Pam Bondi subpoena: House lawmakers call for attorney general deposition in Epstein probe

WASHINGTON (CN) — House lawmakers on Tuesday served Attorney General Pam Bondi with a subpoena as part of their ongoing probe into the government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

The move, which comes just weeks after the House Oversight Committee authorized a legal summons for Bondi, tees up a closed-door deposition with the attorney general next month, where she will no doubt face tough questions from lawmakers about the Justice Department’s compliance with federal law requiring it to publish the so-called Epstein files.

In a letter to Bondi, Oversight Committee Chairman and Kentucky Representative James Comer pointed out that the attorney general was “directly responsible” for overseeing the congressionally mandated review and release of Epstein documents.

“[T]he Committee therefore believes that you possess valuable insight into these efforts,” Comer wrote, adding that his panel’s investigation would be used to inform “legislative solutions to combat sex trafficking” and to reform plea agreements in sex crime investigations such as the one the late Epstein struck with prosecutors in 2008.

According to the subpoena, Bondi must appear for a deposition with Oversight Committee lawmakers in roughly a month, on April 14. The panel earlier this month voted to authorize the summons — Comer voted against the measure.

A Justice Department spokesperson told Courthouse News in a statement that the subpoena for Bondi was “completely unnecessary,” but did not comment directly on whether she would comply.

“Lawmakers have been invited to view the unredacted files for themselves at the Department of Justice, and the attorney general has always made herself available to speak directly with members of Congress,” the spokesperson said, adding that the agency would brief members of the committee on Wednesday.

“As always, we look forward to continuing to provide policymakers with the facts,” the spokesperson said.

The subpoena for Bondi comes hot on the heels of the attorney general’s acrimonious testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in February.

Lawmakers on the panel, particularly Democrats, needled Bondi over the Justice Department’s handling of Epstein documents, arguing that the agency had improperly concealed the names of the late sex offender’s associates while leaving the names and images of some victims unredacted.

But Bondi, who panned the Judiciary Committee proceedings as a “circus,” was evasive and oftentimes combative with lawmakers. She accused Democrats of using the Epstein files as a distraction from President Donald Trump and said they were unfairly trying to tie the president to Epstein’s crimes.

“There is no evidence that Donald Trump has committed a crime,” the attorney general said. The president, who had a well-documented relationship with Epstein in the 1990s, has long denied knowledge of the late New York financier’s sex crimes.

Following Bondi’s appearance before the Judiciary Committee, she again found herself in hot water after reports emerged that she’d gone before the panel armed with the search histories of House lawmakers who had traveled to a Justice Department site to review the unredacted Epstein files.

Democrats accused Bondi, who brought their Epstein files search history as part of preparation materials for the hearing, of spying on them. Lawmakers last month demanded the Justice Department investigate what they called an “outrageous abuse of power” by the attorney general.

The Oversight Committee has for months sought to collect records about the government investigation into Epstein and interview people who knew the late New York financier. Lawmakers last month traveled to Chappaqua, New York, for closed-door meetings with former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.

The 42nd president, who had a brief relationship with Epstein, told members of the committee that he traveled on Epstein’s private plane on several occasions between 2002 and 2003 while he was working on a charity aimed at increasing global access to AIDS medicine. Clinton testified that he had no knowledge of the late financier’s sex crimes.

Hillary Clinton, for her part, told members of the Oversight Committee during a separate, four-hour deposition that she had no memory of ever meeting Epstein.

After Congress last year passed bipartisan legislation directing the Justice Department to release all its files on the government probe into Epstein, the agency published more than 3 million documents in a searchable database on its website. The department has also invited lawmakers to travel to a DOJ annex to review an unredacted version of the Epstein files.

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