House Panel Subpoenas Attorney General Bondi Over Epstein Files

The House Oversight Committee voted Wednesday to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi, demanding she testify about the Justice Department’s handling of documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation. The bipartisan vote reflects growing frustration among lawmakers over the administration’s management of Epstein’s case files.

Five Republicans joined Democrats to support the subpoena proposed by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, signaling a rare moment of cross-party consensus on Capitol Hill. The move represents a significant rebuke of Bondi by members of her own party who have been pressing for transparency about Epstein’s crimes and his connections to powerful figures.

“The American people want answers on the Epstein files, and so do we,” Mace stated on social media platform X following the vote.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the subpoena.

The Epstein case has been a persistent political challenge for the Trump administration since last year, when Bondi sparked controversy by distributing binders of documents to conservative influencers at the White House. Those documents reportedly contained no new revelations about the disgraced financier, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

In July, after months of review, the Justice Department concluded that no Epstein “client list” existed and determined there was insufficient reason to make additional files public. This announcement triggered widespread criticism that ultimately led Congress to pass legislation requiring the department to release the documents.

The first batch of files was released in December, but critics from both parties have accused the administration of mishandling the rollout and being overly restrictive in what they’ve made public. Administration officials have defended their approach, saying their legal teams worked diligently to properly review, redact, and release millions of documents as required under the law.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the committee’s top Democrat, issued a statement following the vote: “For months, Attorney General Bondi has been instrumental in orchestrating the White House’s cover-up of the Epstein files, and has failed to comply with our bipartisan subpoena for the release of the complete, unredacted files. The American people deserve transparency, survivors deserve justice, and we are demanding answers.”

The frustration reached a boiling point during a heated congressional hearing last month, when Democrats criticized Bondi over inconsistent redactions in the Epstein files that inadvertently exposed intimate details about victims, including nude photographs. Bondi defended her department’s efforts, telling lawmakers they had promptly removed files containing victims’ information when notified and had tried to do their “very best” within the timeframe mandated by legislation.

The move to subpoena Bondi comes just one week after the Justice Department announced it was investigating whether it had improperly withheld certain documents from public release. Several news organizations reported that records containing uncorroborated accusations against former President Trump made by a woman claiming to have been sexually assaulted by both Trump and Epstein in the 1980s were not included in the files made public.

According to these reports, the massive collection of records released by the Justice Department did not include several summaries of FBI interviews with an unidentified woman who came forward after Epstein’s 2019 arrest with allegations involving both Trump and Epstein from when she was a minor.

The controversy has extended to other high-profile figures. Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently provided depositions to the committee regarding Bill Clinton’s connections to Epstein dating back more than two decades. Bill Clinton told lawmakers he “did nothing wrong” in his relationship with Epstein and saw no signs of sexual abuse. Hillary Clinton stated she had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and did not recall “ever encountering Mr. Epstein.”

As the investigation continues, the bipartisan push for transparency suggests that questions surrounding Epstein’s crimes and his connections to powerful individuals will remain at the forefront of congressional oversight efforts in the coming months.