Pam Bondi will not testify about the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein to a congressional committee next week because she is no longer the US attorney general, the justice department says.
The justice department told the House Oversight Committee that Bondi will not appear at the 14 April deposition as she was “subpoenaed in her capacity as Attorney General,” a committee spokesperson confirmed to the BBC.
Bondi was removed from her role as America’s top law enforcement officer by President Donald Trump last week.
Some members on the committee say they will push for Bondi to answer questions at a later date.
Nancy Mace, a Republican member of the committee, said the subpoena requires Bondi to appear and her no longer being attorney general does not “erase her obligation to testify and does not end Congressional oversight”.
Mace urged Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, to “publicly reaffirm former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s legal obligation to appear for her deposition”.
“The American people deserve to know whether Congress was misled and whether information about Jeffrey Epstein and his associates is being withheld,” Mace wrote.
Ranking Democrat Robert Garcia echoed those sentiments.
“She must come in to testify immediately, and if she defies the subpoena, we will begin contempt charges,” he wrote in a statement.
Bondi has not commented.
Earlier this year, Bondi was formally summoned to answer questions over any “possible mismanagement” of the justice department’s investigation into the late convicted sex offender, according to a subpoena letter written by Comer.
Bondi and the Trump administration have faced pressure across the political spectrum to release all of the documents related to Epstein.
Last November, Trump signed into law legislation passed by Congress compelling the justice department to release all of the material from its investigations into Epstein.
After millions of documents were released, the agency faced bipartisan backlash, with some lawmakers accusing it of failing to obscure some identifying information about survivors, and of allegedly protecting the identities of those who were not victims.
“As Attorney General, you are directly responsible for overseeing the Department’s collection, review, and determinations regarding the release of files pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and the Committee therefore believes that you possess valuable insight into these efforts,” Comer said of Bondi last month.
The congressional committee has already compelled a number of high-profile figures to testify in the case, including former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
On Tuesday, the committee announced scheduled testimony with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in June.
US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick is expected to testify in the coming weeks.
By BBC News
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