GOP-led House panel votes to subpoena Justice Department on Epstein files
A Republican-led House subcommittee took a notable bipartisan step Wednesday by approving a subpoena demanding Justice Department documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
This vote comes despite President Trump’s repeated efforts over the past two weeks to shut down congressional inquiries into Epstein’s files. Many Republicans on the House Oversight Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement have long publicly supported greater transparency on the Epstein case, placing them in a difficult position, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The subpoena passed with an 8-2 margin. Only Chair Clay Higgins (R-La.) and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) opposed it. Notably, Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), and Brian Jack (R-Ga.) sided with Democrats, while some right-wing Republicans such as Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) were absent.
Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), the panel’s ranking member, introduced the motion during an unrelated hearing on the “crisis of unaccompanied alien children,” catching many GOP members off guard just before the August recess.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), ranking member of the full Oversight Committee, commented, “Republican members, including the chair, have all called to release the Epstein files. Now they have the chance to make true on their words.”
Chair Higgins told Axios he opposed the subpoena as too broad and expressed concern about protecting the investigation’s integrity. “We want transparency and an investigation,” he said, “but we can’t injure the integrity of that investigation by using blunt instrument enforcement.”
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