CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Congresswoman Nancy Mace still expects Pam Bondi to testify under oath about the Department of Justice's alleged noncompliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act after reports emerged Wednesday that the former attorney general plans to skip the deposition.
The Department of Justice said Bondi will not appear at the deposition scheduled for April 14 because she is no longer the US attorney general, according to CNN. Mace, one of 26 Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, filed the motion to subpoena Bondi on March 14 and it passed the committee with bipartisan support after questions were raised over the DOJ's compliance with the law and its handling of the investigation into Jeffery Epstein and his associates during her tenure as attorney general.
"Ms. Bondi no longer holds that office. As a result, because Ms. Bondi no longer can testify in her official capacity as Attorney General, the Department’s position is that the subpoena no longer obligates her to appear on April 14," Assistant Attorney General Patrick D. Davis wrote in a letter to Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer obtained by CNN.
Mace's office emphasized the subpoena was issued for Bondi by name, not by title in her official capacity as attorney general.
Mace sent a letter cosigned by California Rep. Ro Khanna, one of 21 Oversight Committee Democrats, to Comer earlier this week asking the chairman to "make clear" that Bondi remains obligated to testify in compliance with the committee's subpoena even though she has been removed as attorney general. Both made statements on X following the letter going public and promptly being subsumed by news Bondi does not plan to testify.
"Even though [Bondi] was fired, she needs to show up and answer for why the remaining files haven’t been released and why there haven’t been new prosecutions," Khanna said Tuesday. "She should be able to speak even more freely now. The survivors and the public need answers."
"She promised she would comply," Mace added. "April 14 is her chance to prove it."
In the letter, the two lawmakers reinforced their advocacy for Bondi's testimony by pointing out how the committee subpoenaed six former attorneys general spanning multiple administrations of both parties in 2025.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday that he did not believe that President Donald Trump's decision to replace Bondi was due to her or the DOJ's handling of the Epstein case.
"We have made every single congressman, senator available to come and see any document, redacted, unredacted, that they want,” he said in an interview with Fox News. “And so I think to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the last year of this justice department, it should not be a part of anything going forward.”
READ MORE | "Todd Blanche says Trump ousting Bondi as AG had nothing to do with Epstein files"
