A sudden development in the congressional probe into the Jeffrey Epstein investigation has thrown Capitol Hill into partisan friction, after the U.S. Department of Justice announced former Attorney General Pam Bondi would not honor a scheduled deposition next week. Citing Bondi’s recent removal from the top law enforcement post by former President Donald Trump just one week prior, DOJ officials argued that the original subpoena was issued to Bondi exclusively in her official capacity as sitting attorney general, eliminating her requirement to appear before the House Oversight Committee on April 14. A committee spokesperson later confirmed this notification to the BBC.
The announcement has immediately drawn pushback from lawmakers across both major parties, who argue that a change in position does not erase Bondi’s legal and ethical obligation to answer questions about the handling of the Epstein investigation. House Oversight Committee Republican member Nancy Mace was among the first to speak out, emphasizing that the subpoena remains legally binding regardless of Bondi’s current employment status. Mace called on committee chairman James Comer to publicly reaffirm that Bondi still must comply with the deposition order. “The American people deserve to know whether Congress was misled and whether information about Jeffrey Epstein and his associates is being withheld,” Mace wrote in her public statement.
Ranking Democratic member Robert Garcia echoed Mace’s demands, going a step further to threaten consequences for noncompliance. “She must come in to testify immediately, and if she defies the subpoena, we will begin contempt charges,” Garcia said in an official release. As of press time, Bondi has not issued any public comment on the dispute.
The subpoena for Bondi was first issued earlier this year, when Comer formally requested her testimony to address allegations of potential mismanagement of the Department of Justice’s Epstein investigation. Epstein, a deceased convicted sex offender, has long been the center of conspiracy and scrutiny due to his extensive connections to high-profile global political and business figures. Both Bondi and the Trump administration have faced sustained bipartisan pressure to declassify and release all documents tied to the case, a push that resulted in congressional legislation forcing disclosure that Trump signed into law in November 2024.
After the release of millions of documents earlier this year, the DOJ faced widespread bipartisan criticism from lawmakers. Some legislators accused the department of two key failures: first, it improperly failed to redact identifying information for Epstein’s survivors, putting vulnerable victims at risk; second, it allegedly intentionally protected the identities of well-connected associates of Epstein who were not classified as victims.
Last month, Comer justified the request for Bondi’s testimony by noting her direct oversight of the document release process mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. “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 said at the time.
The House Oversight Committee’s Epstein probe has already pulled in a string of high-profile witnesses, including former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The committee recently announced that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is scheduled to provide testimony in June, while U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is expected to appear in the coming weeks.