US lawmakers vote to subpoena Justice Department for Jeffrey Epstein files
American politicians have voted to subpoena the Department of Justice for files related to the sex trafficking investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
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Democrats sitting on a subcommittee of House Committee on Oversight pushed Republican lawmakers into voting on the issue on Wednesday afternoon after House Speaker Mike Johnson chose to send Congress home early for August.
Three Republicans voted with Democrats on the subpoena motion, sending it through on an 8-2 tally.
Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, Republican chairman of the subcommittee, said that work was beginning to draft the subpoena but did not give a timeline.
The committee has agreed to redact information of the victims, and Democrats pushed back on calls by Republicans to only publish 'credible' information.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, said: "Democrats are focused on transparency and are pushing back against the corruption against Donald Trump. What is Donald Trump hiding that he won’t release the Epstein files?"
Read more: Donald Trump 'told his name features multiple times in Epstein files'
Read more: US judge rejects justice department bid to unseal Epstein grand jury materials
The House Committee on Oversight also passed a motion to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's girlfriend who is currently serving time in prison for sexual offences, to testify before officials in August.
It was announced earlier this week that Maxwell will meet with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche 'in the coming days' to directly ask her what she knows about the Epstein case.
The Trump administration has come under fire after taking a stance that there was no further evidence regarding Epstein's clients to share with the public and confirming that he did die by suicide in 2019.
“They’re fleeing our work, our job and sending us back home because they don’t want to vote to release these files. This is something that they ran on. This is something that they talked about: the importance of transparency, holding pedophiles accountable,” said Rep. Summer Lee, the Pennsylvania Democrat who pushed for the subpoena.