As GOP interest in Bondi fizzles, Democrats push for chance to question her

The small band of House Republicans who backed the effort to subpoena former Attorney General Pam Bondi have brushed off a plan from Democrats to hold her in contempt, leading to a split in the parties on how much there is to glean from hearing from her. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) made the motion in a March meeting of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to subpoena Bondi, and gained the support of four of her colleagues, along with every Democrat on the panel. But four of the five GOP members expressed resistance to joining Democrats in seeking to hold Bondi in contempt and questioned the value of speaking with her at all — a sign the bipartisan spirit of investigating the files of disgraced financier and sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein is faltering. “Let’s get somebody in that knows what’s going on,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said this week in response to a question from The Hill before describing Bondi as not being particularly knowledgeable about the Epstein files. “First thing she said was she’s going to release all this stuff that nobody had, and it was stuff everybody had. I just don’t think she — I think she just didn’t have the knowledge of any of that stuff.” Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who backed the subpoena motion, told The Hill on Thursday he was waiting to see how negotiations advance with Bondi’s personal attorney. “I don’t know what the point of the whole exercise is at this point,” he said. “She’s a private citizen now.” That take is in sharp contrast to the one offered by Democrats, who see Bondi as a central figure in the Epstein controversy, one who initially led the administration’s charge to release the files only to later resist doing so. “I mean to say that the person who was at the helm of the department that was charged with releasing these files, and, quite frankly, herself was the face of wanting to release the files at the outset of the administration, and just the trajectory that we’ve seen take place since then — she has a lot of information,” Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), who serves on the panel, told The Hill. “She was the one managing the entire process.” Bondi has been involved in several key moments in the Epstein saga. She claimed to have his client list on her desk, only for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to reverse course and issue a memo saying no such document exists. She angered those fascinated in the case with the early misstep of inviting influencers to the White House to review the files, only to hand them binders with largely public information. The House Oversight Committee has said she’s failed to comply with a subpoena to turn over all files to the panel, while DOJ has also been accused of failing to fully release all the Epstein documents, including a series in which a witness makes claims about President Trump. Various outlets say about 30 pages on that topic appear to still be missing. “I don’t understand why they wouldn’t think the former attorney general, who is the sole reason why so many files were withheld for so long, and who had custody over them and complete control over the situation wouldn’t have information about why two and a half million files have been withheld,” said Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.). Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) noted the panel has also subpoenaed other former attorneys general and said Bondi’s tenure was especially significant. “Listen, Pam Bondi has served as the AG for over a year,” she said. “She violated a congressional subpoena demanding the files, and she repeatedly, over her entire term of service as the AG, engaged in manufactured lies to the American people over the Epstein case. In addition to that, based on what I’ve seen in the unredacted files, there are dozens of potentially prosecutable crimes and cases in the Epstein files, and they have not pursued a single investigation,” she added, including claims that directly relate to Trump. Ansari said a top focus would also be questions drilling into Bondi’s communications with the White House or about Trump generally, the aspect that has Democrats claiming the attorney is complicit in a cover-up. “I think at its worst, it is whether or not the president had a direct role in wanting or not wanting these files released, and directing the Department of Justice, which is supposed to be independent, from releasing these files in a transparent manner to the public,” she said. “But I think also every step of the way, there have been actions that are part of a cover-up, you know, from withholding certain redacted names of co-conspirators, from avoiding coming for Congress.”  Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said this week he has been trying to contact Bondi’s personal attorney and expects to coordinate imminently.  Though he did not back the subpoena, he said she does need to comply. He also appeared to reject DOJ’s argument that the demand was no longer valid now that Bondi is not attorney general. “We’re going to reach out to her personal attorney because the subpoena is still to her,” he said.  “I don’t like people not coming in when we assign them, but unfortunately, it’s happened a lot over the last three years, and the Democrats never say a word. But we expect to hear from Bondi, and hopefully we’ll have her in front of the committee very soon.” Still, Rep. Robert Garcia (R-Calif.), the top Democrat on the panel, penned a letter to Comer on Friday demanding to know more on the negotiations  “We are deeply concerned that Oversight Republicans are unwilling to take the actions needed to secure Ms. Bondi’s required testimony,” he wrote. “In the interest of transparency and advancing this Committee’s investigation, I ask that you immediately provide insight into the precise steps you have taken to schedule Ms. Bondi’s deposition, the substance and scope of any negotiations to date, any statements you have received from Ms. Bondi as to her plans to appear for her deposition, and advise whether a date for her deposition has yet been agreed upon.” Democrats do still have an ally in Mace, who has previously said Bondi should also be held in contempt if she doesn’t comply. “Coordinate with her personal attorney, issue an updated subpoena if necessary. But if Pam Bondi continues to refuse to comply, she should be held in contempt,” Mace said after DOJ alerted the panel Bondi would not appear for the scheduled April 14 deposition. Even beyond the Epstein files, Stansbury said Bondi is still culpable for a number of other actions she took as attorney general, including what she described as criminal actions that would spark additional lines of questioning once under oath. “She also directed, as we understand it, her U.S. attorneys across the country to lie to courts, to lie to courts and hundreds of court cases, she illegally appointed attorneys, she was the attorney general overseeing the illegal deportation and mass immigration violations that happened over the last year,” Stansbury said. “And so the Epstein files are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of her illegal activity.”

The small band of House Republicans who backed the effort to subpoena former Attorney General Pam Bondi have brushed off a plan from Democrats to hold her in contempt, leading to a split in the parties on how much there is to glean from hearing from her.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) made the motion in a March meeting of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to subpoena Bondi, and gained the support of four of her colleagues, along with every Democrat on the panel.

But four of the five GOP members expressed resistance to joining Democrats in seeking to hold Bondi in contempt and questioned the value of speaking with her at all — a sign the bipartisan spirit of investigating the files of disgraced financier and sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein is faltering.

“Let’s get somebody in that knows what’s going on,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said this week in response to a question from The Hill before describing Bondi as not being particularly knowledgeable about the Epstein files.

“First thing she said was she’s going to release all this stuff that nobody had, and it was stuff everybody had. I just don’t think she — I think she just didn’t have the knowledge of any of that stuff.”

Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who backed the subpoena motion, told The Hill on Thursday he was waiting to see how negotiations advance with Bondi’s personal attorney.

“I don’t know what the point of the whole exercise is at this point,” he said. “She’s a private citizen now.”

That take is in sharp contrast to the one offered by Democrats, who see Bondi as a central figure in the Epstein controversy, one who initially led the administration’s charge to release the files only to later resist doing so.

“I mean to say that the person who was at the helm of the department that was charged with releasing these files, and, quite frankly, herself was the face of wanting to release the files at the outset of the administration, and just the trajectory that we’ve seen take place since then — she has a lot of information,” Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), who serves on the panel, told The Hill.

“She was the one managing the entire process.”

Bondi has been involved in several key moments in the Epstein saga.

She claimed to have his client list on her desk, only for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to reverse course and issue a memo saying no such document exists.

She angered those fascinated in the case with the early misstep of inviting influencers to the White House to review the files, only to hand them binders with largely public information.

The House Oversight Committee has said she’s failed to comply with a subpoena to turn over all files to the panel, while DOJ has also been accused of failing to fully release all the Epstein documents, including a series in which a witness makes claims about President Trump. Various outlets say about 30 pages on that topic appear to still be missing.

“I don’t understand why they wouldn’t think the former attorney general, who is the sole reason why so many files were withheld for so long, and who had custody over them and complete control over the situation wouldn’t have information about why two and a half million files have been withheld,” said Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.).

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) noted the panel has also subpoenaed other former attorneys general and said Bondi’s tenure was especially significant.

“Listen, Pam Bondi has served as the AG for over a year,” she said.

“She violated a congressional subpoena demanding the files, and she repeatedly, over her entire term of service as the AG, engaged in manufactured lies to the American people over the Epstein case. In addition to that, based on what I’ve seen in the unredacted files, there are dozens of potentially prosecutable crimes and cases in the Epstein files, and they have not pursued a single investigation,” she added, including claims that directly relate to Trump.

Ansari said a top focus would also be questions drilling into Bondi’s communications with the White House or about Trump generally, the aspect that has Democrats claiming the attorney is complicit in a cover-up.

“I think at its worst, it is whether or not the president had a direct role in wanting or not wanting these files released, and directing the Department of Justice, which is supposed to be independent, from releasing these files in a transparent manner to the public,” she said.

“But I think also every step of the way, there have been actions that are part of a cover-up, you know, from withholding certain redacted names of co-conspirators, from avoiding coming for Congress.” 

Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said this week he has been trying to contact Bondi’s personal attorney and expects to coordinate imminently. 

Though he did not back the subpoena, he said she does need to comply. He also appeared to reject DOJ’s argument that the demand was no longer valid now that Bondi is not attorney general.

“We’re going to reach out to her personal attorney because the subpoena is still to her,” he said. 

“I don’t like people not coming in when we assign them, but unfortunately, it’s happened a lot over the last three years, and the Democrats never say a word. But we expect to hear from Bondi, and hopefully we’ll have her in front of the committee very soon.”

Still, Rep. Robert Garcia (R-Calif.), the top Democrat on the panel, penned a letter to Comer on Friday demanding to know more on the negotiations 

“We are deeply concerned that Oversight Republicans are unwilling to take the actions needed to secure Ms. Bondi’s required testimony,” he wrote.

“In the interest of transparency and advancing this Committee’s investigation, I ask that you immediately provide insight into the precise steps you have taken to schedule Ms. Bondi’s deposition, the substance and scope of any negotiations to date, any statements you have received from Ms. Bondi as to her plans to appear for her deposition, and advise whether a date for her deposition has yet been agreed upon.”

Democrats do still have an ally in Mace, who has previously said Bondi should also be held in contempt if she doesn’t comply.

“Coordinate with her personal attorney, issue an updated subpoena if necessary. But if Pam Bondi continues to refuse to comply, she should be held in contempt,” Mace said after DOJ alerted the panel Bondi would not appear for the scheduled April 14 deposition.

Even beyond the Epstein files, Stansbury said Bondi is still culpable for a number of other actions she took as attorney general, including what she described as criminal actions that would spark additional lines of questioning once under oath.

“She also directed, as we understand it, her U.S. attorneys across the country to lie to courts, to lie to courts and hundreds of court cases, she illegally appointed attorneys, she was the attorney general overseeing the illegal deportation and mass immigration violations that happened over the last year,” Stansbury said.

“And so the Epstein files are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of her illegal activity.”

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