A Home Oversight subcommittee voted Wednesday to subpoena the Division of Justice to launch the Jeffrey Epstein recordsdata.
The movement handed by a vote of 8-2. Notably, three GOP lawmakers — Reps. Nancy Mace, Scott Perry and Brian Jack — joined with Democrats on the subcommittee to approve the subpoena, defying Republican management.
The Home Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer should signal the subpoena earlier than it may be formally issued, per committee guidelines. Comer plans to log out on the subpoena, a Republican committee supply advised ABC Information.
The highest Democrat on the subcommittee, Rep. Summer time Lee, initially provided the movement.
Audrey Strauss, performing U.S. lawyer for the Southern District of New York, factors to a photograph of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, throughout a information convention in New York on July 2, 2020.
John Minchillo/AP, FILE
Republicans on the committee pushed again and amended the subpoena to additionally embody communications by Biden administration officers and the DOJ. These officers embody Invoice and Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Robert Mueller, William Barr, Jeff Periods and Alberto Gonzales.
Oversight Rating Member Rep. Robert Garcia stated in a press release that the subcommittee’s vote on Wednesday “was simply step one towards accountability, and we are going to proceed pushing for the reality.”
“Right now, Oversight Democrats fought for transparency and accountability on the Epstein recordsdata and received. Home Republicans did not make it straightforward, however the movement was lastly handed to power the Division of Justice to launch the Epstein recordsdata,” Garcia stated.
The information comes the identical day Home Oversight Committee Chairman Comer on Wednesday issued a subpoena to Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted affiliate of Jeffrey Epstein, for a deposition to happen at Federal Correctional Establishment Tallahassee on Aug. 11.
“The information and circumstances surrounding each your and Mr. Epstein’s circumstances have acquired immense public curiosity and scrutiny,” Comer wrote in a press release Wednesday.
Maxwell was convicted of intercourse trafficking and different prices and sentenced to twenty years in jail in 2022.
“What we’re speaking about right here is somebody who’s in federal jail on enchantment, so our attorneys must talk along with her attorneys to see if there are phrases, if she needs,” Comer stated earlier than the subpoena was issued. “If there are not any phrases, we’ll roll in there fast.”
The state of affairs will likely be just like Comer’s effort to interview Jason Galanis, a former enterprise associate of Hunter Biden and Devon Archer, throughout the GOP’s impeachment inquiry of then-President Joe Biden.
“I did that with [Jason] Galanis, and the Democrats had been actual offended that we might wish to interview anybody in jail. However now you recognize they’re, they’re all they wish to interview somebody in jail,” Comer stated.
The committee has proven a propensity to document video of the interviews and launch content material afterwards — because it did with a number of former Biden officers who invoked their fifth Modification rights earlier this summer time — so it is potential there may very well be handout video from the deposition.
Individually, Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi stated Monday that Deputy Lawyer Todd Blanche will meet with Maxwell someday within the “coming days.”
President Donald Trump final week stated on his social media platform that he had ordered the Justice Division to “launch all Grand Jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, topic solely to Court docket Approval.”
Comer has additionally signaled that the circumstances of a closed-door deposition at a federal jail may entice each Democrats and Republicans to attend the interview.
“There will likely be so many members of Congress that’ll wish to be in that jail,” Comer stated. “I might assume that there will be a whole lot of members of the Oversight Committee on each — in each events that’ll wish to be there.”
Ghislaine Maxwell attends VIP Night of Dialog for Ladies’s Mind Well being Initiative, Moderated by Tina Brown at Spring Studios on October 18, 2016 in New York Metropolis.
Sylvain Gaboury/Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan by way of Getty Photos
A congressional subpoena is a proper authorized order issued by a congressional committee or particular person compelling their testimony.
David Oscar Markus, appellate counsel for Maxwell, stated in a press release to ABC Information that Maxwell “seems ahead” to assembly with Blanche and that assembly will inform how she proceeds with the subpoena.
“As for the congressional subpoena, Ms. Maxwell is taking this one step at a time. She seems ahead to her assembly with the Division of Justice, and that dialogue will assist inform how she proceeds,” he stated.
Markus additionally responded to feedback from Home Speaker Mike Johnson earlier Wednesday questioning Maxwell’s credibility as a witness.
“In the event that they see match to herald Ghislaine Maxwell for testimony, that is superb. I’ll observe the plain concern, the caveat that Chairman Comer and I and everybody has that might she be counted on to inform the reality? Is she a reputable witness?” Johnson stated to reporters.
“We perceive Speaker Johnson’s basic concern — Congress ought to all the time vet the credibility of its witnesses. However on this case, these issues are unfounded. If Ms. Maxwell agrees to testify earlier than Congress and never take the fifth — and that continues to be an enormous if — she would testify in truth, as she all the time has stated she would and as she is going to with Mr. Blanche. The reality shouldn’t be feared or preemptively dismissed,” Markus stated in a press release.
