Justice department says Bondi will not appear for House deposition since she was ousted as US attorney general
Pam Bondi, the former US attorney general, will not appear next week for a scheduled deposition before the House oversight and government reform committee to answer questions about the justice department’s handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and its release of the Epstein files, the committee said.
In a statement on Wednesday morning shared with the Guardian, a spokesperson for the House oversight committee said “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 Committee will contact Pam Bondi’s personal counsel to discuss next steps regarding scheduling her deposition,” they added.
In a letter obtained by the Guardian, assistant attorney general Patrick Davis wrote to James Comer, a Kentucky congressman and chair of the House oversight and government reform committee, telling him that “the Committee issued the subpoena to Ms Bondi in her official capacity as Attorney General”.
“Ms Bondi no longer holds that office,” the letter reads. “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.
“We kindly ask that you confirm that the subpoena is withdrawn,” the letter adds.
The committee’s subpoena has not been withdrawn, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Last month, the committee formally subpoenaed Bondi to appear before the panel.
In the subpoena letter, Comer wrote that there were “questions regarding the Department of Justice’s handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his associates and its compliance with 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,” he wrote.
The justice department failed to comply with the act’s 19 December deadline to release the relevant Epstein files in its possession, only releasing what it claimed were the full files on 31 January. Many Epstein victims have also complained that their sensitive information was exposed in the files.
