survivors; they just want theatrics for their latest partisan stunt,” the panel said in the post, which was retweeted by Chad Gilmartin, a Bondi spokesman.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida state charges that included procurement of a minor to engage in prostitution. He died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. His former companion, the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The Justice Department has released more than 3 million pages of documents, emails, photos and other files related to probes into Epstein in response to a law that Congress passed. Some of the files, however, included redactions.

Critics claimed the redactions were excessive and mishandled, including hiding the names of alleged co-conspirators to Epstein.

The department has been allowing lawmakers to view some unredacted files on computers at one of the agency’s satellite offices in Washington, but Democrats accused Bondi and her aides of using that system to improperly monitor the searches conducted by members of Congress.

Bondi appeared before the committee last month in a hearing that grew contentious. Lawmakers pressed her on the department’s rollout of the Epstein files. Democrats also accused her of using the Justice Department to target enemies of President Donald Trump.

Senator Ron Wyden has accused Blanche of blocking the Drug Enforcement Administration from releasing an unredacted document from the Epstein files about an investigation involving narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

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(With assistance from John Harney, Chris Strohm and Sara Forden.)

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