Justice Department to begin giving Congress files from Jeffrey Epstein
investigation, lawmaker says
[August 19, 2025]
By ERIC TUCKER
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has agreed to provide to
Congress documents from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking
investigation, a key House lawmaker said Monday in announcing a move
that appears to avert, at least temporarily, a potential separation of
powers clash.
The records are to be turned over starting Friday to the House Oversight
Committee, which earlier this month issued a broad subpoena to the
Justice Department about a criminal case that has long captivated public
attention, recently roiled the top rungs of President Donald Trump's
administration and been a consistent magnet for conspiracy theories.
“There are many records in DOJ’s custody, and it will take the
Department time to produce all the records and ensure the identification
of victims and any child sexual abuse material are redacted,” Kentucky
Rep. James Comer, the Republican committee chair, said in a statement.
"I appreciate the Trump Administration’s commitment to transparency and
efforts to provide the American people with information about this
matter.
A wealthy and well-connected financier, Epstein was found dead in his
New York jail cell weeks after his 2019 arrest in what investigators
ruled a suicide. His former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted
in 2021 of helping lure teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein
and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
The House committee's subpoena sought all documents and communications
from the case files of Epstein and Maxwell. It also demanded records
about communications between Democratic President Joe Biden’s
administration and the Justice Department regarding Epstein, as well as
documents related to an earlier federal investigation into Epstein in
Florida that resulted in a non-prosecution agreement.
It was not clear exactly which or how many documents might be produced
or whether the cooperation with Congress reflected a broader change in
posture since last month, when the FBI and Justice Department abruptly
announced that they would not be releasing any additional records from
the Epstein investigation after determining that no “further disclosure
would be appropriate or warranted."
[to top of second column]
|
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., speaks to
reporters as he arrives for a deposition with former Attorney
General Bill Barr, on Capitol Hill, Monday, Aug 18, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
That announcement put the Trump administration on the defensive,
with officials since then scrambling both to tamp down angry
questions from the president's base and also laboring to appear
transparent.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed Maxwell at a
Florida courthouse over two days last month — though no records from
those conversations have been made public — and the Justice
Department has also sought to unseal grand jury transcripts in the
Epstein and Maxwell cases, though so far those requests have been
denied.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment Monday.
The House Oversight panel separately issued subpoenas to eight
former law enforcement leaders as well as former Democratic
President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton.
Bill Clinton was among a number of luminaries acquainted with
Epstein before the criminal investigation against him in Florida
became public two decades ago. Clinton has never been accused of
wrongdoing by any of the women who say Epstein abused them.
_____
Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington
contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
