Five Republicans on the House oversight committee joined with Democrats to subpoena the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, as part of the ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
The House oversight committee voted 24-19 to approve a motion introduced by Republican representative Nancy Mace to compel Bondi to testify. In addition to Mace, Republican representatives Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Michael Cloud of Texas, and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania voted for the motion.
In an X post announcing the motion’s passage, Mace wrote: “The American people want answers on the Epstein files, and so do we.”
The motion comes amid growing criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle of the Department of Justice’s failures regarding the Epstein files, including accidentally releasing the names of survivors and redacting, without explanation, the names of people who may have committed crimes.
Mace has been a staunch critic of Bondi over her handling of the files.
Representative Ro Khanna, a Democratic member of the committee, wrote on X that “we can hold the Epstein class accountable if we are willing to cross the aisle and build a coalition of accountability”.
In February, Bondi attacked and insulted Democrats during a House judiciary committee hearing as she defended the justice department’s handling of the files related to Jeffrey Epstein. “You’re a washed-up loser lawyer. You’re not even a lawyer,” she said to Representative Jamie Raskin at one point during the contentious hearing.
Bondi avoided addressing questions about the way the department has handled the files, instead choosing to praise Donald Trump’s handling of the economy.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.