Members of the House Oversight Committee said on Thursday that they intend to press for enforcement of the subpoena issued to Pam Bondi despite her resignation as attorney general.
The issue remains consequential—Bondi has become the subject of investigations by lawmakers from both parties over how she handled the release of Justice Department materials related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Her departure was welcomed even by some Republicans. Congresswoman Nancy Mace said Bondi “handled the Epstein files terribly and seriously undermined President Trump.” Mace, who forced a vote on the subpoena last month, stressed: “My subpoena still stands … I issued it to a specific person, not to the sitting attorney general.”
Democrats insist that Bondi’s resignation does not absolve her of accountability. “She will not escape accountability and remains legally obligated to appear before our committee and testify under oath,” said Robert Garcia, the committee’s leading Democrat. According to Garcia, Democrats are already conducting “serious investigations” into Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “If they think we will stop this work because they were fired, they are gravely mistaken,” he added. Similar statements were made by other committee members, including Maxwell Frost, Suhas Subramanyam, and Summer Lee.
At the same time, the position of the Republican leadership remains less clear. A spokesperson for Committee Chairman James Comer, who opposed the subpoena, said that now that Bondi is no longer in office, he intends to discuss with Republicans and the Justice Department the status of the subpoena for testimony and determine the next steps.