The House committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein released a batch of files Tuesday related to the late convicted sex offender amid pressure for the Trump administration to release more information on his case.
The documents stem from a subpoena House Oversight Committee chair James Comer, R-Ky., issued last month to the Justice Department. The committee on Tuesday released 33,295 pages of records, which it has referred to as a first batch of documents from the DOJ.
The content of all the records was not immediately clear, but many files had already been made public through court filings and other releases.
The committee’s investigation into Epstein comes weeks after President Donald Trump and his administration faced outrage from the both supporters and opponents for saying they would not release more files related to Epstein, despite Trump running on a promise of more transparency.
Many of the documents being released Tuesday night are public filings in the criminal cases involving Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. The documents include the types of records that have been released through the federal courts that oversaw related cases and were reported on at the time.
Examples of the previously released files include video and audio of Justice Department official Todd Blanche’s interview with Maxwell, video from inside Epstein’s West Palm Beach home following a search warrant by the Palm Beach police, video from inside the jail house where Epstein died by suicide in 2019 and audio taken by Palm Beach Police pertaining to their initial investigation into Epstein.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said that the “overwhelming” amount of pages the committee released Tuesday were already public.
“To distract from their continued White House cover-up, the DOJ released the interview between Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell is desperately seeking a pardon from the Trump Administration and cannot be trusted,” Garcia said.
“DOJ’s limited disclosure raises more questions than answers and makes clear that the White House is not interested in justice for the victims or the truth,” Garcia added. “Democrats forced a bipartisan vote to subpoena the Epstein files in their entirety, and the Administration must comply. There is no excuse for incomplete disclosures. Survivors and the American public deserve the truth.”
Garcia said that only 3% of the files released were new, and 97% were already public. A spokesperson for the Republican-led committee defended the release in responding to Garcia.
“The Trump DOJ is in compliance with the Committee’s subpoena and is providing documents on a rolling basis,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Other Democrats on the committee slammed the release as not sufficiently transparent. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said the items made public Tuesday were only a drop in the bucket of all the files.
Khanna has been working with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., on what’s known as a discharge petition to force a vote on legislation that would require the Justice Department to release all of the Epstein files, despite opposition from House GOP leadership.
Khanna called Tuesday’s release a “distraction of a document dump” that he said “will only draw more attention” to the news conference he and Massie will host Wednesday morning with some of Epstein’s victims.
Other examples of the contents of Tuesday’s release include transcripts of certain parts of hearings in the Epstein criminal case. Hundreds of files are individual pages of other reports, including a DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility investigation into the non-prosecution agreement Epstein reached in 2008 with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, which was then headed by Alex Acosta who later served as Trump’s labor secretary in his first term.
Acosta is scheduled to appear voluntarily before the Oversight committee this month after victims raised concerns about why he was not included in an earlier batch of subpoenas to people like former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The committee’s sudden release of the tranche comes as GOP leaders try to stave off an internal party revolt, as Khanna and Massie attempt to force a floor vote on their bipartisan bill to release all the Epstein files immediately.
One House Republican lawmaker who is a co-sponsor of that bill told NBC News that they communicated to both the White House and Comer that they wanted the panel to publicly release the batch of files the DOJ handed over as soon as possible, or else they may feel compelled to back Massie and Khanna’s bill.
The member said Tuesday that their message to the White House and Comer was essentially: “Don’t put me in a corner.”
A GOP leadership source told NBC News that leaders have been going all out to quash the discharge petition. That includes adding a resolution to the floor schedule this week expressing support for the Oversight Committee’s Epstein probe.
Syedah Asghar contributed.
Allison Craig is a passionate sports writer and analyst with a deep love for game strategies, player performances, and the latest trends in the sports world. With years of experience covering football, basketball, tennis, and more, she delivers insightful analysis and engaging content for sports enthusiasts.
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