The fight over the Jeffrey Epstein files just escalated dramatically on Capitol Hill.
In a tense and deeply divided vote Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee approved a subpoena forcing Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about the Justice Department’s handling of millions of records tied to the late financier and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The Republican-led committee voted 24–19 to compel Bondi to appear. The push was led by Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who accused the Justice Department of withholding critical evidence tied to Epstein’s powerful network.
Several Republicans broke ranks to support the subpoena alongside Democrats. Among them were Reps. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Michael Cloud of Texas and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
The vote signals growing frustration in Congress over what many lawmakers believe is an incomplete release of documents connected to one of the most infamous sex trafficking cases in modern American history.
Mace blasted the Justice Department shortly after the vote, accusing officials of misleading the public about the scale of the disclosures.
“AG Bondi claims the DOJ has released all of the Epstein files. The record is clear: they have not,” Mace wrote on social media.
She went further during remarks to reporters, calling the Epstein scandal one of the biggest institutional cover-ups in the country.
“The Epstein case is one of the greatest cover-ups in American history,” 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.”
Mace said the subpoena will require Bondi to provide closed-door testimony before the committee, though the video of the interview is expected to be released publicly afterward. A date for the testimony has not yet been scheduled.
The congresswoman made clear she plans to press the attorney general aggressively.
“I have a lot more questions,” Mace said. “And I don’t expect to be talking about the stock market.”
Her remark referenced Bondi’s heated appearance before the House Judiciary Committee last month, when she defended the Justice Department’s record and pointed to economic indicators under President Donald Trump.
The clash centers on the massive trove of government records tied to Epstein’s sex trafficking operation, which prosecutors say victimized more than 1,000 girls and young women.
Congress forced the issue last year by passing the Epstein Files Transparency Act. President Donald Trump signed the measure into law in November, ordering federal agencies to release the bulk of investigative materials within 30 days.
The Justice Department says it has already released more than three million pages of records, including roughly 180,000 images.
During her previous testimony, Bondi defended the agency’s work.
“More than 500 attorneys and reviewers spent thousands of hours painstakingly reviewing millions of pages to comply with Congress’s law,” Bondi told lawmakers. “We’ve released more than 3 million pages while doing our very best to protect victims.”
But critics in Congress say the release has been incomplete and overly redacted.
Lawmakers say the department has turned over only about 30,000 documents directly to Congress — many of which had already been made public.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed earlier this year that another three million documents still exist but remain withheld. He said many are duplicates, while others are protected by legal privileges such as attorney-client communications or internal Justice Department deliberations.
That explanation has not satisfied key lawmakers.
The bipartisan authors of the transparency law — Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California — argue that the statute specifically requires the release of internal DOJ communications about decisions to investigate or decline to prosecute Epstein and his associates.
The controversy intensified this week after reports surfaced that tens of thousands of Epstein-related files had disappeared from the public database.
Justice Department officials insist the records were not deleted.
In a statement, the agency said 47,635 files were temporarily taken offline for additional review while staff work to remove personal information and sensitive material involving victims.
“Our team is working around the clock to address victim concerns, redact personally identifiable information and any images of a sexual nature,” a department spokesperson said.
Officials say the documents should be reposted once the redactions are complete.
Still, the missing records have fueled suspicion among both lawmakers and Epstein survivors, who have repeatedly criticized how the files have been handled.
Some documents were heavily redacted, concealing the identities of alleged accomplices. At the same time, critics say certain records appeared to expose victim information that should have been protected.
Adding another layer to the controversy are reports that summaries of FBI interviews with a South Carolina woman who claimed to be an Epstein victim were not included in the public release.
According to analysts reviewing the files, three interview summaries appear to be missing from the database.
The woman reportedly made sexual abuse allegations against Epstein and also referenced President Donald Trump during those interviews.
The White House dismissed the claims when they first surfaced, calling them false and politically motivated.
“Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump,” a Justice Department statement said when the files were released earlier this year. “The claims are unfounded and false.”
Law enforcement authorities have never accused Trump of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. The president has said he cut ties with Epstein decades ago after deciding he was, in his words, “a creep.”
With Bondi now facing a subpoena and millions of documents still under scrutiny, the Epstein files saga is far from over.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say the American public deserves full transparency about who may have helped enable Epstein’s international trafficking operation.
For the House Oversight Committee, the upcoming testimony could become one of the most explosive hearings in Washington this year.
And for victims who have waited years for answers, the pressure on the Justice Department is only growing.
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