James Comer Just Dropped a Subpoena on the Government Lawyer Who Tried to Smear Trump With Epstein File Boondoggle

Congress passed a law demanding every Epstein file — and the Justice Department missed the deadline, buried documents in redactions, and got caught spying on the lawmakers looking for the truth.

Now the DOJ's top lawyer is going to have to answer for all of it under oath.

The DOJ Missed the Epstein Files Deadline and Called It Compliance

Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on November 19, 2025. The law was simple: release everything within 30 days, with no redactions permitted for embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.

The DOJ missed that December 19 deadline.

What came next wasn't transparency – it was a slow drip stretched across five separate batches, with the biggest dump arriving January 30, 2026. The department claimed it had produced 3.5 million pages and called it full compliance. Critics said roughly 3 million more pages remained unaccounted for.

Congress said: that's not how laws work.

Bondi Showed Up to Congress With a Congressman's Epstein Search History

The moment that made this fight impossible to ignore happened in a House Judiciary Committee hearing room in February.

Attorney General Pam Bondi walked in carrying a binder. Photographers caught what was inside it — one page labeled "Jayapal Pramila Search History," a printed record of every Epstein file a sitting member of Congress had searched while reviewing documents at DOJ headquarters.

Bondi had been given access to members' searches on the SCIF computers the DOJ required them to use, and she brought that list to a congressional hearing as opposition research.

House Speaker Mike Johnson – one of Trump's closest allies in Washington – called it inappropriate on the spot.

Rep. Thomas Massie said the only "charitable" explanation was that DOJ wanted to improve their service by surfacing frequently sought documents — but that charitable view collapsed the moment Bondi showed up prepared with each member's search terms and what Massie called "flash cards with insults" to deploy against them.

Rep. Nancy Mace confirmed DOJ was "tagging all documents members of Congress search, open and review." Members could not bring phones or staff.

They were issued individual login credentials. Their every click was recorded — and handed to the attorney general.

James Comer Subpoenas Bondi for Epstein Deposition After Bipartisan Vote

That episode killed whatever goodwill Bondi had left on the committee.

On March 4, the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Bondi. Every Democrat voted yes. So did five Republicans: Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert, Tim Burchett, Michael Cloud, and Scott Perry. That's not a partisan squabble. That's a bipartisan verdict that the attorney general has not been straight with Congress.

The formal subpoena landed Tuesday. House Oversight Chair James Comer set the deposition for April 14 and laid out exactly what he wants to know: why did the DOJ stall, what's still locked away, and who is the department protecting?

"As Attorney General, you are directly responsible for overseeing the Department's collection, review, and determinations regarding the release of files pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act," Comer wrote, adding that the committee "therefore believes that you possess valuable insight into these efforts."

Bondi can no longer send a spokesperson. She has to sit down under oath and answer.

The DOJ's response? The subpoena is "completely unnecessary."

200,000 Redacted Pages and an Epstein Files Cover-Up Congress Can No Longer Ignore

The law that Congress passed – and that Trump signed – explicitly bars redactions made for embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity. The files go out, regardless of who is named.

That's not what happened. Roughly 200,000 pages were redacted or withheld under privilege claims. Entire categories of records that Congress explicitly ordered released – internal DOJ communications, references to third parties, evidence destruction records – were apparently excluded from the department's search entirely.

Meanwhile, Comer's committee has already deposed Bill and Hillary Clinton as part of the same probe. Their connection to Epstein is documented. Their flights are in the logs.

The DOJ has yet to explain why it narrowed its own document search while publicly claiming full compliance. It has yet to explain why Bondi walked into a congressional hearing armed with lawmakers' search histories. And it has yet to name the powerful people whose identities remain buried in 200,000 redacted pages.

April 14 is the deadline. Bondi has to sit down under oath. This time, Congress holds the binder.

Sources:

• Andi Shae Napier, "Bondi Subpoenaed by GOP Oversight Chair Over Epstein," Daily Caller News Foundation, March 17, 2026.
• James Comer, Subpoena Cover Letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, House Oversight Committee, March 17, 2026.
• "Rep. Comer Subpoenas Bondi Over Handling of Release of Epstein Files," Breitbart, March 17, 2026.
• "Comer Subpoenas Bondi to Testify Before House Oversight Committee on Epstein Files," The Washington Times, March 17, 2026.
• "Johnson Rebukes Own DOJ Over Epstein Search Tracking," The Dupree Report, February 12, 2026.
• "House Speaker Condemns Trump Justice Department Monitoring of Lawmakers' Epstein Document Review," Daily Caller News Foundation, February 12, 2026.