Federal authorities have delivered to Congress documents related to Epstein's case that were previously accessible to the public, a move that Democrats allege is unnecessary and questionable.
House Oversight Committee Receives Epstein-Related Documents
The House Oversight Committee has received a substantial amount of documents related to the investigation of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, with the Justice Department delivering 33,295 pages of transcripts, audio recordings, and other documents in response to a subpoena.
The documents, which include video footage from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York on the night of Epstein's death, Supreme Court filings from Ghislaine Maxwell, a Justice Department inspector general report, and a memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi to Kash Patel, the FBI director, were handed over to the committee.
Rep. James Comer, the committee's chair, praised the Justice Department for its speed in delivering the Epstein-related documents. However, only a small fraction of the documents, fewer than 1,000 pages, contain new information, according to Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee.
Among the new information provided are logs of flight locations of Epstein's plane from 2000 to 2014 and "forms consistent with reentry back to the U.S.". The majority of the documents (97%) were previously released by the Justice Department, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, or the Palm Beach County State Attorney's office.
The committee has not yet publicly released the files provided by the Justice Department, but plans to do so after a thorough review to ensure the redaction of victims' identification and child sexual abuse material. The Republican spokesperson for the committee declined to confirm or deny the contents of the documents, saying that the panel was continuing to review them.
Democrats and a few Republicans on the committee banded together last month to approve a subpoena for the files, forcing Comer to issue it. House Republican leaders may face a bipartisan effort early next month to force a floor vote on the public release of the files.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., plan to use a procedural maneuver to bring up a measure requiring the Justice Department to release its records to the public. Khanna, a member of the Oversight Committee, plans to press ahead with the measure to force "the full release" of the files. Khanna stated that less than 1% of the files have been released and that the Justice Department is stonewalling.
The Justice Department also provided transcripts and audio of two days of interviews between Maxwell and Todd Blanche, the department's No. 2 official. The memorandum addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel was written by a person from the U.S. Department of Justice in 2017.
Rep. Garcia stated that there is no excuse for incomplete disclosures and that survivors and the American public deserve the truth. He emphasised that the committee's review and eventual release of the documents should be done in a manner that protects the privacy and safety of the victims. The spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read also:
- Lu Shiow-yen's Challenging Position as Chair of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Under Scrutiny in Donovan's Analysis
- Indian Prime Minister Modi embarks on a seven-year absence trip to China; encounters Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin amid escalating U.S. tariffs.
- Voters in Germany are urging Friedrich Merz to apply pressure on Israel
- Enemy Forces Have Taken Ukrainian Prisoner
