Pam Bondi subpoenaed by House committee

The House Oversight Committee voted Wednesday to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about her handling of the Justice Department’s investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and its compliance with a law requiring the public release of all documents related to the notorious sex offender.

The committee’s 24-19 vote comes in the wake of mounting criticism of the Justice Department for not releasing all the Epstein files and reports that tens of thousands of documents previously made public have been removed from public view.

The motion to subpoena Bondi was filed earlier Wednesday by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who criticized the Justice Department for suppressing many of the Epstein files.

“AG Bondi claims the DOJ released all the Epstein files. The record is clear: they did not,” Mace said in a post on X.

“The Epstein case is one of the greatest cover-ups in American history,” Mace wrote.

Mace also posted a YouTube video showing that he agreed with the motion in the Oversight Committee.

In addition to Mace, four other Republicans joined most Democrats on the panel to vote to subpoena Republican Bondi: Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Scott Perry of Pennsylvania; Tim Burchett of Tennessee; and Michael Cloud from Texas.

CNBC requested comment from the Department of Justice.

Under the Epstein Transparency Act, passed almost unanimously by Congress last year, the Justice Department was required to publicly release all of its files on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

After making more than 3 million documents public in late January, the Justice Department said it would not release the rest of the Epstein files, which total more than 2.5 million documents.

Media outlets have since reported that the Department of Justice has removed the files from public view.

Some of the withheld files contained memos and memos related to FBI interviews, including those of a woman who alleged that President Donald Trump sexually assaulted her when she was a minor.

Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing regarding Epstein and has said he was unaware of his former friend’s criminal behavior.

CBS News reported Tuesday “As of the end of February, the Department of Justice had removed more than 47,000 files comprising approximately 65,500 pages.”