Senior Democrat on House Oversight Committee calls on Pam Bondi to release Epstein files | Jeffrey Epstein
The top Democrat on a congressional panel investigating the government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case demanded Wednesday that Attorney General Pam Bondi hand over files on the alleged sex trafficker, citing revelations in a prominent abuse survivor’s posthumous memoir.
Virginia Giuffre’s memoir “Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Struggling for Justice,” published this week, details how she was set up and manipulated by Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell.
In Congress, the House Oversight Committee is investigating the government’s handling of the trial of Epstein, who died in 2019 while in federal custody. In his letter to Bondi, the panel’s ranking Democrat, Robert Garcia, said the prosecutor should turn over more documents about the case, citing details of Epstein and Maxwell’s abuse that Giuffre revealed in her book.
“Virginia Giuffre’s allegations are heartbreaking and horrific, including testimony that prominent world and American leaders committed sexual abuse and sex trafficking of girls and young women. Ms. Giuffre clearly contradicts the agency’s claim that the Epstein files do not warrant further investigation,” Garcia said in a statement.
He called on the Justice Department to comply with the subpoena approved by members of the Republican-led committee in August, writing to Bondi: “Your refusal to release the files and your continued disregard for the congressional subpoena raise serious questions about your motives.”
Concerns about the Epstein case heightened in July, when the Justice Department announced that the alleged sex trafficker had died by suicide and there was no list of his clients to be released. This contradicts the claims of Trump and Bondi, as well as conspiracy theories claiming that Epstein was at the center of a larger conspiracy.
In response, the House Oversight Committee opened its investigation into the government’s handling of the case, while the Trump administration moved unsuccessfully to release transcripts of the grand jury that indicted Epstein. A senior Justice Department official also interviewed the imprisoned Maxwell, and she was later transferred to a lower security prison.
Trump condemned the protest against Epstein as a “Democrat hoax.” Despite this, three House Republicans have joined all Democrats in a petition that will force a vote on legislation to release files related to the case, which is expected to be resolved once the ongoing government shutdown ends.
Giuffre died by suicide in April of this year at the age of 41. After The Guardian newspaper published excerpts from her memoirs last week, British Prince Andrew abandoned all honors and the use of the title Duke of York. He has denied allegations that he sexually assaulted Giuffre when she was 17, and admitted no liability when settling a civil case she brought for £12 million (about $16 million).
The investigation by the House Oversight Committee led to the publication of an obscene drawing allegedly made by Trump for Epstein’s 50th birthday. Tens of thousands of pages of documents have already been published, many of which are already public.