The House Oversight Committee issued numerous subpoenas on Tuesday, including one to the U.S. Department of Justice for files in the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
Nearly a dozen subpoenas have been issued and include high-profile Democratic and Republican figures, seeking information and files related to the late sex offender, following calls for more transparency in the case.
Former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, his wife, have been subpoenaed for testimony, Fox News reports, as well as a slew of former attorneys general and FBI directors.
FILE – Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton listen during the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025.
Jacquelyn Martin / The Associated Press
House investigators have also issued a subpoena to current Attorney General Pam Bondi for documents related to the investigation into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend and associate who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.
“While the Department undertakes efforts to uncover and publicly disclose additional information related to Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell’s cases, it is imperative that Congress conduct oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell,” Kentucky Rep. James Comer, a Republican who leads the oversight committee, wrote in his letter to Bondi, The Hill reports.
Comer added that the oversight panel “may use the results of this investigation to inform legislative solutions to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations.”
In addition to Clintons, the 10 other individuals subpoenaed for closed-door depositions between August and October are former attorneys general Merrick Garland, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder and Alberto Gonzales, and former FBI directors James Comey and Robert Mueller.
The records from the Justice Department must be turned over by Aug. 19, according to the oversight committee.
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Although the House Oversight Committee is controlled by Republicans, it was Democrats who sparked the move to subpoena the Justice Department for its files on Epstein. They were joined by some Republicans to successfully initiate the subpoena through a subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee.
“Democrats are focused on transparency and are pushing back against the corruption of Donald Trump,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told reporters last month. “What is Donald Trump hiding that he won’t release the Epstein files?”
It’s part of a congressional probe that lawmakers believe may show links to Trump and other former top officials.
Maxwell has also been subpoenaed by the oversight panel, but last week it agreed to delay her deposition until after the Supreme Court considers her petition to overturn her sex trafficking conviction.
The committee’s actions showed how, even with lawmakers away from Washington on a month-long break, interest in the Epstein files is still running high. Trump has repeatedly tried to move past the Justice Department’s decision not to release a full accounting of the investigation, but lawmakers from both parties, as well as many in the president’s political base, have refused to let it go.
Separately on Tuesday, the Justice Department said in a court filing that much of the information presented to the grand jury that indicted Maxwell has already been made public.
Last month, Trump instructed Bondi to seek the release of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury material, as he sought to quell discontent from his base of conservative supporters and congressional Democrats over his administration’s handling of documents from the cases.
“Much of the information provided during the course of the grand jury testimony – with the exception of the identities of certain victims and witnesses – was made publicly available at trial or has otherwise been publicly reported through the public statements of victims and witnesses,” the Justice Department wrote in the filing, according to Reuters.
Last month, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell to see if she had any information about other people who may have committed crimes. Neither party has provided a detailed account of what they discussed. Maxwell last week was moved from a prison in Florida to a lower-security facility in Texas.
Grand juries meet in secret to guard against interference in criminal investigations, and records of their proceedings cannot be disclosed without a judge’s permission.
The Justice Department has cited what it calls continuing public interest in the cases in asking Manhattan-based judges Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer to authorize the disclosure of the grand jury transcripts.
Lawyers for Epstein, Maxwell and their accusers are due to share their views on the potential disclosures with the judges by Tuesday.
Epstein was known for socializing with wealthy and powerful individuals, and his death in jail has fuelled conspiracy theories that other prominent people may have been involved in his crimes and that he was murdered.
Trump, a Republican, had promised to make public Epstein-related files if re-elected and accused Democrats of covering up the truth. But in July, the Justice Department said a previously touted Epstein client list did not exist, angering Trump’s supporters.
— With files from Reuters and The Associated Press
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