Pam Bondi, despite firing, will still need to answer to Congress about Epstein files, House Democrats say

Even though Pam Bondi is no longer serving as the U.S. attorney general, congressional Democrats say she will still need to answer to lawmakers about her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation and more.

Democratic Reps. Robert Garcia and Dave Min both called for Bondi to comply with a House Oversight Committee subpoena on Thursday, following news of her departure from the Trump administration.

Garcia, from Long Beach, serves as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, which is meant to serve as a check on Washington; Min, from Irvine, also serves on that body.

The Trump administration on Thursday announced that Bondi had been fired from the position as the country’s top law enforcement officer. President Donald Trump said that she is instead moving to a “much-needed and important new job in the private sector.”

Democrats and other Trump adversaries, though, hailed Bondi’s removal from the position, citing their ongoing concerns with her handling of the Epstein files and unwarranted investigations into Trump’s political foes, including Sen. Adam Schiff.

Bondi will be expected to answer for all of those concerns when she is compelled to testify before the House Oversight Committee for the first time, local Democratic lawmakers said. The Oversight Committee secured a subpoena for Bondi’s appearance that will apply despite her firing, Garcia said at a news conference in Long Beach.

The subpoena will require Bondi to come before the House Oversight Committee for a deposition on April 14, Garcia said, and will apply to the former attorney general regardless of her firing.

“Now, our lawyers and outside experts have made it clear that she’s legally required to testify, even though she is no longer the attorney general,” Garcia said.

During her testimony, Garcia added, Bondi will be questioned about more than just the Epstein files.

“She’s weaponized the government. She’s tried to meddle with U.S. elections. She’s gone after Donald Trump’s enemies as attorney general, and of course, most importantly, she has withheld 50% of the Epstein files,” Garcia said.

“My message to the attorney general is very clear, and that is, you now have an opportunity to come clean,” Garcia added. “You now have an opportunity to be honest. You don’t work for Donald Trump anymore. Pam Bondi should do the right thing and be honest with the public.”

Min echoed similar sentiments.

“While I am glad she is no longer the attorney general, her termination is not enough,” Min said. “She must comply with the subpoena we issued and appear before our committee.”

A spokesperson for the Justice Department was not immediately available for comment Thursday afternoon.

But Todd Blanche, who was named acting attorney general, said in a social media post, Bondi “led this department with strength and conviction, and I’m grateful for her leadership.”

Meanwhile, Garcia said the committee has had other former federal government officials — including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Attorney General Bill Barr — come in to testify regarding the Epstein files.

“(If) she’s going to try to hide behind the fact that she’s no longer the AG, (that) is not acceptable,” Garcia said. “She has to come testify in front of the committee, or we will hold her in contempt of Congress.”

Bondi, considered a Trump loyalist, has been under heavy scrutiny, from conservatives and progressives, for her department’s handling of the Epstein files. In 2025, she alleged that the financier’s “client list” was on her desk for review, but the Justice Department later said no such document existed.

She also faced blowback when her department distributed binders of Epstein files that turned up no new revelations, followed by the Justice Department announcing in July that it would not release any more documents. Congress then passed a bill forcing it to release more documents.

“She, of course, claimed initially that the files were on her desk. We know that that’s not true anymore. She tried to call this investigation a hoax; that also obviously is not true,” Garcia said.

He accused the Justice Department, under her leadership, of revealing the names of some of the Epstein survivors against their wishes, and said Bondi refused to meet with survivors despite multiple requests from them to do so. Despite millions of pages of documents having now been released, millions more still have not been made public, and members of the House Oversight Committee have continued to demand further answers.

The White House, meanwhile, hailed Bondi’s performance as attorney general over the past year on Thursday, when it also announced her departure.

“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,” Trump said in a statement.

He added: “We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much-needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future.”

Before becoming the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, Bondi was the state attorney general in Florida.

She pledged when she took over the U.S. Justice Department in February 2025 not to politicize the department. But when it started investigating individuals perceived as political enemies of Trump — including Schiff, as well as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan — critics cried foul.

Bondi has rejected accusations that she politicized the Justice Department and said her mission was to restore the institution’s credibility after overreach by President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration with two federal criminal cases against Trump.

And her defenders have said she worked to refocus the department to tackle illegal immigration and violent crime and brought much-needed change to an agency they believe unfairly targeted conservatives.

Schiff, one of Trump’s biggest adversaries, who the Justice Department started to investigate for alleged mortgage fraud, though the probe has since stalled, said on social media Thursday that Bondi oversaw “an unprecedented weaponization of the Justice Department” that included “countless and baseless political investigations” and other offenses.

“Her firing does not mitigate the need for her to answer for her conduct as attorney general, and Todd Blanche should expect to receive the same scrutiny,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.