3 GOP backers of Bondi subpoena signal resistance to contempt push

Three House Republicans who backed the subpoena of former Attorney General Pam Bondi expressed resistance to joining Democrats in seeking to hold her in contempt after the Justice Department said she  would not appear  for a scheduled deposition.

Reps.  Tim Burchett  (R-Tenn.),  Lauren Boebert  (R-Colo.) and Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) all questioned the value of hearing from her.

“She’s out. Let’s get somebody in that knows what’s going on,” Burchett said in response to a question from The Hill before describing her as not being particularly knowledgeable about the Epstein files.

“First thing she said was she’s going to release all this stuff that nobody had, and it was stuff everybody had. I just don’t think she — I think she just didn’t have the knowledge of any of that stuff. I think we need to just get it from the department.”

Boebert did not reject the idea outright, saying “it’s possible” while noting that House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) is handling the matter.

“I don’t really give a rip. She’s gone. I mean, what are we going to get from her?” she asked.

Cloud backed the argument from the Justice Department – disputed by Democrats – that Bondi was subpoenaed only in her capacity as attorney general.

“We were asking her to come in her position as attorney general. So I’m not sure how relevant the information will be at this point,” he told The Hill, calling the motion to subpoena Bondi “a little ambiguous.”

“My interest in supporting it was to push the investigation forward. I thought we weren’t moving forward fast enough. She’s no longer in a position to help us move the investigation forward and so we’ve got to continue to push the investigation forward.”

Democrats have said they will seek to hold Bondi in contempt if she does not comply with the subpoena. Bondi was scheduled to appear Tuesday, but the Justice Department argued she should not have to do so now that she is a former attorney general. Comer has said he has reached out to her personal attorney.

Comer said Wednesday that he expected to speak to Bondi’s personal attorney that day.

Though he noted that he did not back the effort to subpoena her, Comer said she still needs to appear.

“We’re going to reach out to her personal attorney because the subpoena is still to her,” he said, “I don’t like people not coming in when we assign them, but unfortunately, it’s happened a lot over the last three years, and the Democrats never say a word. But we expect to hear from Bondi, and hopefully we’ll have her in front of the committee very soon.”

Bondi enmeshed herself in the Epstein saga early in her tenure as attorney general, inviting a group to the White House to hand them binders supposedly containing the files. In reality they were just a fraction of the documents related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and many had already been publicly released.

She also claimed to have Epstein’s “client list” sitting on her desk. The backlash pushed the Justice Department to release a memo saying there was no such list.

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), another member of the House Oversight Committee, said claims that Bondi wouldn’t have much insight into the Epstein case were “bulls—.”

“Both of them voted in committee to subpoena her. It’s very clear that as the attorney general for the United States government under Donald Trump, she oversaw the largest cover-up in American history,” she said, noting that GOP members of the committee took a different track after Bill and Hillary Clinton resisted complying with subpoenas also issued in regards to the Epstein files.

“It’s very clear that they’re now trying to backtrack, because everyone’s trying to basically back off on calling her in front of the committee, those same individuals were also willing to vote to hold the Clintons in contempt for not showing up on their deposition day.”

The panel has also subpoenaed and heard from several other former attorneys general about the Epstein case, including former Attorney General Bill Barr.

Rep.  Nancy Mace  (R-S.C.) led the effort to subpoena Bondi, saying at the time that she has “some very pointed questions for her.” In addition to Burchett, Boebert and Cloud, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) also backed the Bondi subpoena.

After the Justice Department indicated Bondi would not appear, Mace said she would be willing to hold the former attorney general in contempt.

“We expect Pam Bondi’s deposition to be rescheduled in a timely fashion. Our motion made clear the Committee must issue a subpoena to Pam Bondi, not the occupant of the office of Attorney General of the United States,” Mace wrote on social media platform X last week.

“Coordinate with her personal attorney, issue an updated subpoena if necessary. But if Pam Bondi continues to refuse to comply, she should be held in contempt.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a co-sponsor of the bill that mandated the public release of the files, called the effort pointless, noting that a contempt referral would be unlikely to be acted upon by the Trump Justice Department.

“A congressional subpoena expires on Jan. 3 of 2027 and whatever problems and fights are happening all go away,” he said, listing the date when the 120th term of Congress would begin.

But he also agreed with Burchett that Bondi would have little insight to offer.

“They just kept her in the dark. I mean, she handed out a bunch of binders with [what] might as well [have] been Greek random letters in it,” he said, “and she thought they were real binders herself.”

Comer has also criticized Democrats’ contempt effort, saying they were not supportive when the panel’s GOP members threatened to hold the Clintons in contempt.

“The Democrats are being a little rich. They never said a word about Hillary and Bill Clinton. It took seven months to get them in,” he said.

“So, you know, we’re hoping, obviously, that she comes in in much less time than it took the Clintons to come in.”

Updated on April 15 at 4:42 p.m.

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