Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight Committee say they want the same thing: justice for the victims of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
But whether the committee’s investigation is wrapping up or just starting will depend entirely on the November election.
Republicans leading the investigation now are finishing interviews and a report as the midterm elections near, hoping to prompt the Justice Department to investigate individuals from the network surrounding Epstein. Democrats, who think they’ll control the panel in January, say there’s a lot more to mine before the probe is over.
Republicans, led by Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Kentucky), are finalizing plans to wrap up their Epstein investigation as the midterm elections near, with Comer indicating that the committee will probably make criminal referrals in the case. Top Justice Department officials signaled earlier this year there would be no more prosecutions after a review of millions of files related to Epstein.
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“The Department of Justice said the case was closed when we started it,” Comer told NOTUS about the probe into the network surrounding Epstein.
He predicted a report and criminal referrals from his panel will force new action from the Justice Department, even if that work continues after his tenure.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say the case will be reopened when we’re done.”
Comer, who is term-limited in his position at the top of the committee even if Republicans keep the House, has hauled a list of 19 high-profile witnesses in for closed-door interviews. Some witnesses including former President Bill Clinton and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told the committee they barely knew Epstein and had no knowledge of his crimes. Others, such as billionaire Leon Black, detailed a closer relationship with Epstein but issued the same denials about any illegal activity related to sexual misconduct.
Among the witnesses are people with deep ties to Republican and Democratic figures. The group includes billionaire Les Wexner, a longtime Democratic donor; former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr; former Obama White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler; and former Trump Labor Secretary Alex Acosta.
Black, who has donated significantly to both parties, drew intense scrutiny from investigators in the past few months. The private equity billionaire told investigators he paid Epstein over $150 million for tax and estate planning between 2012 and 2017. That was after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 in Florida to soliciting prostitution from a minor. Comer issued subpoenas after Black declined to answer some of the panel’s key questions during a voluntary interview in June: one subpoena for a deposition, and another for nondisclosure agreements that lawmakers maintain are between Black and women who may have been associated with Epstein. Black has turned over one NDA to investigators, a source familiar with the matter said.
Investigators say they’re looking into whether any witnesses lied during their testimony.
According to Comer, victims have said some of the people deposed have made untrue statements. “We’re doing everything in our ability, and we’re going to continue to work with the victims,” Comer said.
Democrats have criticized Republicans’ handling of the Epstein probe, pointing out that witnesses were not required to testify under oath and that Comer did not publicly release recordings of most of the interviews (save for Bill and Hillary Clinton).
California Rep. Robert Garcia, currently the top Democrat on the oversight panel, is in line to take over if his party wins the House and says the investigation has a lot more ground to cover.
“There’s no question that the investigation will continue into the next couple of years,” Garcia told NOTUS. “The fact that the chairman has been unwilling to put most of the interviews under oath is really problematic, and there’s a lot of folks who are still going to have more information.”
But Randall Eliason, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told NOTUS that the fight over whether to swear in witnesses is mostly about “atmospherics” and that “legally, it doesn’t matter.”
“Whether or not you are under oath, lying to Congress during an investigation is a crime,” Eliason said. “It certainly wouldn’t prevent someone from bringing criminal charges if they thought the elements were there.”
Despite their criticisms of Comer’s probe, Democrats told NOTUS they would support criminal referrals stemming from the investigation.
“I’d want to wait and see who exactly Chairman Comer is considering, but we would be supportive of going after folks,” Garcia told NOTUS. “We think there’s enough evidence for the Justice Department to take stronger action.”
California Rep. Ro Khanna, another Democrat on the panel who teamed up with Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie to force the release of the files, told NOTUS he supports criminal referrals.
“We need a call to remove people with serious allegations from their positions on important corporations or boards, or having their names on important buildings,” Khanna said. “And we need a clear call for the release of the rest of the files.”
The Justice Department released about 3.5 million pages of documents related to the Epstein investigation after a veto-proof majority of Congress passed a bill forcing the federal government to publicly turn them over. Batches of the files were released late last year, featuring heavy redactions and the accidental release of sensitive information related to victims. The Justice Department withheld more than 2 million pages, citing the privacy of victims, privileged information and other legally protected content.
Comer is still planning to bring in several additional witnesses before concluding the investigation this fall. Black is scheduled to return for another interview with the committee on Sept. 3. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who could be confirmed by the Senate to permanently take the top post at Justice soon, is supposed to speak with the panel after that process concludes. Blanche, who at the time was the no. 2 official at the DOJ, oversaw the release of the Epstein files, according to former Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The White House and Blanche are under public pressure to show they are responding to questions about Epstein’s misconduct and the unreleased Epstein files.
President Donald Trump ran in 2024 vowing to bring those involved in illegal actions to justice, but last summer began dismissing the political controversy surrounding the files as a “hoax” conjured by political foes.
Blanche faced questions about his handling of the Epstein investigation during his Senate confirmation process. He told the committee there are “no closed investigations” in regard to Epstein’s crimes.
“If we learn today, if we learn next week, if we learn next month that there’s an individual we can investigate, indict and prosecute out of the Epstein files, you better believe that we will,” Blanche said at his confirmation hearing in July.
This summer, Comer told NOTUS he wanted to hold public hearings with some of Epstein’s victims, and signaled that he is working closely with victims as he moves to conclude the probe. It would be the first public hearing on the Epstein investigation.
Wrapping up the investigation means Comer must navigate the rocky internal politics inside his own party. Vice President JD Vance recently criticized the administration’s handling of the files in a podcast interview, a sentiment Comer echoed. But the congressman, like the vice president, has also downplayed Trump’s connection to Epstein, sharing the president’s argument that Democrats are engaged in a political witchhunt: “All [Democrats] care about on Epstein is Trump,” Comer told NOTUS.
Massie pointed to Vance’s comments as proof of the delicate balance some Republicans are trying to strike.
“[Vance is] at the same time trying to put daylight between himself and the debacle of the Epstein files that’s been committed by this administration, and also try to ameliorate the damage that’s been done there,” Massie told NOTUS.
For Democrats waiting in the wings to take over the investigation, there is a massive hole in the probe that they want to fill in.
“Quite frankly, there’s a lot of unanswered questions about the president,” Garcia said. “Until we get those 3 million documents released by the DOJ, this investigation is not going to be over.”
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