Bondi to Face House Epstein Probe in Closed-Door Deposition May 29

Pam Bondi will appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on May 29 for a closed-door deposition, a move that came moments after Democrats said they had filed a civil contempt resolution against her. The hearing date escalates a bitter clash over whether the former attorney general can still be compelled to testify in the committee’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and the Justice Department’s handling of the federal inquiry.

The committee voted on March 4 to subpoena Bondi, with five Republicans joining Democrats: Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert, Michael Cloud, Scott Perry and Tim Burchett. The subpoena was issued while Bondi was still attorney general. The Justice Department later argued she did not have to appear on April 14 because she had been removed from office and the subpoena sought testimony from her in her official capacity, not as a private citizen. A senior Justice Department official also asked the committee to withdraw the subpoena, saying it no longer obligated her to appear.

That legal dispute has turned Bondi into a test case for congressional enforcement power. House Oversight Democrats say the committee has the authority to press ahead, while Republicans and the Justice Department have argued that the subpoena was tied to Bondi’s former role and could not follow her out of office. Ranking Democrat Robert Garcia said Bondi had “illegally defied” the committee and should come in immediately. After the May 29 deposition was announced, Garcia said, “Clearly we’re being effective,” casting the scheduling move as a sign that Democrats were forcing action.

The fight is unfolding against the backdrop of Congress’s Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed in November, which required the Justice Department to release records tied to federal investigations of Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. The department ultimately released roughly 3 million pages of material, about half of its files, while withholding millions more to protect survivors’ personal information and avoid jeopardizing active federal investigations.

Bondi’s appearance will add another high-profile name to the committee’s Epstein work. The panel has already taken testimony from Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Les Wexner, as lawmakers continue to probe how the federal government handled one of the most politically explosive criminal cases in recent memory. For Democrats, the issue is no longer just Epstein documents. It is whether Congress can still make a former Cabinet official show up when the subpoena fight turns personal, legal and public at once.