Bipartisan anger over the US Department of Justice’s slow release of Jeffrey Epstein documents ‍is growing amid a threat to hold Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt of Congress.

Former US president Bill Clinton is also seeking ​the immediate release of any documents involving him.

“The DOJ needs to quit protecting the rich, powerful, and politically connected,” Representative Thomas Massie, a maverick conservative Republican from Kentucky, ⁠said in a post on X.

The Justice Department released thousands of documents on Friday related to Epstein, a convicted sex offender who committed suicide in 2019.

The saga over the Epstein files, which has been dragging on for years, has caused a rift within the Republican Party, with MAGA supporters, who make up President Donald Trump’s core voters, clamouring for full disclosure of Epstein documents.

Trump has at times called the episode a Democratic “hoax” but also has signed into law ‌a bill requiring the ​full disclosure.

Massie and liberal Democratic Representative Ro Khanna, of California, said they were working together, along with other unnamed lawmakers, on an ‍effort to dislodge documents surrounding investigations of convicted sex offender Epstein.

The two lawmakers said in an interview on MS Now that if necessary they would seek contempt-of-Congress charges in the House of Representatives for Bondi next month.

They said that if their demands were not met following a “30-day grace period” they would work to have Congress seek fines of up to $US5000 ($A7512) per day until the documents are dispatched.

Also on Monday, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer introduced legislation that would instruct ​Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, to undertake “appropriate” legal steps to gain Congress’ access ‌to all the documents covered by legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by Trump.

It was not clear whether his effort might advance in the Senate when it returns on ​January 5 from a holiday recess.

Meanwhile, Clinton spokesman Angel Urena issued a statement urging Bondi ‍to immediately release any remaining materials in the Epstein case that refer to Clinton in any way, including photographs.

“Someone or something is being protected. We do not know whom, what or why. But we do know this,” Urena said, adding, “We need no such protection.”

Urena said there is “widespread ​suspicion” ​the Justice Department is “using selective releases to imply wrongdoing about individuals ​who have already been repeatedly cleared by the very same Department of Justice”. ​

The Justice Department on Friday and Saturday sent to Congress two batches of Epstein documents, which failed to silence critics’ attacks on how the effort was being handled.

The department’s release of files so far includes roughly 3900 files featuring documents and photos, including a full scanned copy of the book Massage for Dummies, a fully redacted 119-page grand jury filing and a police report in which a young woman alleged that Epstein threatened to burn down her house.

The files also contain images of Clinton, actor Kevin Spacey, Michael Jackson and other political figures and high-profile celebrities – including disgraced Hollywood figure Brett Ratner, who has made a new documentary about US First Lady Melania Trump.

The agency failed to meet its deadline of last Friday for complying with a “transparency” law requiring broad release of remaining Epstein files.

On Monday, a group identifying itself as survivors of abuse by Epstein complained in a statement that the public so far has received “a fraction of the files” and that those were “riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation”.

They added that some victim identities were left ‍unredacted.

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–Reuters