The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee confirmed Wednesday that former Attorney General Pam Bondi will not attend her scheduled deposition next week, a move that has already sparked a bipartisan firestorm on Capitol Hill.
Bondi was slated to answer questions on April 14 regarding the Justice Department’s management of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and the subsequent release of millions of pages of files related to the convicted sex offender.
According to a committee spokeswoman, the Department of Justice claims Bondi is no longer obligated to appear because the subpoena was issued in her capacity as Attorney General, a role she was ousted from just last week.
While her deputy, Todd Blanche, has officially taken the reins as acting head of the department, the committee isn’t letting Bondi off the hook so easily. “The Committee will contact Pam Bondi’s personal counsel to discuss next steps regarding scheduling her deposition,” the spokeswoman added.
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The subpoena, issued last month by Chairman James Comer, followed a March 4 vote where five Republicans joined Democrats to compel Bondi’s testimony. The core of the dispute involves the “Epstein Files Transparency Act,” a law requiring the DOJ to go public with its records on Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
While the department did release about 3 million pages, it withheld an equal amount, citing the need to protect survivors and ongoing investigations. However, lawmakers have pointed out glaring inconsistencies, noting that while some powerful figures had their names shielded, the personal details of abuse survivors were accidentally exposed in several documents.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the committee’s top Democrat, was blunt about the situation, suggesting Bondi is attempting to dodge a legal obligation.
“Our bipartisan subpoena is to Pam Bondi, whether she is the Attorney General or not,” Garcia said in a statement. He warned that if she continues to defy the order, the committee will move toward contempt charges, emphasizing that “the survivors deserve justice.”
This sentiment is shared across the aisle. Earlier on Wednesday, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna sent a joint letter to Chairman Comer, arguing that Bondi’s sudden removal from office actually makes her testimony more critical.
They argued that her leadership was central to the decisions regarding which files were kept from the public and why the department missed the December 19 deadline for disclosure. For now, the committee remains in a holding pattern, waiting to see if the former Attorney General will ultimately sit in the witness chair or face a legal battle with Congress.
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