House Oversight and Government Reform Chair James R. Comer announced Monday that the Justice Department will begin providing Congress with documents pertaining to sex offender and disgraced billionaire Jeffrey Epstein by the end of this week.
Earlier this summer, the committee—led by the Republican from Kentucky—voted to subpoena the Justice Department for records, initially establishing an August 19 deadline.
According to a news statement from Comer, “We have been informed by Department of Justice officials that the Department will start providing Epstein-related records to the Oversight Committee this week on Friday.” DOJ has a lot of data, and it will take time for the Department to produce them all, make sure victim information is removed, and redact any content pertaining to child sexual abuse.
However, it’s not clear which records will be transferred or whether they will contain records that haven’t been made public yet.
Earlier this summer, as President Donald Trump attempted to disassociate himself from the New York billionaire he was once acquainted with, calls for the release of Epstein-related documents, which were previously echoed by top White House officials, reached a fever pitch.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sent the House home early for its month-long recess in late July as Democrats and some Republicans pushed for the release of the so-called Epstein files, saying he wanted to allow the White House time to release information independently.
Since then, there has apparently been less interest in Epstein. Harry Enton, a CNN expert, stated last week that Epstein’s quest was going haywire.
However, Epstein will probably come back into the spotlight when members get ready to visit Washington in the upcoming weeks. Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., announced a press conference with Epstein survivors on September 3 at the Capitol, where some would be speaking up for the first time, Massie said.
Massie, who has promised to bring a discharge petition to force a vote on legislation that would require the release of Epstein-related records, wrote on social media that “the survivors deserve justice and Americans deserve transparency.”
Comer’s announcement follows former Trump attorney general William Barr’s appearance on the Hill for a committee deposition.
In a statement posted to X on Monday, ranking member Robert Garcia, D-Calif., stated that Barr’s deposition was crucial, but that the DOJ was probably going to miss the initial record-sharing date.
According to Garcia, if the bipartisan Oversight Committee does not receive the papers by tomorrow, it will be evident that the Trump Epstein Coverup is still going on. Until the victims receive real justice and the American people are given transparency, we will not give up.
Other former government officials and Epstein acquaintances, such as former FBI directors James Comey and Robert S. Mueller III, former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., and Bill and Hillary Clinton, have also been subpoenaed by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
In recent months, the White House has opposed information release. In July, Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had earlier this year proposed that Epstein’s client list be made public, stated that there was no such list. Bondi’s handling of the data provoked criticism, particularly from Dan Bongino, the FBI deputy director and conservative commentator.
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