Former Attorney General Bill Barr’s closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee wrapped after over four hours on Monday, and lawmakers on opposite sides of the aisle had very different interpretations of how it went.
Reps. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, and Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., who represented committee Democrats during the staff-led sit-down, said they were left with ‘more questions now’ than before Barr’s deposition began.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., the lone Republican present, said Barr ‘shed a lot of light’ on the Epstein case and said he ‘answered all the questions’ presented to him.
Both sides only spoke with reporters partway through Barr’s testimony, which began at 10 a.m. Monday. Fox News Digital witnessed him leaving roughly 30 minutes before 3 p.m.
‘I think the Democratic side is doing most of the heavy lifting, and I don’t think we’re learning much from the questioning from the House Republicans,’ Subramanyam said.
‘It doesn’t seem like this is something where they are truly caring about the victims and about trying to get to the bottom of what’s happening.’
Crockett said, ‘It seems like they are going through the motions, and they want people to believe that they are digging in. But at the end of the day, I don’t think that we’ve learned anything through the Republican questioning that you couldn’t find in one of the articles that most likely your outlets have printed.’
Comer told reporters later by contrast, ‘Our goal with this investigation is to be transparent.’
He even lauded Democrats for taking the matter ‘seriously,’ adding, ‘This is a bipartisan investigation, and hopefully, we’ll be able to get the answers the American people want and deserve.’
When asked about the Democratic lawmakers’ attacks on Republicans’ line of questioning, however, Comer accused them of playing politics with the situation.
‘It’s unfortunate the Democrats are trying to, it seems to me, politicize this. When you look at the basis of this, horrific crimes against young girls, and, of course, the Democrats’ goal is to try to dig up some type of dirt on President Trump,’ Comer said.
He said Republican staff were ‘asking a lot of tough questions’ and accused Democrats of operating on a double standard.
‘I don’t ever remember the Democrats subpoenaing a former Democrat attorney general for anything,’ he said.
Comer accused Democrats of trying to create a ‘false narrative’ connecting Trump and Epstein, after Subramanyam floated the possibility of a ‘cover-up’ by Trump and his allies.
‘This is a serious investigation. This is a sincere investigation. I hope this will be a bipartisan investigation. I would encourage my Democrat colleagues not to politicize this,’ Comer said.
‘I think General Barr answered a lot of questions that probably burst their bubble with respect to, he had never communicated with President Trump on a potential Epstein list or anything else. And he had never seen anything that would implicate President Trump.’
Barr arrived on Capitol Hill nearly an hour before his scheduled deposition, only quipping that the ‘early bird gets the worm’ in response to a flurry of reporter questions.
He was similarly soft-spoken on his way out, even as Fox News Digital and others questioned what he told House investigators.
Barr only said ‘absolutely’ when asked if he had a good conversation Monday.
A source familiar with his deposition told Fox News Digital that Barr ‘made clear that President Trump never provided any views or instructions related to the criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein or his death, and that he never saw any evidence suggesting President Trump committed a crime.’
‘He further stated that he believed the Biden Department of Justice would have released any incriminating evidence against President Trump if such evidence existed,’ said the source, who described Barr as ‘cooperative.’
Barr is the first of several people who were subpoenaed to appear before the House Oversight Committee after Republicans and Democrats voted to direct Comer to open the probe last month.
Several other former attorneys general, ex-FBI directors, and even former First Couple Bill and Hillary Clinton were also subpoenaed.
Fox News Digital reached out to Barr’s lawyer for comment but did not immediately hear back.