Top House investigators issued a subpoena on Tuesday ordering Attorney General Pam Bondi to appear before the panel for a deposition about Jeffrey Epstein.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican, said the committee wants Ms. Bondi to appear on April 14.
“As attorney general, you are directly responsible for overseeing the [Department of Justice’s] collection, review, and determinations regarding the release of files pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and the committee therefore believes that you possess valuable insight into these efforts,” Mr. Comer told Ms. Bondi in Tuesday’s letter.
Both parties say they are fed up with the delays in releasing the Epstein files, which were ordered to be fully disclosed under a law President Trump signed in November.
Bipartisan frustration with the Justice Department over withheld Epstein documents pushed lawmakers on the oversight committee to vote earlier this month to subpoena Ms. Bondi.
Lawmakers believe the Justice Department is shielding wealthy and powerful men who abused Epstein’s victims.
“The committee may use the results of this investigation to inform legislative solutions to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations,” Mr. Comer said in his letter.
The subpoena follows the department’s release of thousands of Epstein-related documents, including ones with unverified claims of Mr. Trump engaging in sexual misconduct that date back to the 1980s.
Democrats accused the department of withholding the files because they include four FBI interviews of a woman who said Mr. Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1980s when she was a minor.
The president has denied participating in Epstein’s sex crimes and said he broke off his friendship with Epstein by 2007, a year before Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Epstein was a sex offender and financier who cultivated deep ties to high-level political and business leaders.
Allegations of sex trafficking of minors, and possible associations with high-level figures in those activities, sparked a congressional investigation and interest in the so-called “Epstein files.”
The documents detail Epstein’s correspondence and other activities before he died in prison in 2019.
• Susan Ferrechio contributed to this story.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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