A subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight voted Wednesday to subpoena the Department of Justice for files in the trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
Three Republicans on the panel voted with Democrats for the subpoena, sending it through on an 8-2 vote tally. Republican subcommittee chairman, Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, said that work to draft the subpoena was beginning.
The vote came just hours before the House was scheduled to end its July work session and depart Washington for a monthlong break. House Speaker Mike Johnson has adjourned Major business in the House ahead of Congress’ August recess to avoid contentious votes on Epstein-related matters as the President Donald Trump 's administration faces intense public pressure to release more information about the deceased predator.
Earlier Wednesday, a judge rejected the Justice Department's request to unseal transcripts from grand jury investigations of Epstein years ago in Florida, saying the request doesn’t meet any of the extraordinary exceptions under federal law that could make them public. A similar records request is still pending in New York.
Here’s the latest:
Bondi facing Democratic calls to testify following report she told Trump he was in Epstein files
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump his name was among many high-profile figures mentioned in the files.
Trump’s personal ties to Jeffrey Epstein are well-established and his name is already known to have been included in records related to the wealthy financier, though the mention does not imply wrongdoing.
“We need to bring Bondi and (FBI Director Kash) Patel into the Judiciary Committee to testify about this now,” Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said in response to the report in a video posted on X.
The Justice Department issued a joint statement from Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche saying “nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution.”