House panel subpoenas Clintons and other ex-officials in Epstein probe, seeks files from DOJ

CBS News

2 days ago

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 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."
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.
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.
House Republicans put forth a non-binding resolution last month to make the files from the federal probe into Epstein public, but Speaker Mike Johnson said the lower chamber would not vote on it until September, when lawmakers return from their break.