Democrats had filed civil contempt resolution against former attorney general for not appearing for deposition

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The House oversight and government reform committee has said that former attorney general Pam Bondi will now appear before the panel on 29 May to answer questions about the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and its release of the Epstein files.

The announcement of the date came shortly after the Democrats on the committee announced that they had filed a civil contempt resolution against Bondi after she did not appear for her deposition earlier this month.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had said goodbye to the press corps last Friday as she began maternity leave for her second child. But Saturday’s attack by Cole Thomas Allen — the man subdued as he tried to enter the ballroom of Washington’s Hilton hotel armed, while U.S. President Donald Trump was attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — brought her back to the podium on Monday.

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During the first year of his return to power, Donald Trump managed to change the image of the White House that people remembered from his first term, often portrayed as a turbulent time when the president, true to his past as a reality TV star who became famous for the cry of “You’re fired!”, could dismiss his staff at any time and in any way, often with a single tweet. He got rid of an attorney general, a secretary of state, a national security advisor, a communications director, and the head of the FBI—a list completed by numerous resignations: 14 members of his administration left between 2017 and 2021, as well as four chiefs of staff and several White House spokespeople.

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Mandated release of files was marred by missed deadlines, leaked victims’ information and excessive redactions

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The US Department of Justice’s office of the inspector general (OIG) announced on Thursday that it is launching an audit of the justice department’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

In a news release, the deputy inspector general William M Blier, who the statement said is performing the duties of the inspector general, said the “preliminary objective” of the internal inquiry “is to evaluate the [justice department’s] processes for identifying, redacting, and releasing records in its possession as required by the act”.

Non-appearance of Pam Bondi and remarks from Todd Blanche suggest full accounting may never be revealed

In the days since Pam Bondi’s exit from Donald Trump’s justice department, Jeffrey Epstein survivors and transparency advocates have been confronted by mixed messaging, prompting questions about whether a full accounting of his crimes would ever be revealed.

Legal veterans told the Guardian that authorities’ decisions – such as Bondi’s failure to appear for a congressional subpoena about her handling of Epstein investigative files – portend poorly for accountability. Moreover, her replacement’s comments about the status of Epstein investigations has been perceived by some as an effort to acknowledge prior missteps without presenting definitive solutions.