A congressional committee has voted to summon US Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The motion to subpoena Bondi was introduced by Nancy Mace, a Republican lawmaker, who accused the justice department of a “cover-up”.
The Trump administration has faced growing pressure across the political spectrum to release all the documents related to the probe. The congressional committee has already compelled a number of high profile people to testify in the case.
“The Epstein case is one of the greatest cover-ups in American history. His global sex trafficking network is larger than what is being revealed,” Mace wrote on social media.
Bondi and the Trump administration have faced criticism over their handling of the release of the files, including failing to black out the names of Epstein’s victims.
On Wednesday, five Republicans, including Mace, and Representatives Lauren Boebert, Tim Burchett, Michael Cloud and Scott Perry, joined Democrats on the House Oversight committee to vote in favour of the subpoena or legal summons.
“Three million documents have been released, and we still don’t have the full truth,” Mace wrote. “Videos are missing. Audio is missing. Logs are missing. There are millions more documents out there.”
Mace, who despite backing the president, has been critical of his Department of Justice’s (DOJ) handling of the Epstein files.
The justice department has released millions of documents, but millions more have yet to be released. The agency did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
Last November, Trump signed legislation passed by Congress compelling the justice department to release all material from its investigations into Epstein.
But after millions of documents were released, the agency faced bipartisan backlash, with lawmakers accusing the justice department of failing to black out some identifying information about survivors while protecting the identities of those who were not victims.
The top Democrat on the Oversight committee, Robert Garcia, has also accused the justice department of withholding files containing allegations of sexual abuse of a minor made against President Donald Trump.
Garcia said he had personally viewed documents containing the allegation that had not been made public.
The justice department has said in response that “NOTHING has been deleted”, adding that documents were withheld only if they were “duplicates, privileged, or part of an ongoing federal investigation”.
Last week, responding to a subpoena, former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before the Oversight committee.
While neither Clinton has been accused of any wrongdoing by Epstein’s victims, Bill Clinton is included in investigative files related to the sexual predator, including photos.
There is no suggestion that appearing in the Epstein documents implies wrongdoing.
By BBC News
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
