Bondi won't appear for House deposition next week in the Epstein
investigation
[April 09, 2026]
By STEPHEN GROVES
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Justice has indicated that former
Attorney General Pam Bondi will not appear for a scheduled deposition
next week before a House committee investigating how the government
handled its investigations into Jeffrey Epstein.
Jessica Collins, a spokeswoman for the House Oversight Committee, said
Wednesday the department signaled that Bondi, who was ousted by
President Donald Trump last week, will not appear for the deposition
April 14 “since she is no longer attorney general and was subpoenaed in
her capacity as attorney general.” The committee will contact Bondi’s
personal counsel to discuss the next steps about scheduling the
interview, she said.
Bondi has faced scrutiny for how the Justice Department handled what are
known as the Epstein files, and the Republican-led committee subpoenaed
her in a bipartisan vote last month. The department's release of
millions of case files on Epstein, the late financier who sexually
abused underage girls, contained multiple errors and ran behind a
deadline set by Congress.
After Trump announced Bondi's ouster from his Cabinet on April 2, Bondi
said on social media that over the next month she would be “working
tirelessly to transition the office." But Deputy Attorney General Todd
Blanche has been elevated to the top job, on at least an acting basis,
and is performing the duties of the department’s top official. The
Justice Department's website on Wednesday still listed Bondi as attorney
general.
Meanwhile, some Republicans who had joined Democrats to subpoena Bondi
said they would insist on having her appear before the committee.
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Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to the media, June 27, 2025, in
the briefing room of the White House in Washington, as President
Trump looks on. (AP Photo/Manuel Ceneta, File)
Rep. Nancy Mace, who initiated the motion to compel her appearance,
said on social media Wednesday that “Bondi cannot escape
accountability simply because she no longer holds the office of
Attorney General.”
Mace, R-SC., added that the motion was done “by name, not by title”
and that “we expect her to appear as soon as a new date is set.”
The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Robert Garcia of California,
also said he would push to enforce the subpoena and threatened to
press for contempt of Congress charges if she does not appear.
In a statement, he said, “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."
The committee's head, Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky,
enforced subpoenas on Bill and Hillary Clinton this year, making the
ex-president and ex-secretary of state, respectively, among the
highest-ranking former government officials ever to be subpoenaed by
Congress.
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