Summer Lee leads push to subpoena Epstein files
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee led an effort Wednesday to subpoena files related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation — hours before the House was scheduled to go on break until September.
In an 8-2 vote with bipartisan support, a House Oversight subcommittee passed a motion by Lee to subpoena the Justice Department for the full release of the Epstein files.
“Today we are one step closer to justice for victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and those of his accomplices,” Lee, a Democrat from Swissvale, said in a statement after the vote. “We cannot claim to be protecting children while allowing powerful people connected to Epstein to hide in the shadows. They are not above the law.”
The Justice Department did not immediately return a message.
Lee pushed for the release of the files during a Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee meeting on Trump’s immigration policies.
In her lengthy opening remarks, Lee initially focused on how those policies have affected children. Then she shifted the focus to the Epstein files — an issue that has consumed Washington of late.
“I expect my Republican colleagues to care about this, because their constituents certainly care about child sex trafficking whether it’s through the immigration system like this hearing alleges or by a U.S. citizen facilitating other powerful U.S. citizens,” said Lee, the ranking Democratic member of the subcommittee.
“It’s time for them to prove it. Right now, Speaker (Mike) Johnson is helping Donald Trump block the release of all the files relating to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein,” Lee added. “If you want to take a stand against child trafficking, let’s do it together.”
The subcommittee is made up of seven Republicans and five Democrats.
U.S. Reps. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, the subcommittee’s chairman, and Andy Biggs of Arizona, both Republicans, were the lone members to vote against the motion to subpoena the files.
All five Democrats and three Republicans — U.S. Reps. Scott Perry of York County, Brian Jack of Georgia and Nancy Mace of South Carolina — voted in favor of Lee’s motion.
“The victims in the Epstein files deserve justice. Let’s do this the right way: verified documents, protected (victims’) identities, and credible process. In a case like this, credibility is everything,” Mace wrote on X following the vote.
The move to push for release of the files showed how Democrats were doing practically everything in their power to force Republicans to act on the matter.
Johnson — caught between demands from Trump and clamoring from his own members of the House to act — has resisted calls for action and prepared to send the House home a day early.
Johnson said earlier Wednesday there was no need for the full House to vote on legislation calling for the release of the Epstein files this week because the Trump administration is “already doing everything within their power to release them.”
Yet Democrats have delighted this week in pressing Republicans to support the release of the files. Their efforts halted the GOP’s legislative agenda for the week and turned attention to an issue that Trump has unsuccessfully implored his supporters to forget about.
The Associated Press contributed.
Tom Fontaine is director of politics and editorial standards at TribLive. He can be reached at tfontaine@triblive.com.
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