A House investigation that the G.O.P. has tried to use to deflect calls for more transparency has yielded striking revelations that have only fueled the Epstein saga.
As Republicans sought to show movement on the issue this year, Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, issued subpoenas to an array of sources, including for a broad set of documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate.
Proponents of fuller transparency used an arcane rule to prod their leaders to act. When it became clear they had succeeded, the speaker agreed to hold a vote.
Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina was one of the Republicans who signed a petition requiring the House to vote on a measure requiring the full release of the Justice Department’s files about the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In a message obtained by Congress, the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein wrote that Donald J. Trump spent hours at his house with one of Mr. Epstein’s victims.