DOJ set to release Epstein docs to House committee

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Justice Department will comply with a House subpoena for documents related to the government’s investigation of the disgraced late financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, a top Republican lawmaker announced Monday.

The move comes just a day before the House Oversight Committee’s stated deadline for the agency to begin sharing its information on Epstein, and as former Attorney General William Barr sat for a deposition to discuss his role in the probe.

In a statement, Kentucky Representative James Comer, the top lawmaker on the Oversight Committee, said that the Justice Department had agreed on Friday to provide its Epstein records, and that the first transmissions would begin this week.

He also suggested that it could be a while before all those documents ended up in congressional hands.

“There are many records in DOJ’s custody, and it will take the department time to produce all the records and ensure the identification of victims and any child sexual abuse material are redacted,” Comer said. “I appreciate the Trump administration’s commitment to transparency and efforts to provide the American people with information about this matter.”

The so-called “Epstein files,” documents related to the federal government’s investigation of the late New York financier and convicted sex trafficker, have become a political flashpoint on Capitol Hill after the Justice Department in July announced that it would not publish any more Epstein documents — despite suggestions from Attorney General Pam Bondi and others that a release was forthcoming.

Democrats in particular seized on the White House’s move, framing it as an effort to shield President Donald Trump from any information in the Epstein files that could tie him to one of the country’s most prolific sex offenders. Democratic lawmakers repeatedly tried to force Republicans into voting on measures aimed at making the Epstein documents public.

The Oversight Committee’s Justice Department subpoena was the product of such political pressure, as were a raft of other legal summonses issued to attorneys general and FBI directors from several presidential administrations, as well as former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.

At least one of the subpoenaed officials, former Trump administration Attorney General William Barr, has already sat for a deposition with lawmakers.

The Justice Department, meanwhile, had until Tuesday to respond to its congressional subpoena.

But despite the agency’s apparent willingness to comply, it’s unclear whether Democrats will come away satisfied. California Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, said in a statement Monday that if lawmakers didn’t receive the Epstein filed by the panel’s Tuesday deadline, it would “be clear the Trump Epstein coverup continues.”

“The most critical thing the Oversight Committee needs for its investigation is the full, complete and unredacted Epstein files, including any ‘client list,’ Garcia said. “We will not stop until we have true justice for the victims, and transparency for the American people.”

The Justice Department last month said that it had not uncovered any evidence of a “client list,” the reported compendium of Epstein’s contacts and partners which theorists had said would tie a group of powerful people to the late financier’s crimes. The agency also concluded that there was not enough evidence to open any new investigation into “uncharged third parties.”

Trump himself at first sought to tamp down interest in the Epstein files, urging Americans — including many of his own supporters — to leave the issue alone.

But the president has since changed his tune, saying that he would like to see the documents made public and directing the Justice Department to attempt to unseal grand jury information related to the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s onetime partner and co-conspirator.

Maxwell has also reemerged as a central figure in congressional Democrats’ scrutiny of the Trump administration and its approach to the Epstein case.

Democratic lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee last week demanded that the Justice Department hand over a transcript of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s interview with Epstein’s accomplice, who until recently was serving a 20-year sentence in a Florida federal prison.

Democrats cast suspicion on the timing of Blanche’s meeting with Maxwell and her transfer to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas, accusing the Trump administration of tampering with a potential witness.

Congress in July issued a subpoena to Maxwell, demanding that she sit for a deposition at the Tallahassee, Florida, correctional facility. Her interview with lawmakers was initially scheduled for last week, before she was moved to the Texas prison.

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