Justice department says Bondi will not appear for House deposition since she was ousted as US attorney general

Pam Bondi, the former US attorney general, will not appear next week for a scheduled deposition before the House oversight and government reform committee to answer questions about the justice department’s handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and its release of the Epstein files, the committee said.

In a statement on Wednesday morning shared with the Guardian, a spokesperson for the House oversight committee said “the Department of Justice has stated Pam Bondi will not appear on April 14 for a deposition since she is no longer Attorney General and was subpoenaed in her capacity as Attorney General”.

“Ms Bondi no longer holds that office,” the letter reads. “As a result, because Ms Bondi no longer can testify in her official capacity as Attorney General, the Department’s position is that the subpoena no longer obligates her to appear on April 14.

“We kindly ask that you confirm that the subpoena is withdrawn,” the letter adds.

The committee’s subpoena has not been withdrawn, according to a person familiar with the matter.

  • BillyClark@piefed.socialEnglish
    132·
    21 hours ago

    According to the ranking Democrat on the committee, the subpoena was for Pam Bondi by name, not specifically for the Attorney General. The subpoena is completely valid and legal, and her testimony could be crucial to understand the issue at hand.

    She is still legally required to testify, and that’s why they’re still asking for the subpoena to be withdrawn, instead of simply saying it’s invalid.

    Imagine if things worked this way in the real world. Your boss notices that all of the money is missing from the cash register, so they report you to the police, but when the police come to conduct an interview, you just say, “I quit that job, so you can’t do anything to me.”

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    41·
    18 hours ago

    Like that time I was pulled over by a cop for speeding and I said “yeah, but the car is stopped now so you can’t ticket me in my capacity as a the driver.”

    • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
      10·
      13 hours ago

      And you said that after you got out and switched with someone else in the car.

      Shit, what a great analogy.

  • Gates9@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    36·
    19 hours ago

    Oh yeah everyone knows if you get fired from your job you can’t be held responsible for anything you did at that job

  • kylie_kraft@lemmy.world
    49·
    21 hours ago

    Well yeah, this was probably the primary reason for Trump to fire her when he did.

    The argument is bullshit because Bondi is subpoenaed in name, not by her office. It doesn’t have to be a good argument, though, because the Supreme Court just ruled that contempt of Congress is meaningless.

  • Tempus Fugit@lemmy.world
    10·
    16 hours ago

    How are there still people surprised by this stuff? Until there are real consequences they’ll keep doing what they want.

  • CaptDust@sh.itjust.works
    30·
    21 hours ago

    Oh darn it, she’s not in the position and the new guy is only acting AG, certainly not privvy to the decisions made by his predecessor. Darn, guess there’s no possible way to enact oversight then. Shame.

    On wait, actually - huh! It seems there’s enough time for BOTH of them to testify! Bring her in as a civilian to answer any questions Blanche says he doesn’t know. Wow, who knew 16D chess was so easy.

    • NekoKoneko@lemmy.world
      13·
      20 hours ago

      Indeed. And, if only they originally subpoenaed her as an individual and not as the AG, they could just bring her in anyway because Congress has and exercised that power because of the information she had, not because of her job title.

      Wait! Can this be right?! She was subpoenaed as an individual! Oh, that’s a relief, now Congress can just move ahead with her testimony without even waiting for Blanche or having to re-subpoena her (phwew, so much time would have been wasted)! I bet everyone involved is relieved.

      • orbitz@lemmy.ca
        2·
        15 hours ago

        While I agree I sort of wonder if Trump has a request that was a bit too far, like covering up more of Epstein issues than she’s already done or saying even something more incriminating to other issues.

        The scandals of this administration are like a random stage dude pulling the kerchiefs out of his sleeve, they just keep coming so when one gets buried they find a replacement.

        And that’s half the battle having us guess why something happened vs what happened but they play 3 card Monty with all the possabilities.

        Yes that sounds like a sound government… Good job united States, you went from superpower to super fucking idiot in 3 terms.i figure Bush 2 only gets super idiot in case you’re curious.

  • DoctorNope@lemmy.world
    11·
    20 hours ago

    “Well yes, we’ve already had one constitutional crisis today, but what about second constitutional crisis?” -The DOJ, probably

    It sure would be nice if these assholes could take ONE FUCKING DAY off from actively shielding child rapists, subverting the rule of law, destroying faith in government, or undermining the people’s interests. I know the firehose of bullshit is the whole point, but god damn.