Congress
Pam Bondi is set for another Hill grilling — but not the one some lawmakers hoped for
Pam Bondi is set to speak with lawmakers on Capitol Hill Friday morning about her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files — but not under the terms lawmakers had originally planned for her appearance.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in March voted to subpoena Bondi, then the attorney general, as part of the panel’s Epstein investigation — a stunning rebuke of a Trump administration official by members of the president’s own party.
A subpoena would have required Bondi to sit for a formal deposition, meaning she would have to answer questions under oath and the entire event would be videorecorded. But about a month later, President Donald Trump fired Bondi as the head of the Department of Justice. And since that time, Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) made clear her deposition would be downgraded to a transcribed interview, which won’t require that the proceedings be recorded — nor will she have to be sworn in before speaking.
The reversal has frustrated Oversight Committee members who want more information about how DOJ has approached the federal government’s Epstein case, which has captivated Americans and spurred a wave of public fury and conspiracy theories. Members also want to know what steps the department has taken to hold accountable those who might have been complicit in Epstein’s decadeslong sex trafficking scheme, and they see Bondi as key to getting answers.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who brought up the motion to subpoena Bondi in committee, said earlier this month it was “highly disappointing” that Bondi would no longer be appearing for an official deposition.
“She deserves the same treatment as the Clintons and as everybody else,” said Mace. She was referring to Bill and Hillary Clinton, who nearly faced contempt charges for failing to appear for their scheduled depositions with the Oversight panel after months of negotiations over the terms and conditions. They eventually agreed to appear under oath for videotaped interviews.
“I’ll be there, though, with bells on,” Mace added of Bondi’s Friday transcribed interview, “and I’ll be asking her the tough questions.”
Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), another member of the Oversight panel, said in an interview that “the lack of videotape … contributes to the feeling that Americans have that there’s been a cover-up here.”
Of Bondi, he said, “I think she recognizes that she doesn’t have good answers to the questions that we’re going to ask, and a videotape makes it more real and brings more attention to it.” He also speculated that releasing a videorecording would have allowed “the American people [to] see her struggling to answer questions.”
Also clamoring for Bondi’s testimony to be under oath and made public are many of Epstein’s victims, who also intend to be on Capitol Hill Friday morning, with plans to gather outside the room where Bondi will be meeting with committee members.
Comer defended his decision to loosen the testimony’s format last week, telling reporters it was necessary to help encourage witnesses to cooperate with the committee’s ongoing probe.
“Look, she’s coming in. If she says anything that’s not true, that’s a felony. She’ll be prosecuted,” said Comer, who also pointed to the prolonged, dramatic saga that forced both the Clintons to ultimately testify.
“We’ve got to have some incentive to get people in and not do like the Clintons did and delay it for several months,” Comer continued.
The anger at Bondi over her handling of the Epstein matter, in part, grew from a Fox News appearance last year, in which she said she had Epstein’s client list on her desk for review — only for the DOJ and FBI to put out a memo in July saying there was no client list and there were no plans to release further information.
The whiplash quickly drew the ire of Republicans and Democrats alike. Bondi’s then-deputy, Todd Blanche, took over handling some of the ensuing chaos, including interviewing Epstein’s only convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell. He also was the administration official to announce in a press conference that the DOJ had completed its obligations under the law Congress passed last November to force the full release of Epstein-related materials and documents in the federal government’s possession.
Trump has since ousted Bondi, and Blanche has assumed the role of acting attorney general. And though Bondi is now a private citizen, the Oversight Committee still asked that she honor the demand that she speak to lawmakers following the subpoena vote.
The DOJ is also continuing to represent Bondi in her dealings with the Oversight panel regarding the Epstein matter. According to a DOJ spokesperson, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, along with others, will attend the Friday transcribed interview with Bondi to answer questions around the so-called Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“Because former Attorney General Bondi oversaw the Department at the time the Act was enacted and carried out, DOJ’s presence is solely to ensure accurate representation of Department processes, facilitate any necessary clarifications, and support a complete factual record for the Committee,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
In a letter to Comer released Thursday by Oversight Democrats, DOJ clarified Dhillon and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Guynn would appear “as agency counsel, not as [Bondi’s] personal counsel.”
The letter also specified that “the agreed scope of the interview will be the Department of Justice’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act and related matters involving the so-called Epstein files during the time Ms. Bondi was the Attorney General at the Department.”
Bondi’s interview Friday is taking place near the end of a weeklong congressional recess, making it unclear which members of the committee will return to Washington early to question her. In addition to Mace, who said she would be attending, Comer also will be there, according to his spokesperson.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the panel, intends to be on hand, as does Walkinshaw, according to a person granted anonymity to share Democrats’ plans — alongside Reps. Ro Khanna and Dave Min of California as well as Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia, Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania.
Democrats say they want to know more about the inconsistent, and some have argued sloppy, redactions in the Epstein files released by DOJ, which in some cases were excessive and in others inadvertently revealed private information about Epstein’s victims.
They also are likely to press Bondi on what she knows about Trump’s own relationship with Epstein. The DOJ has been accused of using the redaction process to cover up portions of the Epstein files linking the two men, though Trump has maintained that he broke off his relationship with Epstein before revelations of misconduct. The president has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crimes in relation to the late, disgraced financier.
Frost said he wanted to ask Bondi what specific directives she may have received from Trump or others when it came to her handling of the Epstein case. Walkinshaw said he would inquire about conversations between Bondi and Trump, or between the ex-attorney general and the White House, with regards to redactions in the files.
“I spoke with some of the survivors in Florida,” said Subramanyam in an interview. “They were curious why [Bondi has] been hiding so much and what she has to hide herself. Why wouldn’t she be more forthcoming about the files? … Who got to her? What do they have on her? Those are the kinds of questions that the survivors are curious about.”
“So am I, and so are the American people,” he added.
It’s not clear whether Bondi will answer their questions. She could invoke a privilege claim in declining to discuss private DOJ deliberations, or she could argue any query is out of her purview given her recent ousting from the attorney general job. Alternatively, she could filibuster and punt the question back to the Democrats, as she has done during previous House or Senate hearings.
House Democrats walked out of a closed-door briefing Bondi held with the Oversight Committee in March, claiming that she would not commit to testifying before them as part of their Epstein investigation under the terms of the subpoena that had already been issued. Bondi insisted she would “follow the law.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), one of the Republicans who voted to subpoena Bondi, said in an interview her appearance was simply “water under the bridge at this point, unfortunately,” adding he would at this point rather hear from Blanche.
“She’s out of office, it doesn’t matter,” Buchett said. “It’s just everybody’s over here playing politics, that’s all.”
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) is jumping into the race to lead House education committee Democrats.
The Oregon Democrat officially declared she will run to be the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee in a Dear Colleague letter sent to members of the Democratic caucus Tuesday and shared with Blue Light News.
Bonamici’s jump into the race marks another challenger for Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the panel’s current ranking member. Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.) is also running for the panel’s top spot.
Bonamici wrote in the letter that she is “ready to bring a fresh and collaborative approach to invigorate this Committee with a plan to champion the education and labor priorities of our Caucus. With my legal background, I’m prepared to use all of the power of Congress to hold Trump and his cronies, including Secretary Linda McMahon, accountable for the harm they have caused.”
Bonamici introduced a resolution to impeach the Education secretary because of McMahon’s efforts to dismantle the department without the approval of Congress.
Tuesday’s announcement comes after Bonamici told POLITICO last month that she was not ruling out a run for committee leadership and was having conversations about it. Her leadership run now comes as Democrats believe they will win the House majority in November.
The Oregon Democrat, who currently serves as top Democrat on the K-12 subcommittee, said the whole panel “must provide a bold and visionary approach while fighting Trump’s corruption and assault on public education, unions, and working families” if they take the majority.
BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania — Speaker Mike Johnson defended President Donald Trump’s use of taxpayer funded political-themed ads ahead of the election, but he said it was “good” that MAGA Inc. would pay for them going forward.
Johnson said Tuesday that he’s only seen one of the Trump ads and that it “looked like a public service announcement.”
“It was talking about America’s greatness and the economy coming back, and it wasn’t a plea to vote for anybody. It was just — it was pro Americana,” Johnson told Blue Light News during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania.
But he added: “If the Super PAC’s funding them, that’s good.”
Trump said Monday that he or his aligned super PAC would pay for the series of taxpayer-funded ads featuring him in the final few weeks of the midterms. His decision came after bipartisan backlash, including from some GOP candidates like Brinker Harding in Nebraska’s 2nd District publicly broke with the president and said they shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer money.
Still, asked if Trump should refund taxpayers the money already spent on the ads, Johnson demurred. He said previous Democratic administrations have run PSAs as well, though Democrats argue these ads violate federal laws against using taxpayer money for “publicity or propaganda purposes.”
“Look, they’re making their decisions on funding campaigns and the content of all of it,” Johnson said of the president’s team.
“I’m going to tell you the president is deeply vested,” Johnson added, noting Trump was out on the campaign trail for Republicans.
Johnson spoke alongside Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.) during a law enforcement event in the perennial bellwether of Pennsylvania’s 7th District. He called Mackenzie’s race one of the “top three in the country” and warned it would be “enormously expensive.”
He later argued that Democrats, if they win the House majority, would roll back GOP work on the economy and “empower our enemies around the world at the worst possible time.”
“That would roil the markets … if Democrats turned Congress into lawfare on steroids,” Johnson said.
Pennsylvania is the first of seven states that Johnson plans to visit this week as he continues his midterm campaign blitz.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said he plans to stay on the court through next year, brushing aside speculation that he could retire early and let President Donald Trump fill his seat after the election but before a new Congress is sworn in next year.
“I intend to stick around through this term,” Alito, 76, said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “I made that decision many months ago.”
The Supreme Court began its new term on Monday, which will last through next June.
Alito, the second-oldest justice on the bench, was in the news last week after telling CBS News that he considered retiring this year and will do so again in 2027.
His comments come as the fight over control of the Senate is in a dead heat. Democrats would have to flip at least four seats, but recent polls show several races, including in states Trump carried easily two years ago, remain competitive.
Several Senate Democratic candidates are already running on the prospect of filling a seat on the Supreme Court or, at least, denying Trump’s ability to do so. Senate Republicans successfully blocked a Democratic nominee in 2016, allowing Trump to fill the seat after he came into the White House.
“Our race to decide Ohio’s next Senator could not only determine control of the U.S. Senate, but also who fills a lifetime seat on the highest court in the land,” Sherrod Brown, the Democratic nominee in Ohio, wrote in a blog post Monday. “Ohio’s next senator could be our first line of defense against another partisan Supreme Court Justice — or rubber stamp a Trump nominee.”
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