House committee votes to subpoena Attorney General Bondi to answer questions over the Epstein files

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Oversight Committee voted Wednesday to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to answer questions over the Justice Department's handling of files regarding the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation.

Five Republicans joined Democrats to support the subpoena proposed by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace in a sign of continued frustration among conservatives with the department's review and release of a tranche of documents related to the disgraced financier. The move amounted to a sharp rebuke of Bondi by Republicans who have been clamoring for information about Epstein's abuse of young girls and his interactions with rich and powerful people.

“The American people want answers on the Epstein files, and so do we,” Mace, of South Carolina, said in a post on X.

The Justice Department had no immediate comment on the subpoena.

The Epstein files remain a political headache for the Trump administration more than a year after Bondi sparked backlash by handing out binders of documents with no new revelations to conservative influencers at the White House. Then, after a months-long review, the Justice Department in July said it had concluded that no Epstein “client list” existed and there was no reason to make additional files public.

That set off a furor that prompted Congress to pass legislation demanding that the Justice Department release the files. Since the first release in December, critics have accused the administration of fumbling the rollout and withholding too many documents. Administration officials have said lawyers worked as quickly as possible to properly review, redact and release millions of documents required under the law.

“For months, Attorney General Bondi has been instrumental in orchestrating the White House’s cover-up of the Epstein files, and has failed to comply with our bipartisan subpoena for the release of the complete, unredacted files," Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said in a statement. “The American people deserve transparency, survivors deserve justice, and we are demanding answers.”

Bondi has defended the department’s handling of the files and has accused Democrats of using the furor over the documents to distract from Trump’s successes, even though some of the most vocal criticism has come from members of the president’s own party.

During a fiery congressional hearing last month, Democrats excoriated Bondi over haphazard redactions in the Epstein files that exposed intimate details about victims and included nude photographs. Bondi told lawmakers that the Justice Department had taken down files when it was made aware that they included victims’ information and said staff had tried to do their “very best" in the time frame allotted by the legislation mandating the release of the files.

The move to demand Bondi's testimony comes a week after the Justice Department said it was looking into whether it had improperly withheld documents from the files after several news organizations reported that some records involving uncorroborated accusations made by a woman against Trump were not among those released to the public.

That announcement followed news reports saying that a massive tranche of records released by the Justice Department did not include several summaries of interviews that the FBI conducted with an unidentified woman who came forward after Epstein’s 2019 arrest and claimed to have been sexually assaulted by both Trump and Epstein when she was a minor in the 1980s.

Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, recently sat with lawmakers on the committee for their own depositions over the former Democratic president’s connections to Epstein from more than two decades ago.

Bill Clinton told members of Congress on Friday that he “did nothing wrong” in his relationship with Epstein and saw no signs of Epstein’s sexual abuse. Hillary Clinton told lawmakers she had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes and did not recall “ever encountering Mr. Epstein.”

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. Speaks outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center before the arrival of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center, after testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

FILE - Former President Bill Clinton speaks in the Cash Room of the Treasury Department during an event for the anniversary of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund,, Nov. 21, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., speaks outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center where former President Bill Clinton was testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration is expanding its crackdown on state Medicaid programs to New York, launching a fraud probe in the state a week after it said it was freezing nearly $260 million in Medicaid funding in Minnesota over similar accusations.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announced Tuesday that the Trump administration identified concerning trends in New York’s Medicaid program and demanded that state officials provide details about their handling of fraud, waste and abuse within 30 days or risk deferred payments.

“Heart surgeons are trained to look at the numbers,” Oz, a former celebrity heart surgeon, said in a video on Tuesday. “Right now, the numbers coming out of New York’s Medicaid program don’t add up.”

The new investigation is part of an administration-wide initiative to address fraud around the country, which federal officials say is needed to rein in runaway spending and protect taxpayers. With many midterm voters concerned about affordability, Trump has ramped up those efforts, announcing that Vice President JD Vance would help balance the nation’s budget by spearheading a national “war on fraud.”

Targeted Democratic state officials have decried the Republican administration's moves as politically motivated and potentially disastrous for the millions of people who rely on the health care safety net for low-income Americans.

In a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, Oz wrote that the state's spending levels combined with “serious concerns” about its oversight of certain Medicaid services demand “immediate investigation, corrective action and enhanced transparency.”

The letter flagged specific areas of concern, including a high proportion of New York's Medicaid beneficiaries receiving personal care services related to daily living activities like bathing, grooming and meal preparation.

New York’s soaring Medicaid costs have long vexed the state’s governors and were a top priority of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who grappled for years with the program's spiraling price tag as residents age and receive additional benefits. The state's program, which cost $115.6 billion in the 2025 fiscal year, provides health care for about 1 in 3 New Yorkers and spends more per person for care than Medicaid programs in any other state.

Hochul has also tried to rein in costs through an overhaul of how a home health care program is administered.

Asked Wednesday by reporters about Oz’s letter, Hochul said the Trump administration is targeting a Democrat-led state for political reasons but added, “I will have to stand up and show them the truth and show them the facts, that they’re wrong. When there is fraud I will help them fight it.”

Hochul's office said the fraud investigation was an attempt by the Trump administration to rip health care away from everyday New Yorkers. CMS said in an emailed statement that ensuring states comply with federal rules is “a core part of the agency’s federal oversight role.”

The New York investigation comes less than a week after CMS halted Medicaid payments to Minnesota over fraud concerns. Oz said the money would be delivered only after Minnesota implements “a comprehensive corrective action plan."

The administration had previously cited allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Minneapolis-area Somali residents as a reason for a massive federal enforcement surge there. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, called the new funding freeze “targeted retribution.”

Minnesota on Monday sued the Trump administration over the deferred payments. The state is also appealing CMS withholding $2 billion in annual Medicaid funds announced in early January.

Earlier this year, Oz announced that CMS had sent letters to Democratic governors in Maine and California demanding more information or corrective action on alleged fraud in government health programs in those states.

In the days after receiving Oz's letter last month, Maine Gov. Janet Mills said she wouldn't be intimidated by the administration and called the request “a political attack." The 30-day timeline he gave her to respond or risk losing Medicaid payments is set to expire this week. A spokesperson for Mills didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Maine is facing a political attack from a president who uses allegations of fraud as a pretense to send ICE and other weaponized federal agents into states led by Democrats with devastating consequences.

The Trump administration has sought to withhold funding from Democratic-led states at least two other times in recent months citing fraud concerns. It happened with child care subsidies and other social services programs in Minnesota, New York and three other states and with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 22 states that have declined to hand over data that the federal government says is needed to catch fraud.

In both those cases, judges have ruled that the money must continue to flow for now.

Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks at a news conference on efforts to combat fraud, in the Old Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks during a news conference in the Old Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)