The US House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Justice Department on Tuesday for files in the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, part of a congressional probe that politicians believe may show links to President Donald Trump and other former top officials.
The Republican-controlled committee also issued subpoenas for depositions with former president Bill Clinton, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and eight former top law enforcement officials.
The committee’s actions showed how even with members away from Washington on a monthlong break, interest in the Epstein files is still running high.
Mr Trump has denied prior knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and claimed he cut off their relationship long ago. He has repeatedly tried to move past the Justice Department’s decision not to release a full accounting of the investigation, but politicians from both major political parties, as well as many in the Republican president’s political base, have refused to let it go.
Since Epstein’s 2019 death in a New York jail cell as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges, conservative conspiracists have stoked theories about what information investigators gathered on Epstein – and who else could have been involved.
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee nodded to that line of questioning last month by initiating the subpoenas for the Clintons, both Democrats, as well as demanding all communications between former president Joe Biden’s Democratic administration and the Justice Department regarding Epstein.
The committee is also demanding interviews under oath from former attorneys general spanning the last three presidential administrations: Merrick Garland, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder and Alberto Gonzales.
Also subpoenaed were former FBI directors James Comey and Robert Mueller.
However, it was Democrats who sparked the move to subpoena the Justice Department for its files on Epstein. They were joined by some Republicans to initiate successfully the subpoena through a subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee.
“Democrats are focused on transparency and are pushing back against the corruption of Donald Trump,” Robert Garcia, who is the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told reporters last month. “What is Donald Trump hiding that he won’t release the Epstein files?”
The committee had previously issued a subpoena for an interview with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, who had been serving a prison sentence in Florida for luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by the wealthy financier but was recently transferred to a Texas facility.
However, the committee’s Republican chairman, James Comer, has indicated he is willing to delay that deposition until after the Supreme Court decides whether to hear an appeal to her conviction. She argues she was wrongfully prosecuted.
Mr Comer noted in letters to Attorney General Pam Bondi and the former officials that the cases of Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell “have received immense public interest and scrutiny.”
“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,” Mr Comer said.
The subpoenas give the Justice Department until August 19 to hand over the requested records, though such records requests are typically open to negotiation.
The committee is also asking the former officials to appear for the depositions throughout August, September and October, concluding with Hillary Clinton on October 9 and Bill Clinton on October 14.
While several former presidents, including Mr Trump, have faced congressional subpoenas, none has ever appeared before members under compulsion.
