Former Attorney General Pam Bondi will no longer appear before Congress to testify about her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, angering members in both parties who sit on the House Oversight Committee.
The Department of Justice informed the committee Bondi would no longer appear for her deposition, scheduled for Tuesday, because she “is no longer attorney general and was subpoenaed in her capacity as attorney general,” an Oversight spokesperson told the Deseret News. The Oversight Committee is now working to contact Bondi’s personal counsel “to discuss next steps regarding scheduling her deposition.”
Bondi was subpoenaed by the Oversight Committee last month after five Republicans crossed party lines to join Democrats in advancing the motion. However, the date was never confirmed by Bondi, and DOJ officials now say she doesn’t need to fulfill the request after being removed from her position.
The subpoena effort was led by Rep. Nancy Mace, one of the four Republicans who joined Democrats to force a vote on compelling the DOJ to release all materials related to its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Justice Department began publishing materials earlier this year, but Mace has accused the agency of removing some documents after they were initially released.
“Pam Bondi cannot escape accountability simply because she no longer holds the office of Attorney General,” Mace, R-S.C., said in a statement on Wednesday. “Our motion to subpoena Pam Bondi, which was passed by the Oversight Committee, was for Bondi by name, not by title. She will still have to appear before the Oversight Committee for a sworn deposition. The American people deserve answers, and we expect her to appear as soon as a new date is set.”
Democrats on the panel issued similar frustrations. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, even went so far as to say members would pursue holding Bondi in contempt of Congress if she fails to appear.
“Now that Pam Bondi has been fired, she’s trying to get out of her legal obligation to testify before the Oversight Committee about the Epstein files and the White House cover-up,” Garcia, D-Calif., said in a statement. “Our bipartisan subpoena is to Pam Bondi, whether she is the attorney general or not. She must come in to testify immediately, and if she defies the subpoena, we will begin contempt charges in the Congress. The survivors deserve justice.”
Complaints with the Justice Department have been boiling over for months as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle accuse the Justice Department of failing to release all the files in its possession. The DOJ has so far released 3 million documents in accordance with the Epstein Transparency Act passed by Congress last year, but has since said it would not publish the remaining documents.
Lawmakers have said up to 1.45 million pages could be missing.
The Justice Department has said unpublished materials likely included duplicated files, materials that are protected by attorney-client privilege, materials that depict violence, or items that are unrelated to the Epstein case.
But lawmakers have raised questions about some of the materials that were originally published and later taken down, including those containing accusations about President Donald Trump. The department has taken down more than 47,000 files as of late February, equaling about 65,500 pages, according to CBS News.