Panel report identifies gaps in survivor access and document releases
The House Oversight Committee’s Republican majority used Tuesday’s report to press the Justice Department for a broader investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. The panel asked the department to interview “key witnesses,” investigate Epstein associates accused of criminal activity and give survivors access to their records.
The report followed a 15-month committee investigation that included 19 transcribed interviews and seven depositions. Republicans said those records showed how Epstein cultivated and leveraged relationships with powerful people and what they described as failures by federal investigators and prosecutors.
One historical focus was the controversial non-prosecution agreement and plea deal brokered for Epstein in 2008. The report linked the agreement to the federal case against Epstein being shelved at the time.
Committee chairman James Comer said, “The federal government has failed the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s horrific crimes for decades.” He also urged Congress to pass legislation he introduced that he said would keep nondisclosure agreements from deterring witnesses and survivors from speaking freely.
Comer said, “We cannot undo the horrific harm inflicted on these women,” then said: “But we must ensure that allegations of criminal activity are thoroughly investigated, survivors are protected, and those responsible are held accountable. The failures of the past must not be repeated.”
On document disclosure, the report said the Justice Department failed to adequately communicate releases after Congress enacted the Epstein Files Transparency Act last year and did not sufficiently protect survivors. It said questions remained over whether all relevant records had been released, and that deficient redactions had exposed sensitive survivor information.
The committee recommended an appropriate process through which survivors and their representatives could obtain their personal files and records without redactions. Among the report’s more specific investigative requests was further questioning and investigation of Epstein’s longtime assistant Lesley Groff. Groff testified before the panel earlier in the year that she had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes while working for him.
The report also asked the Justice Department to investigate sexual-assault allegations involving two men that another former Epstein assistant, Sarah Kellen, made. The two men denied any wrongdoing.
The Justice Department responded that the chairman’s recommendations had already been addressed. A department spokesperson also said the attorney general had repeatedly said the Epstein case was not closed and that there is no statute of limitations on human trafficking.
Robert Garcia, the committee’s ranking Democrat, called the report “misleading” and “partisan.” He said it relied on an incomplete investigation and zero public hearings, and accused the Justice Department of illegally withholding over 2.5m pages of documents.
Garcia also said there had been “no investigation of Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer” and that Attorney General Todd Blanche had not testified. In a matter of weeks, Democrats will take over the committee in the 120th Congress.
Garcia said: “We intend to hold real public hearings uplifting survivors and asking tough questions of the powerful men who associated with Epstein, including Donald Trump. Our work is just getting started.”