Washington (AP) – Key House Committee We are considering a recent survey Jeffrey Epstein He works to summon President Donald Trump’s Justice Department case for sex trafficking crimes and holds deposits of Epstein’s ex-girlfriend. Ghislaine Maxwell.
Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee took action last minute House Speaker Mike Johnson, r-la. sent a lawmaker I got home early from Washington for a month’s break. The committee’s moves are evidence of increased disclosure pressure. Trump failed his supporters Move the past. But they were also just the beginning of what could become a drawn-out process.
What happens next in a House inquiry is as lawmakers have been ramping since Epstein’s death in 2019, and recently many people in the Trump administration are seeking answers in cases where many people have been brained with full accounting promises.
Epstein File Summons
The Democrats, joined by three Republicans, were able to successfully launch a subpoena from the subcommittee, just as the House had left Washington for a break in August. But that was just the beginning of negotiations for the subpoena.
The subcommittee agreed to compile the victims’ names and personal information, but in addition to that, their requests for information are very broad and covering the “unedited Epstein Files.”
Once the subpoena parameters are drafted, Democrats require that they be filled within 30 days of being provided to the Attorney General. Pam Bondy. They also proposed a list of requests for documents, including prosecutors’ decisions surrounding Epstein, documents relating to his death, and communications from the president or executive officer on the matter.
Ultimately, Republicans who control the committee have more power over the scope of the subpoena, but the fact that it was approved by a strong, bipartisan vote gives it some weight.
“We’re going to move to be more aggressive when trying to gain transparency with the Epstein Files,” said committee chair James Comer.
Will Congress abdicate Ghislaine Maxwell?
Comer said the committee staff hopes to be able to interview Maxwell under oath on August 11th at or near a federal prison in Florida.
In Congressional Deposits, subjects usually have the presence of lawyers to ensure that they answer or not answer, while maintaining civil rights. Subjects also have the ability to refuse to answer questions if it could be used against them in a criminal case, as Maxwell has already been convicted of many things she could be asked.
Maxwell has the ability to negotiate some of the terms of the deposit, and she has already implemented it. 1/2 interview with Department of Justice officials This past week.
But Democrats warn Maxwell that he is not trusted.
“This is a very complicated witness, someone who caused great harm and has to understand people who are not good to many people,” Sen. Robert Garcia, a top Democrat on the Observation Committee, told reporters this week.
The house wants to summon others
Republicans on the committee also launched a motion to summon many others, including former President Bill Clinton, former Senator Hillary Clinton and former Attorney General, who dates back to Alberto Gonzalez, who served under George W. Bush.
It’s not clear how this sweeping list of proposed subpoena will actually unfold, but Comer said, “We’re going to move it quickly.”
How does Pam Bondi comply?
Trump is like that No one is used to fighting Congressional investigations. and summons. And, like most subpoena, the Department of Justice can negotiate the terms of how it fulfills the subpoena. You can also have legal arguments about handing over certain information.
Joshua A. Levy taught Congressional investigations at Georgetown Law School and said he was a partner at Levy Firestone Muse, saying the results of the subpoena “depend on whether the administration wants to work in the home through traditional accommodation, or whether one or both sides become established in that position.”
There are several ways lawmakers can try to enforce the subpoena if Congress is not satisfied with Bondy’s reaction, or if she refuses to hand over the information. But it would require a vote to hold Bondi in the Congressional light empty.
For a political party, it is virtually unprecedented to vote to lightly empty the parliament and retain one of its members, but the Epstein saga has pushed the GOP wedge beyond political boundaries.
Increased pressure on Trump management for disclosure
Ultimately, the bipartisan vote summoning the files showed how political pressure was growing on the Trump administration to disclose the files. In this case, politics, policy and law are all tied together, and many of the Congress want to see the full accounting of sex trafficking investigations.
“We cannot allow child sex traffickers to protect individuals, particularly at the highest level of government, to child sex traffickers,” said committee member D-PA.
The Trump administration is already facing the possibility of further political tensions. When Congress returned to Washington in September, A bipartisan group of House members We are working to move forward to full house voting with a bill aimed at enforcing the release of the Epstein Files.
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