'We should take this vote': MAGA Republican defends siding with Democrats on Epstein files

On Wednesday, a House of Representatives subcommittee overwhelmingly passed a motion to subpoena the Department of Justice (DOJ) for its unreleased evidence pertaining to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein with bipartisan support.

CNN congressional correspondent Manu Raju reported that the motion passed the House Oversight Committee's Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee by an 8-2 margin, with Reps. Brian Jack (R-Ga.), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Scott Perry (R-Pa.) voting with Democrats on the Democratic-sponsored motion. Mace reiterated that she planned to amend the motion to redact the names of victims from the materials.

"This fight is coming, and it's here," Mace said. "I made it part of my life's mission to protect women and kids. And I think that I'm ready to take this vote, I think we should take this vote, and move forward, move this country forward. Victims deserve justice and the people deserve transparency."

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How soon the full House Oversight Committee — which is chaired by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) — could vote on the motion remains unknown. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) prematurely ended the House of Representatives' work week in order to send members home before a planned vote on a separate Republican-sponsored motion to release the Epstein files, which is spearheaded by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)

Mace's support of the motion comes on the same day as the Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report that Trump himself is named in the Epstein files. The Journal's sources confided to the paper that Attorney General Pam Bondi told the president in May that he was mentioned multiple times in a "truckload" of Epstein-related documents the DOJ has yet to release.

According to ABC News, the FBI's public index of evidence it categorized in the 2019 federal investigation into Epstein includes hundreds of gigabytes of data on multiple devices, along with logbooks of visitors to Epstein's private compound in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The FBI also has logs of boat rides to and from Epstein's "Little Saint James" island, which may shed light on possible co-conspirators and accomplices.

"The evidence also includes multiple lists, one vaguely described as a 'document with names' and an employee contact list," ABC reported in July. "Investigators also recovered pages of handwritten notes, multiple photo albums, an Austrian passport with Epstein's photograph and more than a dozen financial documents."

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Watch Raju's interview with Mace below, or by clicking this link.