Pam Bondi will not appear for her interview next week for the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein because she is no longer the U.S. attorney general, with the New York Times reporting that she and committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) had been quietly working together to avoid the deposition.
Bondi was due to testify before the House Oversight Committee on April 14 after five Republicans on the bipartisan panel joined Democrats in forcing Comer to subpoena her for her involvement in the “possible mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation” into Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and the “circumstances and subsequent investigations of Mr. Epstein’s death.”
The committee stated on Wednesday that “The Department of Justice has stated Pam Bondi will not appear on April 14 for a deposition since she is no longer Attorney General and was subpoenaed in her capacity as Attorney General.”
President Donald Trump announced that Bondi would be out of his administration last Thursday, shortly after he reportedly informed her that her time as the chief of the DOJ was coming to an end.
“Her stumbles in handling the Epstein investigation played a pivotal role in Mr. Trump’s decision to terminate her,” the New York Times reported. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has since become acting attorney general.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the Democrats’ ranking member on Oversight, argued that the subpoena is still valid even though Bondi is no longer in her role overseeing the DOJ’s Epstein investigation.
“Now that Pam Bondi has been fired, she’s trying to get out of her legal obligation to testify,” Garcia said in a statement:
He added that “if she defies the subpoena, we will begin contempt charges in the Congress.”
Oversight member Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who introduced the motion to subpoena Bondi, said she “cannot escape accountability simply because she no longer holds the office of attorney general.”
“Our motion to subpoena Pam Bondi, which was passed by the Oversight Committee, was for Bondi by name, not by title,” Mace said Wednesday.
The New York Times stated that some members of the committee were concerned that Bondi would attempt to avoid testifying even before she was fired, with anonymous sources claiming that Comer had been trying to help her avoid it before the panel voted 24-19 to subpoena her.
Other than Mace, Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Tim Burchett (R-TN), Michael Cloud (R-TX), and Scott Perry (R-PA) voted in favor of the subpoena.
Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA) took to MSNOW on Wednesday to accuse Comer of organizing a “cover-up.”
“She buried 2.5 million Epstein files. Testify or face contempt, @PamBondi,” he wrote on X. “Survivors deserve justice.”
The Republican-controlled GOP Oversight X account replied with, “Dude, relax.”
“You were fine with the Clintons obstructing their subpoenas for seven months and voted against holding them in contempt,” the statement continued. “As we’ve stated clearly, we are following up with Pam Bondi’s personal attorney about scheduling her deposition.”
“Go touch grass,” the committee added.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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