I made this point on Morning Joe, and I think it’s worth repeating because in this case, the process really matters.
We all remember Attorney General Pam Bondi’s shameful testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee a few weeks ago - you know, the one where she wouldn’t even turn around and acknowledge the Epstein survivors who were in the room, just a few feet from her.
What you saw that day was Bondi repeatedly refusing to answer questions from Committee members. She would either attack the person asking the question, give a long monologue to run out the clock, flat out lie, or just lose her shit.
Here’s the thing about Congressional hearings: Members are effectively handicapped by what’s called the 5-minute rule. Committee rules stipulate that each Member has only 5 minutes to engage with the witness. If the witness decides to filibuster for 5 minutes, tough; your time is up, and on to the next person. Quite frankly, it’s idiotic, and I desperately hope that when Democrats take back Congress, they abolish this rule, but that’s a conversation for another day.
Here’s why this matters in the context of the bipartisan subpoena the House Oversight Committee just issued to Bondi. It’s a subpoena for a deposition, not a Committee hearing. As we just saw with the Clinton depositions, they can last all day. The witness has to sit there and field questions from the members & Committee counsel. Sure, Bondi can rant and rave and monologue and filibuster, but ultimately, the person on the other side of the table can just respond, “That’s nice, now answer the question.”
There is no clock. There is no 5-minute rule. These things can go on for hours and hours. And if any Republican decides they don’t want to carry water for Bondi, they can just choose not to attend the deposition. Remember, not a single Republican member attended the deposition of Epstein financier Les Wexner. So Bondi could very well be left in the room with no friendly faces, no allies, no one offering up softball questions. In short, she will be in a tremendous amount of peril, where the potential to perjure herself is very high.
