James Comer Says Oversight Will Hold Public Hearings on Epstein

Rep. James Comer said he plans to end his tenure atop the House Oversight Committee by holding public hearings on Jeffrey Epstein, including possible testimony from some of his accusers, and issuing a report on the committee’s investigation before he shifts to a likely campaign for governor of Kentucky in 2027.

“We want to know the truth,” Comer said on the On NOTUS podcast. “In the end, I would like to have a public hearing. I’ve invited many of the survivors to testify. They’re still trying to make a decision as to whether they want to. I’m not gonna force them to testify, but at the end of the day, we will do some type of report.”

“Hopefully we can have testimony from some of the people that were victimized by Epstein and [Ghislaine] Maxwell,” Comer said.

Comer, who is limited to three terms as House Oversight Committee chair by GOP conference rules, said he expects the committee’s report to contain criminal referrals.

“We’ve found enough that I believe the Department of Justice should look into certain people,” Comer said. “We’re gonna do everything we can to hold anyone accountable who’s still alive.”

Despite his pledge for an official report, Comer said he still fears it will be rejected by the public, much like the Warren Commission report on President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, because of the proliferation of conspiracy theories.

“You go through Martin Luther King, the UFO files, anything where there’s a lot of conspiracy theories, there’s always gonna be a segment of the population that don’t believe it,” Comer said. “I think a lot of the stuff circulating on the internet about the Clintons or [Bill] Gates, I don’t think is 100% accurate, but people will never believe that.”

Comer, who lost the Kentucky Republican gubernatorial primary in 2015 by 83 votes, said he’s already touring the commonwealth ahead of a 2027 run, and attributes his strong starting position in the polls to his years spent appearing on television from his perch on the Oversight Committee.

“My name ID, thanks to Fox News and Newsmax and other media outlets, is very high,” Comer said. “Being on Fox News every day has changed my life.”

With his tenure on the Oversight Committee ending, Comer said he still supports a 2024 bill he introduced with former Rep. Katie Porter (D-California) that would place limitations and oversight on presidential business dealings.

But absent any law, Comer said he believes the dealings of President Trump and his family are aboveboard.

“President Trump has been transparent,” Comer said. “You may not like the business deal, but this is a business family. … [Trump] has been a major business player for a long time. We’ve never had a president like that. So for better or worse, they’re gonna have deals. Businesspeople are always making business deals.”

Comer said he believes the difference between the business dealings of President Trump’s family and President Joe Biden’s family while in office is openness.

“To my knowledge, [the Trump family] has been truthful and transparent about everything, whereas the Bidens lied every step of the way,” Comer said.

Looking to November, Comer said he expects Republicans to keep control of the House, but said that if Democrats control the House Oversight Committee, they would “abuse their power.”

“Do you want Republicans utilizing their subpoena power and their resources, uh, going after waste, fraud, and abuse of tax dollars? Or do you want Democrats using all that to go after Donald Trump and embarrass Republicans and harass Republicans? Because that’s what they’re gonna do,” Comer said.

On NOTUS is a weekly podcast where NOTUS reporters talk to lawmakers about their work in Washington and what motivates them. You can download or listen here.

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