The interview was reset after Democrats filed a civil contempt resolution over Bondi’s missed April 14 deposition, turning a long-running fight over the files into a direct test of congressional oversight and the Trump administration’s transparency claims.
The scheduled appearance, first confirmed in new reporting on Bondi’s agreement to testify, would be her first Capitol Hill appearance since President Donald Trump removed her from the attorney general post earlier this month.
Why Pam Bondi’s May 29 interview matters
Bondi is expected to face questions about the department’s release of records under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, including missed deadlines, redactions, victim-privacy concerns and allegations that politically sensitive material was withheld.
Democrats escalated the fight Wednesday when Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, and other Democratic members filed a civil contempt resolution seeking to compel Bondi’s testimony in court. Garcia said Bondi “illegally defied” the committee and argued her knowledge remains crucial despite her departure from office.
Republicans pushed back, saying the contempt effort was unnecessary because the appearance had been secured. Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., also acknowledged he had not communicated the new date to Democrats before it became public, telling Courthouse News Service, “I don’t even talk to them.”
A fight that has built for months
The dispute did not begin this week. In March, the Oversight Committee voted 24-19 to subpoena Bondi, with five Republicans joining Democrats in a rare bipartisan rebuke over the department’s handling of the Epstein records, according to an Associated Press account of the subpoena vote.
The standoff deepened in April, when the Justice Department told Congress that Bondi would not appear because the subpoena had been issued to her in her official capacity as attorney general and, after her firing, no longer applied, Reuters reported earlier this month.
Lawmakers have also scrutinized whether the department complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which became law Nov. 19, 2025, and requires DOJ to publish searchable, downloadable unclassified records related to the Epstein investigation and prosecution, while allowing limited withholding for victim privacy and active investigations.
The Justice Department said in January that it had published more than 3 million additional pages, bringing the total release to nearly 3.5 million pages, according to a DOJ release on the production. Critics from both parties, however, have questioned whether the release was complete and whether redactions were applied consistently.
Audit adds pressure before the interview
The Justice Department’s inspector general is now auditing the agency’s compliance with the law. The office said it will review how DOJ identified, collected, redacted and released responsive material, and how it handled post-release concerns, according to the official audit notice.
The audit followed weeks of complaints from lawmakers and survivors over the release process, including concerns that sensitive personal information was exposed and that some redactions went beyond what the law allowed, as detailed in earlier reporting on the inspector general review.
Bondi has defended the department’s work, while Democrats have accused her and the administration of stonewalling. Republicans have tried to contain the political fallout while maintaining that the May 29 interview is now scheduled.
The interview could determine whether the committee gets sworn answers from one of the central figures in the Epstein-files rollout or whether the fight moves deeper into court, contempt proceedings and election-year politics.
