WASHINGTON (AP) – House Oversight Committee summoned the Department of Justice on Tuesday over files from a sex trafficking investigation Jeffrey Epsteinpart of a Congressional investigation that lawmakers believe may provide links to the president. Donald Trump Other former senior officials.
The Republican Control Committee has also issued subpoenas for deposits with former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and eight former law enforcement officers.
The committee’s actions showed that even if lawmakers were away from Washington on a month-long break, interest in the Epstein Files remains high. Trump has denied prior knowledge of Epstein’s crimes He claimed he cut off their relationship Long ago, he repeatedly tried to move the Department of Justice’s decision not to announce the full accounting of the investigation. But like many of the Republican president’s political foundations, lawmakers from both major political parties refused to let it go.
Since Epstein’s death in a New York prison awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, conservative conspiracyists have surprised theories about what intelligence agents gathered for Epstein and what anyone else could have been involved. Republicans on the House Oversight Committee nodded to their line of questioning last month by launching subpoenas for both Democrats, by demanding all communication between President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration and the Department of Justice regarding Epstein.
The committee also requests interviews under oath from the former attorney general, spanning the last three presidential administrations: Merrick Garland, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder and Alberto Gonzalez. The lawmakers also summoned former FBI directors James Comey and Robert Mueller.
However, it was Democrats who sparked the move to summon the Department of Justice for the files on Epstein. They joined in by some Republicans and successfully launched subpoena through a House Oversight Committee subcommittee.
“Democrats are focused on transparency and are opposed to Donald Trump’s corruption,” Sen. Robert Garcia, a top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told reporters last month. “What does Donald Trump hide that he won’t release the Epstein Files?”
The committee had previously issued subpoenas for an interview with Ghislaine MaxwellEpstein’s ex-girlfriend was serving a sentence in Florida for inviting a sexually abused teenage girl to a wealthy financial institution, but recently Transferred to Texas facility. However, Rep. James Kommer, the committee’s Republican chairman, has shown that he is willing to delay the deposit until the Supreme Court decides whether or not to hear her appeal for conviction. She alleges that she was wrongfully charged.
