Former Attorney General Pam Bondi could face possible contempt charges after she failed to appear before lawmakers Tuesday to testify about the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, a top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee said. During an interview on MS NOW’s “The Weeknight,” Rep. Robert Garcia of California also issued a warning for Bondi’s interim replacement: You’re next.
“She had a subpoena in place to show up today,” Garcia said hours after Bondi was set to give her deposition. He added, “Just because she’s not the attorney general right now, that’s no excuse for her not to come in.”
Last week, the Justice Department said Bondi would not comply with the subpoena, arguing that it no longer applied since it was issued in her official capacity as attorney general.
“She was the mastermind of this White House cover-up,” Garcia said, adding that her failure to appear is “grounds for contempt.”
The California Democrat said the House Oversight Committee’s chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., had been in contact with Bondi’s private attorney and told Democrats he was attempting to reschedule the hearing.
“Let’s reschedule it — and if we don’t hear back in the next couple of days, we’re going to begin the contempt proceeding,” Garcia said. “It has to happen. People have to be held accountable for the laws that we pass in the Congress and the subpoenas that we put in place.”
When asked about the possibility of issuing a subpoena for the interim attorney general, Todd Blanche, Garcia told the co-hosts of “The Weeknight” that, at the moment, Democrats on the committee did not have the votes to compel him to testify.
In his role as deputy attorney general, Blanche had “been very involved in the Epstein investigation,” Garcia said.
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However, the House Democrat said he was optimistic that Blanche, who was previously a personal attorney for Trump, would be called before the committee eventually, noting that Democrats “successfully forced Republicans to get multiple subpoenas while in the minority.”
“So we have an absolute plan on getting Todd Blanche to come in front of our committee. He has to come testify,” he said.
While Garcia said Blanche’s testimony was important, he stressed that Bondi should not be let “off the hook.”
“We will hold Pam Bondi accountable. She must comply,” he said. “And believe me, Todd Blanche is next.”
You can watch Garcia’s full interview in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”