Pam Bondi won’t appear for scheduled Jeffrey Epstein testimony next week

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Ousted Attorney General Pam Bondi won’t appear for scheduled testimony next week to the House committee investigating disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, a spokesperson for the panel said Wednesday.

The Republican-led panel subpoenaed Bondi to testify on the Justice Department’s handling of its investigation into Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and its legally-mandated release of all the Epstein-related files it has.

The Justice Department informed the panel Bondi won’t appear for her the scheduled April 14 deposition, arguing she isn’t required to because she is no longer attorney general, the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The panel plans to re-schedule Bondi’s testimony through her personal attorney, the spokesperson said.

President Donald Trump ousted Bondi last week, following several high-profile stumbles in her efforts to carry out his agenda.

Democrats on the committee said Bondi had to appear regardless of her firing.

“Our bipartisan subpoena is to Pam Bondi, whether she is the Attorney General or not,” Representative Robert Garcia, the top-ranking Democrat on the committee said in a statement. “She must come in to testify immediately, and if she defies the subpoena, we will begin contempt charges in the Congress.”

Republican Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who in March originally proposed the panel’s subpoena of Bondi, said at the time she wanted Bondi to answer questions on why the department hadn’t released Epstein files that Mace says were required to be made public under legislation Congress passed last year.