The Daily Fuckup

The Justice Department says Pam Bondi will not appear for a House Oversight Committee deposition tied to the Epstein files, after the panel subpoenaed her on March 17, 2026 for an April 14 appearance while she was still attorney general.

The key change is timing. Donald Trump removed Bondi from the attorney general post on April 2, and on April 8 the Justice Department said the subpoena no longer applies to her in that capacity. House investigators had been seeking her testimony about the department’s handling of the materials, but the committee’s own demand was written to her as attorney general.

That leaves the committee with a procedural fight, not a clean deposition date. If lawmakers want Bondi back under oath, they will have to decide whether to issue a new demand or challenge the Justice Department’s reading of the old one. For now, the immediate answer is simple: the scheduled April 14 appearance is not happening.

The broader dispute over the Epstein files is still in motion, and Bondi remains one of the most visible officials associated with the department’s handling of them. But the current standoff is narrower than the rhetoric around it. On the record, the question is not whether Bondi skipped a deposition she was plainly bound to attend; it is whether a subpoena aimed at the attorney general still reaches a former attorney general after that office has changed hands.

That distinction matters because it determines what happens next. If the committee wants testimony, it may need to reset the process. If it believes the subpoena still stands, it will have to press that case publicly or in court. Either way, the record as of April 11 is that the department says Bondi will not appear because the subpoena was issued to her in her former official role, and she no longer holds that role.