Pam Bondi To Testify In House Epstein Probe After Contempt Threat

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is scheduled to testify before the House Oversight Committee next month in its investigation into the Justice Department's handling of records tied to Jeffrey Epstein, after Democrats moved to hold her in contempt for failing to appear under subpoena.

The committee confirmed that Bondi will appear for a closed-door deposition on May 29. The announcement came shortly after Oversight Democrats said they had filed a civil contempt resolution against Bondi, accusing her of refusing to cooperate with the panel's Epstein inquiry.

"Pam Bondi has illegally defied our committee, skipped her deposition, and has refused to cooperate," Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the panel's ranking Democrat, said in a statement. "We have introduced a contempt resolution to hold her accountable." Garcia said Bondi has "extensive personal knowledge" of the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files and said survivors "deserve answers."

Republicans on the committee pushed back, calling the contempt effort "theater and completely unnecessary." In a post announcing the May 29 date, Oversight Republicans said Democrats were focused on Epstein while the committee was marking up legislation on federal fraud.

Bondi had been subpoenaed last month as part of the committee's probe into the release, redaction and handling of Epstein-related records by the Justice Department. She had been expected to appear for an April 14 deposition, but the department said she would not appear after President Donald Trump removed her as attorney general on April 2. Assistant Attorney General Patrick Davis said the subpoena "no longer obligates" Bondi because it had been issued to her in her official capacity, Time reported.

That argument drew resistance from both Democrats and some Republicans. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina wrote that "Bondi's removal as attorney general doesn't erase her obligation to testify and does not end congressional oversight," according to Time.

Mace celebrated the new date. "We are glad Pam Bondi will be before the Oversight Committee on May 29. The American people deserve answers on how these files were mishandled, and we look forward to asking her those questions directly," she said on X.

The dispute is the latest turn in Congress' broader fight over the Epstein files, a politically explosive collection of records connected to the late financier and convicted sex offender, who died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Lawmakers have scrutinized whether the Justice Department complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the release of unclassified DOJ records related to Epstein while protecting victims' identities and other sensitive information.

The Justice Department's inspector general recently opened an audit of the department's compliance with the law, including how officials identified, redacted, and released Epstein records. The audit followed criticism over missed deadlines, heavy redactions, and concerns from survivors about sensitive personal information appearing in released materials.

The May 29 deposition is expected to be closed to the public, but the fight around it has already become public, partisan, and unusually sharp. For lawmakers, the central question remains whether the Justice Department fully complied with the law. For Epstein's survivors, the question is more direct: who made the decisions, what was withheld, and why.