WASHINGTON – The House Oversight Committee has formally demanded the Justice Department hand over its investigatory files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Committee chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) issued a flurry of subpoenas Tuesday, including to former President Bill Clinton and previous Justice Department officials, after a subcommittee voted to authorize the subpoenas last month.
The Justice Department subpoena sets up a potential clash between congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump, a former friend of Epstein’s who has furiously insisted that speculation about the case is a distraction. The committee gave the department until Aug. 19 to produce the records.
Top officials in Trump’s Justice Department promised this year they would release investigatory files on Epstein, long a fixture of far-right conspiracy theories, only to reverse course in July and say “no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”
Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) forced a vote during a subcommittee hearing last month to subpoena the Epstein files, and the motion was approved by all Democrats, plus three Republicans — Reps. Brian Jack (Ga.), Scott Perry (Pa.) and Nancy Mace (S.C.).
