April 8 (UPI) — Former Attorney General Pam Bondi won’t give a deposition to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform next month since she’s no longer in charge of the Justice Department, the panel announced Wednesday.
She was set to appear April 14 before the panel to give a deposition on the Justice Department’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The committee is also investigating the Justice Department’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the department to make its files on the case public and searchable by Dec. 19, 2025. The Justice Department made a sixth release of the documents as recently as March 5.
A representative for the Republican leadership of the committee said it was informed of the decision of Bondi not to appear by the Justice Department.
“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,” the representative said in a statement obtained by The Hill and CNN.
“The committee will contact Pam Bondi’s personal counsel to discuss next steps regarding scheduling her deposition.”
Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., sent a letter to Bondi on March 17 accompanying the subpoena.
“As attorney general, you are directly responsible for overseeing the department’s collection, review and determinations regarding the release of files pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and the committee therefore believes that you possess valuable insight into these efforts,” Comer wrote in the letter.
“The committee may use the results of this investigation to inform legislative solutions to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations.”
Members on the oversight committee agreed earlier this month to subpoena Bondi with a vote of 24-19. A Democrats voted in favor of the subpoena, along with five Republicans — Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.; Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.; Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.; Scott Perry, R-Pa.; and Michael Cloud, R-Texas.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was also set to appear separately before members of the committee. He told The Hill on Tuesday he wouldn’t rule out the idea of invoking privileges to complicate any future subpoena for Bondi to appear before the committee.
“What happens now that she’s the former attorney general and there’s the subpoena out there is, I think I’ll leave to Chairman Comer and others to figure out — I don’t have an answer to that.”
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