GOP hardliners wavering on support for Bondi subpoena after testy briefing

By Annie Grayer, Manu Raju, Alison Main, CNN

(CNN) — Conservative hardliners who supported subpoenaing Attorney General Pam Bondi in the House Oversight Committee’s Jeffrey Epstein probe are now indicating that they are open to changing their position after Bondi met with the panel for a briefing that turned contentious with Democrats.

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert told CNN on Thursday that she’s “absolutely” considering withdrawing her support for the subpoena because it “is absolutely shameful to have her come in there willingly to answer anything that we want to ask, and to be treated that way. It just shows what’s to come.”

Bondi’s voluntary meeting with committee members behind closed doors on Wednesday erupted when Democrats stormed out of the room in frustration, saying she would not commit to complying with her subpoena.

Boebert told Bondi that she was “embarrassed” that she had voted to subpoena her for a deposition during the briefing, according to two sources familiar with the exchange. The congresswoman also said she would withdraw the subpoena if she could, the sources added.

CNN has reached out to Boebert for comment on the closed-door meeting.

Five Republicans on the panel voted earlier this month to subpoena Bondi.

House Oversight Chair James Comer told reporters on Thursday that he plans to talk to his fellow Republicans about what the next steps are, but indicated he plans on honoring the subpoena. Comer was not one of the five Republicans to vote for the subpoena and has said he didn’t think it was necessary.

“I haven’t talked to Republicans, I’m sure I’ll give them a call this weekend,” Comer said. “I don’t know what is going to happen. We’ll talk to the Republicans. But as of now, I plan on moving forward with all of our subpoenas.”

Comer said if he were to rescind Bondi’s subpoena he would have to talk to counsel because he is not sure how the process would be handled.

Boebert said she hasn’t talked to the White House “at all” about her support for the subpoena, but slammed Democrats for how they handled Bondi’s appearance on Capitol Hill.

“They claim that no one is above the law, and when someone says they’ll follow it, they’re like, no, no. I know on our side that’s BS, so it must be BS when you say it right, and the way they behaved, it makes me not want to support a subpoena to force her to come in and be treated the way she was treated yesterday, it was really embarrassing,” she said.

Rep. Tim Burchett, another Republican who voted to subpoena Bondi, implied Wednesday’s proceedings made him frustrated with Democrats on the panel, calling their walkout “all staged.”

“She was there, they had an opportunity, and they blew it,” he said.

Pressed if Bondi should still answer to the subpoena, Burchett responded, “It’s up to her. We’re not going to get much out of this deal,” lamenting the handling of the Epstein files.

“You know, if we’d have just gone a little slower, we would have gotten there a little faster,” he said.

GOP Rep. Nancy Mace, who led the push to subpoena the attorney general in the House Epstein probe, said her support for the Bondi subpoena is not wavering.

“No one has asked me and I won’t,” she told CNN.

Democrats have argued that DOJ offered Wednesday’s briefing to try to get out of the subpoena for a deposition with Bondi.

“We are once again demanding that Attorney General Pam Bondi make it clear that she’s going to come in for an under oath deposition that she’s under subpoena to do, and that we’re not going to participate in fake hearings and briefings like the one that they tried to set up yesterday to get out of sworn, under oath testimony,” Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, said Thursday.

Comer wrote in the subpoena cover letter that his panel is investigating the “possible mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation” into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

“The Committee has questions regarding the Department of Justice’s handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his associates and its compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” Comer wrote, referring to the law passed by Congress last year mandating the Justice Department’s release of the files.

The Justice Department’s release of the Epstein case files so far has prompted complaints from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, with critics saying they believe the files were overly redacted and demanding greater transparency.

During Wednesday’s briefing, Democrats pushed Bondi to say whether she still planned to appear for a deposition, according to sources. The attorney general said repeatedly that she planned to “follow the law,” the sources said.

When Bondi emerged from the briefing, she repeated the same refrain about the subpoena that she told lawmakers inside the room: “I made it crystal clear, I will follow the law.”

A DOJ spokesperson earlier this week called the subpoena “completely unnecessary,” but did not say whether the attorney general would comply.

“This subpoena is completely unnecessary. Lawmakers have been invited to view the unredacted files for themselves at the Department of Justice, and the Attorney General has always made herself available to speak directly with members of Congress,” the spokesperson said.

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CNN’s Casey Riddle contributed to this report.