Five Republicans on the House Oversight Committee joined their Democratic colleagues in voting to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify over her handling of the Epstein files release Wednesday afternoon.
In a 24-19 vote, the committee voted to force Bondi to sit for a deposition to face questioning about the Justice Department’s botched rollout of the files. Congress passed legislation to force the department to release millions of documents associated with the investigation into the deceased sex offender – which the department responded to past the deadline.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace had introduced a motion to subpoena the attorney general after criticizing the Justice Department for suppressing files.
“The American people want answers on the Epstein files, and so do we,” Mace wrote on X.
Mace was joined by her Republican colleagues, Reps. Lauren Boebert, Michael Cloud, Scott Perry and Tim Burchett.
Five Republicans crossed the aisle to vote to subpoena the attorney general after her botched handling of the Epstein files (Getty Images)
The subpoena vote comes one day after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick agreed to voluntarily sit for a deposition about his relationship with Epstein, his former neighbor. Lutnick had misrepresented the extent of his relationship in interviews and failed to mention he briefly visited Epstein’s island to have lunch once in 2012.
Mace had said she would subpoena Lutnick. Lutnick has denied wrongdoing associated with Epstein and not been accused of a crime associated with Epstein.
The Independent has asked the Justice Department for comment.
Bondi faced criticism from both lawmakers and the public last year after failing to deliver on her promise to release information on the government’s investigation into Epstein.
Initially, Bondi made a public show of handing conservative influencers binders full of already-public documents on Epstein. When pressed for more documents, the attorney general asserted that Epstein’s “client list” was “sitting on my desk” and waiting for review.
But later, administration officials said it wasn’t Epstein’s “client list”, but rather just a series of documents.
Eventually, the Justice Department claimed there was no other necessary public information that needed to be released about Epstein. Bondi claimed that while there were hundreds of hours of video relating to Epstein, they contained depictions of child sex abuse.
Mace has emerged as a leader in pushing for more transparency around the government’s investigation into Epstein and accountability for sexual abuse perpetrators (Getty Images)
Epstein was a convicted sex offender and accused child sex trafficker who allegedly spent years coercing young women and sometimes underage girls into his orbit to sexually abuse. Some have accused Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, of allowing powerful people to participate in abusing women and girls.
Epstein died in federal prison in 2019 before his case could go to trial. Maxwell was convicted of child sex trafficking, among other charges, in 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Even after Congress voted to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which compelled the Justice Department to release most documents associated with the investigation into Epstein, Bondi’s office delayed in complying.
Justice Department officials said in court filings that the number of redactions required to protect the identity of survivors, remove explicit depictions of abuse and maintain the integrity of ongoing litigation was a heavy undertaking. Even with hundreds of attorneys dedicated to redacting the millions of documents, it took more than two months.
Recent reports have accused the Justice Department of removing documents associated with President Donald Trump, overly redacting files, leaving sensitive information public and failing to release the entire catalogue.
Members of the House Oversight Committee have expressed outrage at the Justice Department’s delayed and mistake-ridden rollout of the Epstein files (Getty Images)
While Trump was once friends with Epstein, he has asserted that the two stopped being friends before Epstein was first convicted of soliciting prostitution in 2009. Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, and maintained their relationship ended decades ago.
The department acknowledged that it redacted information unnecessarily and released newer versions of pages with fewer redactions. It has also acknowledged that some information and explicit photos about survivors were unredacted and corrected those.
But lawmakers are dissatisfied with the, at times, chaotic rollout and are demanding answers from Bondi.
If Bondi complies, she will join several other high-profile individuals in testifying to the committee in a closed-door, recorded deposition. Former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and billionaire businessman Leslie Wexner are among those who have testified about their relationship to Epstein.
