The political dam that has protected President Donald Trump from the Epstein scandal for years could lastly be beginning to crack — and Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi now finds herself standing instantly within the flood zone.
For months, Bondi has been accused by critics of deploying each maneuver potential to defend Trump from the fallout — slow-walking doc releases, defending sweeping redactions and, extra lately, dealing with questions on whether or not data tied to the Epstein investigation quietly disappeared from public view. Now that simmering controversy is colliding with one thing much more harmful: a rising insurrection inside Trump’s personal social gathering.
That strain burst into the open Wednesday when the Home Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Bondi and compel her testimony in regards to the Justice Division’s dealing with of the Epstein information after a number of Republicans broke ranks and sided with Democrats to power the transfer ahead.
The vote — 24 to 19 — landed regardless of a last-minute effort from committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., to dam the subpoena and defend the legal professional normal from direct questioning.
5 Republicans in the end joined Democrats to demand Bondi testify below oath: Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Michael Cloud of Texas and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
For a Congress that has largely marched in lockstep behind Trump since his return to energy, the second represented one thing much more harmful than one other routine oversight combat. It signaled that Trump’s personal social gathering could also be dropping persistence with the administration’s dealing with of the Epstein scandal — and that Bondi’s effort to maintain the fallout contained is starting to fray.
Earlier than the vote, Comer made a last push to cease the subpoena. The Kentucky Republican informed colleagues that Bondi’s chief of employees had assured him the legal professional normal would privately temporary lawmakers in regards to the Epstein investigation, arguing {that a} subpoena was pointless.
Because the vote started to tilt towards approval, Comer made one final enchantment to the committee, reminding members that the legal professional normal had supplied to “are available and provides briefings.” The warning fell flat.
Below committee guidelines, Comer should now situation the subpoena requiring Bondi to look for a closed-door deposition below oath — a setting the place officers can not depend on the political theater of televised hearings or fastidiously rehearsed speaking factors.
The vote itself immediately ignited fierce reactions on-line, the place critics framed the second as lengthy overdue accountability.
“Straight to jail. Put her in one of many ICE focus camps,” one commenter wrote on Threads.
Others dismissed the event as political theater until it results in actual penalties.
“Subpoena her to listen to what?? Extra of her Burn Ebook?? They should lower the crap and cease with the optics. They’re not getting wherever along with her, and so they comprehend it,” one other put up learn. “Prosecute her for mendacity below oath, demand the REST of the information, and produce within the at the moment FREE, ALIVE AND WELL males named by the victims!!!”
One other response captured the skepticism surrounding Washington investigations.
“Theater. So sick of it. Name us when there are CONSEQUENCES,” one consumer wrote.
Others argued lawmakers ought to take a tougher line when Bondi testifies.
“And lower her mic off if she received’t reply questions. Wtf, folks, it’s 2026. We’ve got the ability to do that.”
One other commenter declared extra bluntly: “BREAKING: The dam is breaking for Trump in Washington.”
The strain surrounding Bondi has been constructing for months, fueled by rising anger on Capitol Hill over the Justice Division’s dealing with of Epstein-related proof and doc releases.
The division has launched tens of millions of pages tied to the Epstein investigation in waves, however as a substitute of calming the controversy, the disclosures have repeatedly fueled new questions. Lawmakers from each events have accused Bondi and Deputy Lawyer Normal Todd Blanche of slow-walking the method or withholding materials regardless of laws requiring transparency across the information.
The Justice Division additionally confronted outrage earlier this 12 months after inadvertently publishing dozens of unredacted nude photographs and figuring out particulars related to victims — a mistake legal professionals for survivors described as “life threatening.”
However maybe essentially the most troubling revelation entails data that quietly vanished from public view.
A kind of paperwork — a Justice Division spreadsheet cataloging proof shared with prosecutors and protection legal professionals within the Epstein case — now returns a easy “web page not discovered” when accessed on-line.
Archived variations of the file inform a much more sophisticated story.
Buried within the data was a reference to at the least 4 FBI interviews carried out in 2019 with a lady who accused Trump of violently assaulting her when she was between 13 and 15 years previous.
In response to reviews, a 21-page slideshow included allegations that someday between 1983 and 1985 Trump compelled the lady to carry out oral intercourse. When she bit down on his uncovered penis, he allegedly punched her within the head and kicked her out. The lady later informed investigators that Epstein launched her to Trump in 1984.
These interviews have been referenced in inside Epstein case supplies however later disappeared from the publicly accessible Justice Division database.
Impartial journalist Roger Sollenberger reported that FBI brokers deemed the lady a “credible accuser,” although authorized consultants observe that the designation doesn’t imply the allegations have been verified.
What the data do present is sustained investigative curiosity.
Justice Division supplies point out the FBI interviewed the lady at the least 4 occasions in 2019 — on July 24, Aug. 7, Aug. 20 and Oct. 16. Three of these interviews have been accompanied by FBI notes that have been later offered to Ghislaine Maxwell’s protection crew as a part of normal proof sharing.
That spreadsheet documenting the fabric was as soon as publicly accessible. It isn’t anymore.
The Justice Division has not defined why the file disappeared, whether or not different data tied to the identical case are lacking or how eradicating public entry aligns with the administration’s repeated assurances that the Epstein disclosures have been full and clear.
Now, with Bondi dealing with a subpoena and Republicans starting to fracture over the difficulty, the technique that when helped include the Epstein fallout could also be reaching its breaking level.
For Trump and the legal professional normal who has labored aggressively to defend him, the subsequent part of the scandal will unfold below oath — and below much more scrutiny than earlier than.
