Bondi won’t appear before US lawmakers over Epstein files, Justice Department says

Former US attorney general Pam Bondi does not plan to appear for a planned interview with a House of Representatives committee on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files following her firing by US President Donald Trump, the Justice Department told Congress on Wednesday.

Bondi was subpoenaed ‌last month to testify in her formal role as attorney general, rendering the demand invalid now that she no longer holds that title, a Justice Department official wrote in a letter to the House Oversight chairman, Republican congressman James Comer of Kentucky.

Trump fired Bondi last week, in part over discontent with her management of the release of records related to Epstein, the late financier and sex offender who died in jail while awaiting trial ⁠on sex trafficking charges.

“The Department’s position is that the subpoena no longer obligates her to appear on April 14. We kindly ‌ask that you confirm that the subpoena is withdrawn,” Assistant Attorney General Patrick Davis, the DOJ’s top liaison with Congress, wrote in the letter, which was seen by Reuters.

The Republican-led House Oversight ‌Committee voted to subpoena Bondi for questioning on the Justice Department’s compliance with a bipartisan law passed in ⁠November that required DOJ to ⁠release nearly all of its files on Epstein.

Lawmakers have complained that redactions in the files appear to exceed what is allowed in the law ‌and that the Justice Department publicly released names of victims in some documents.