Bondi won't appear for House deposition next week in the Epstein investigation

Pam Bondi, the former Florida Attorney General, will not testify before the House Oversight Committee next week regarding the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, as confirmed by a committee spokeswoman on Wednesday. The committee, which is examining the handling of the Epstein case, had subpoenaed Bondi to appear for a deposition in Washington, D.C., on April 14. However, the Department of Justice has indicated she will not comply because the subpoena was issued to her in her official capacity as Attorney General, a position she no longer holds. The refusal sets up a potential confrontation between congressional investigators and the Justice Department over access to key witnesses in the high-profile Epstein investigation. Bondi served as Florida's Attorney General from 2011 to 2019, a period that overlapped with aspects of the Epstein case, though her specific connection to the investigation hasn't been publicly detailed by the committee. The House Oversight Committee, led by Chairman James Comer, has been scrutinizing the federal response to Epstein's sex trafficking network and whether wealthy or connected individuals received preferential treatment. Legal experts note that the argument about Bondi's former official capacity raises complex questions about congressional subpoena power versus executive branch privilege. Typically, former officials can be compelled to testify about their official actions, but the Justice Department's position suggests they may be asserting some form of protective privilege. This development comes amid broader congressional efforts to investigate the Epstein matter, which has drawn intense public interest following Epstein's 2019 death in a Manhattan jail cell and the subsequent prosecution of his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. The committee spokeswoman did not specify what steps lawmakers might take next, but options could include issuing a new subpoena to Bondi as a private citizen or pursuing legal enforcement. The Epstein investigation has remained a persistent focus for Congress, with multiple committees examining different aspects of the case, including failures in the justice system and allegations of a cover-up. Bondi's planned testimony was seen as part of this wider effort to uncover the full scope of Epstein's operations and the institutional responses to them.