Washington — The House Oversight Committee issued subpoenas Tuesday to a slew of former attorneys general and FBI directors, as well as former President Bill Clinton, for testimony about the case involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The subpoenas seeking depositions from the former Justice Department officials were issued after Republicans and Democrats on a House Oversight subcommittee approved measures to authorize the demands last month as part of efforts by Congress to obtain more information about Epstein.
House investigators also issued a subpoena to Attorney General Pam Bondi for documents related to the Justice Department's investigation into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his associate who is serving a 20-year prison sentence. The department confirmed it received the subpoena but did not comment further.
The committee is seeking testimony from Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as from officials spanning the past four presidential administrations: former Attorneys General Merrick Garland, Bill Barr, Alberto Gonzales, Jeff Sessions, Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder, and former FBI Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller. Sessions and Barr led the Justice Department during President Trump's first term. Lawmakers are seeking information from the Clintons because of the former president's past ties to Epstein and Maxwell in the early 2000s.
Letters to the officials from Kentucky Rep. James Comer, a Republican who leads the Oversight Committee, are all similar. The records from the Justice Department must be turned over by Aug. 19, according to the Oversight committee, and depositions are scheduled for throughout August, September and October.
"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," Comer wrote, adding 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."
A spokesperson for Clinton said in 2019 after Epstein was indicted on federal charges that the former president took four trips on Epstein's plane in 2002 and 2003, traveling to Europe, Asia and Africa. Angel Ureña, the spokesperson, said the trips included stops in connection with the Clinton Foundation, and staff, foundation supporters, and Clinton's Secret Service detail were on every leg of every trip. Clinton also had a meeting with Epstein in 2002 and made "one brief visit" to Epstein's apartment with a staff member and his secretary detail, Ureña said.
"President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago or those with which he has been recently charged in New York," he said, adding that Clinton hadn't spoken to Epstein in more than a decade and had never been to his island, New Mexico ranch or Florida residence.
Former presidents have not successfully been compelled to testify before Congress, but several have voluntarily answered questions from committees, including Presidents Gerald Ford in 1983, Harry Truman in 1955 and William Howard Taft on numerous occasions, according to the Senate.
Epstein was charged with federal sex trafficking crimes in 2019 and died by suicide in jail while awaiting trial. He had been investigated by federal authorities in Florida in the 2000s, though that ended in a federal non-prosecution agreement and a guilty plea on state prostitution charges in 2008.
But Congress has renewed its focus on Epstein after the Justice Department and FBI released a memo last month that concluded Epstein did not have a "client list" of prominent figures and confirmed he died by suicide. The memo also found that there was no "credible evidence" that the disgraced financier blackmailed prominent people. The Justice Department and FBI said they did not plan to release any further information about Epstein's case.
The findings rankled some of Mr. Trump's supporters, who are skeptical that there is nothing else regarding Epstein's case to make public. Amid the backlash, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell late last month for two days in Tallahassee, where she was serving her sentence before being moved to a minimum-security facility in Texas last week.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for her role in helping Epstein recruit, groom and abuse underage girls. An appeal of her conviction is currently awaiting action from the Supreme Court. The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Maxwell for testimony last month and set a deposition for Aug. 11. But Comer offered to delay the interview while the Supreme Court considers whether to take up her case. The justices are set to weigh her petition at a closed-door conference Sept. 29, but do not have to act on it immediately.
Comer said the committee will "engage in good faith negotiations" around the deposition, but would not grant her congressional immunity or send her its questions in advance — two requests by Maxwell's attorney.
Blanche and Bondi have also asked federal judges in New York to unseal transcripts from the grand jury proceedings in Epstein and Maxwell's cases, though federal rules typically require matters before grand juries to be kept secret.
Beyond the moves by the Justice Department, lawmakers have pushed for files related to Epstein to be released to the public. A clash of House members over the material led the House to scrap votes and leave Washington early for its monthlong summer recess.
