Former Attorney General Pam Bondi will not appear next month before the House Oversight Committee in its Jeffrey Epstein probe, her personal attorney confirmed Wednesday.
Bondi’s refusal – formally communicated to the panel this week – follows months of pressure from lawmakers who sought to hear from the former top Trump administration official about how the Justice Department handled the Epstein case files under her leadership.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers initially subpoenaed the then-attorney general amid outrage over the department’s failure to release all of the files as compelled by law. Once Bondi was ousted, the Justice Department argued she could no longer appear in her official capacity – a legal position that Bondi’s personal attorney says she intends to honor.
While the committee had signaled willingness to accept a transcribed interview rather than a sworn deposition, Bondi declined that offer as well. She will not be placed under oath, and the committee will not have the chance to remind her that making false statements to Congress is subject to criminal prosecution.
A number of Republicans had waffled over whether Bondi needed to testify under oath, after she met voluntarily with the panel to answer questions. That meeting on Capitol Hill – also attended by then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is now serving as the acting attorney general – grew contentious with Democrats ultimately storming out of the room.
The news that Bondi would not appear came the same day Democrats on the Oversight Committee announced they had filed civil contempt charges against her for not complying with the subpoena.
The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Robert Garcia, said he had heard nothing from Bondi’s personal attorney, committee Republicans nor the Trump administration ahead of the refusal being confirmed.
“So as far as we’re concerned, we’ve now spent weeks with zero communication from somebody that was legally obligated to appear,” Garcia said.
Upon learning Bondi would not testify, Garcia called it “an outright obstruction,” saying: “She is hiding something.”
“It is only when we apply maximum pressure that we get any response at all — and this is her response: silence,” he said.
But House Oversight Chair James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said the committee had “other avenues” and would continue its investigation through document requests and other witnesses.
“We said we would get to the bottom of this. We intend to,” Comer said.
Republicans on the panel separately dismissed the civil contempt push as “all theater and completely unnecessary.”
“They were happy giving the Clintons a free pass for months,” the panel’s Republicans posted on X, referring to the six months it took to secure appearances from former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story mischaracterized Bondi’s response. Her attorney confirmed she would not sit for a transcribed interview, rather than that talks were ongoing.