Bondi may be gone, but the subpoena fight remains

The effort to force Pam Bondi to answer questions about the Epstein investigation is not fading just because she has been fired. If anything, it may be getting louder. House Oversight Chair James Comer could still face pressure to compel her testimony or move to hold her in contempt if she refuses to show up, and that push is not coming from Democrats alone.

The vote to subpoena Bondi was led by Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, with support from four other Republicans and every Oversight Democrat present. After news broke that the attorney general had been dismissed, Mace posted a dramatic image of Bondi’s face slapped over the word “FIRED.” Subtlety, as always, was not invited.

“Bondi handled the Epstein Files in a terrible manner and seriously undermined President Trump,” Mace wrote. “She has stonewalled every effort to hold the guilty accountable.”

Trump, for his part, called Bondi a “Great American Patriot and a loyal friend” in a Truth Social post Thursday and offered no explanation for why she was removed.

Bondi has become the administration’s Epstein problem

The renewed pressure for sworn testimony shows how thoroughly Bondi has become the administration’s designated scapegoat in the long-running Epstein mess.

Trump’s own past relationship with financier Jeffrey Epstein has fueled questions about whether he knew about Epstein’s criminal conduct. Trump has insisted the two split years ago and has not been accused of wrongdoing. Democrats, meanwhile, say the administration has tried to bury the issue, with Bondi playing a central role in that effort.

“She has weaponized the Department of Justice to protect Donald Trump and put survivors in harm’s way by exposing their identities,” said Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the committee’s ranking member, in a Thursday statement. “She will not escape accountability and remains legally obligated to appear before our Committee under oath.”

POLITICO reported nearly a month ago that Bondi was already in trouble with congressional Republicans over how she handled the federal Epstein inquiry. The Oversight Committee’s subpoena vote followed a rocky appearance before the House Judiciary Committee. That same week, Trump also fired then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after her own difficult back-to-back hearings before House and Senate panels. Washington, predictably, did not learn the value of calm competence from any of this.

Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee said he backed the subpoena because the committee needed answers.

“I just think it’s time to get some answers,” Burchett said. “She’s in the batter’s box. I’d say … let her hit.”

Her exit from government is not immediate

The timing of Bondi’s departure is still fuzzy. In a social media statement Thursday afternoon, she said she would spend the next month transferring her duties to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who has been tapped to serve as acting attorney general until a permanent successor is confirmed.

If Bondi appears before the committee after leaving government, she would likely have to pay her own legal costs. People testifying on Capitol Hill about their prior government service generally cover their own representation, including some former officials who appeared before the Democratic-led select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.

Democrats on Oversight do not appear especially moved by Bondi’s predicament.

Rep. Dave Min of California said Bondi had “repeatedly and flagrantly violated the law and abused her position” and “must comply with the subpoena we issued and appear before our committee.”

How the Epstein fight escalated

Some Republicans also blame Bondi for the political wreckage created by the Epstein controversy, which has dominated Washington for more than a year.

In February 2025, Bondi promised a new era of transparency in the Epstein matter, but she did not produce any new information. Five months later, the Justice Department released an unsigned memo saying it would not disclose any more material from the federal investigation into the convicted sex offender.

That set off fury among Trump supporters, many of whom have spent years demanding an Epstein “client list” they believe could expose a wider network of wealthy and influential men.

The backlash drove a prolonged push to force the Justice Department to release more of its Epstein records. That campaign eventually produced legislation from Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Ro Khanna of California to make materials in the department’s possession public.

While House Republicans were deadlocked over whether to advance the bill, the Oversight Committee absorbed growing pressure from both parties to keep pressing the stalled federal Epstein case. During an unrelated hearing, an Oversight subcommittee voted to subpoena the DOJ’s Epstein files. That opened the door to a wave of additional subpoenas, reaching from Epstein’s estate executors to people in his orbit and the orbit of his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

Even after Congress passed the Massie-Khanna bill, the committee kept moving, eventually turning its attention directly to Bondi. In recent months, she has faced renewed scrutiny over what critics describe as a delayed and sloppy release of the Epstein files, along with accusations that the Justice Department has not complied with the law.

Bondi tried to head off the subpoena, unsuccessfully

In what looked like an attempt to blunt the bipartisan drive to make her testify under oath, Bondi voluntarily appeared on Capitol Hill last month to brief Oversight members on the Justice Department’s work on the Epstein case. According to Democrats who were there, she did not say whether she would obey the subpoena.

At one point, Democrats walked out of the closed-door session, arguing that the meeting seemed designed to let Bondi dodge sworn testimony.

Even after Bondi’s firing, Khanna said she still needed to answer for the absence of further prosecutions in the case.

So far, only one person has been convicted on federal charges tied to Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme: Maxwell, his former girlfriend and associate. Under Bondi’s watch, Maxwell was transferred to a lower-security prison camp in Texas after sitting for an interview with Blanche. That move raised obvious questions about why a facility seen as less restrictive was chosen.

Maxwell has said she would cooperate with congressional investigations into Epstein if Trump grants her clemency.

If lawmakers get Bondi in front of them, that issue is almost certain to come up.

“Firing her does not end this,” said Rep. James Walkinshaw of Virginia, another Oversight member, in a statement. “Her removal only increases the urgency for the Oversight Committee to fulfill its oversight obligations.”