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.
I posted this in the other sub and forgot to do it here, my apologies. Anyway, the actual letter sent yesterday by Ro Khanna and Nancy Mace to Chairman Comer explains the actual legal position and precedent, and the DoJ refusal to have Bondi appear has no legal substance at all. It’s an easy read, so I included the text along with the source. See it for yourself.
Note especially the assertion made in paragraph 5, “As you know, Congress’s oversight authority does not end when an official leaves office. In fact, just last year the Committee issued subpoenas to six former Attorneys General, spanning multiple administrations of both political parties.”
Even a President and an ex-Secretary of State/Senator had to appear in response to the same kind of subpoena from the same committee: there is no legal room for Pam Bondi to refuse. Whether there is poitical will to hold her feet to the fire is another matter, and with Republicans crossing the aisle for this, there just might be. Time will tell.
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