Washington: United States lawmakers have voted to subpoena Donald Trump’s attorney-general, Pam Bondi, before a congressional committee over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and the release of the so-called Epstein files.
Members of the Republican-majority House Oversight Committee voted 24-19 in favour of the subpoena, with five Republicans joining the Democrats to support the move.
Bondi’s Justice Department was responsible for releasing more than 3 million pages of documents relating to its investigation of Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
But she and the department have been criticised for failing to release all the documents, redacting the names of some accused co-conspirators and releasing the personal information of some Epstein victims.
Bondi already appeared before the House Judiciary Committee in February, where she was grilled about the Epstein files and lashed out at Democrats, calling one a “washed-up loser lawyer”.
She also said members of Congress should focus on Trump’s achievements, such as the booming share market. “The Dow is over 50,000 right now,” Bondi told the hearing. “That’s what we should be talking about.”
Former president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, a former secretary of state, were the last two people to be subpoenaed by the committee investigating the Epstein matter, and gave evidence last week. It was the first time a sitting or former president had been compelled to testify before Congress.
Nancy Mace, a Republican congresswoman who led the push, said the committee wanted to know why Bondi’s Justice Department was “more focused on shielding the powerful than delivering justice”.
“The Epstein case is one of the greatest cover-ups in American history. His global sex-trafficking network is larger than what is being revealed,” Mace said.
“Three million documents have been released, and we still don’t have the full truth. Videos are missing. Audio is missing. Logs are missing. There are millions more documents out there.”
More to come
Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.
