What We’re Covering Today
Epstein files: The House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena the attorney general, Pam Bondi, to testify about the Justice Department’s handling of the case against Jeffrey Epstein and the release of its files on the matter. The 24 to 19 vote by the Republican-led panel to force a cabinet member to testify was a rebuke to the Trump administration. Read more
Noem testimony: Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee pressed Homeland Security Kristi Noem about immigration enforcement and new restrictions they want to put on federal agents in exchange for funding her department. Ms. Noem, in her second day of hearings on Capitol Hill, faced little scrutiny from Republicans on the committee, who blasted the Biden administration’s border policies. They also highlighted people whose family members have been killed by undocumented immigrants to justify the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Read more
Autopen: The Justice Department examined whether former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. or his aides broke the law by using an autopen to sign documents, but prosecutors ultimately abandoned the case, according to three people briefed on the matter. President Trump seized on the unsubstantiated theory, and the inquiry is a window into how he has used government in his efforts to punish his political foes. Read more
House panel votes to subpoena Pam Bondi over Epstein files.
A key House committee voted on Wednesday to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to compel her to testify about the Justice Department’s investigation of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and its release of investigative material about him, after Republicans sided with Democrats to insist on it.
Over the objection of the panel’s Republican chairman, Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, five Republicans on the Oversight Committee joined Democrats to force approval of the subpoena, which was introduced by Representative Nancy Mace, Republican of South Carolina.
Attorney General Pam Bondi offered to brief members of the House Oversight Committee on the Justice Department’s handling of its investigative material around Jeffrey Epstein, according to the committee’s chairman, Representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky.
Comer’s announcement came after Representative Nancy Mace, Republican of South Carolina, moved to force the committee to subpoena Bondi. A vote is still expected on that effort.
Representative Nancy Mace, Republican of South Carolina, has pushed for the Oversight Committee to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi about the Justice Department’s handling of its Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
Mace moved to subpoena Bondi during an unrelated hearing. The committee is expected to vote on the subpoena later this afternoon.
Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, will testify in the House Epstein investigation.
Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, agreed on Tuesday to sit for an interview with the House Oversight Committee about his relationship with the sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Mr. Lutnick, a billionaire businessman, lived next door to Mr. Epstein in New York. Until recently, he had claimed to have cut ties with Mr. Epstein in 2005, after he made a visit to the Manhattan townhouse where the authorities said Mr. Epstein engaged in sexual acts with underage girls.
The inspector general for D.H.S. accuses Noem of obstructing his work.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday pushed back against allegations that she and her deputies had “systematically obstructed the work” of the department’s inspector general, as he complained in a letter to Congress this week.
“He can have access to anything at the Department of Homeland Security; he can,” Ms. Noem said during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, her second appearance on Capitol Hill this week.
The hearing has concluded, capping off two days of testimony from Kristi Noem. Democrats and Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee largely stuck to their talking points on immigration. Republicans blasted the Biden administration’s border policies and highlighted people whose family members have been killed by undocumented immigrants to justify the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Democrats grilled Noem over the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, again asking her to apologize for describing them as domestic terrorists.
Representative Daniel Goldman, Democrat of New York, asked Noem whether she would rule out sending immigration agents to polling sites during the midterm elections. Noem said there were no current plans to do so. Pressed again to commit to ruling it out, she said that Democrats’ focus on the issue indicated that they expected unauthorized immigrants to vote. Homeland security officials have ramped up efforts to investigate voting by noncitizens in response to President Trump’s baseless claim that voting by undocumented immigrants is rampant. An initial review of immigrant voting, commissioned by the Trump administration, has provided no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
