This story has been corrected to reflect that the House Oversight Committee issued the subpoenas in connection with a probe into the Jeffrey Epstein case.
WASHINGTON − Republicans on the House Oversight Committee announced Aug. 5 they have subpoenaed a host of top Democrats and former federal law enforcement leaders to appear for depositions in their probe of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, including former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The subpoenas seek testimony “related to horrific crimes perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein,” according to a statement issued by the committee chairman, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky. The committee’s Republican majority also issued a subpoena to the Department of Justice for records related to Epstein.
The subpoenas follow weeks of intensifying drama and rare dispute between President Donald Trump, who had a long friendship with Epstein, and his MAGA base. Last month, the Justice Department and FBI issued a joint statement saying they would not release Epstein investigative documents in their possession after months of promises by Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to make that information public.
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The subpoenas appear to cover when Epstein allegedly sexually assaulted young women with the help of associate Ghislaine Maxwell, which dates back more than two decades. He died by suicide while in custody awaiting trial in 2019. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence on related charges.
The committee is also probing unfounded accusations that Democrats “weaponized” the government against President Donald Trump, including investigating him for allegedly colluding with Russia in the 2016 election in which Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
The Oversight Committee voted July 23 to issue the subpoenas, and to also seek the Justice Department files, answering calls from lawmakers and voters alike for more information on the disgraced financier and sex offender.
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Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pennsylvania, offered the motion to subpoena the Justice Department itself for Epstein documents. Republican Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Brian Jack of Georgia then sided with Democrats in voting for it.
“We got the votes. Today, we got the subpoena,” Lee said in a statement posted to X. “The DOJ has 2 weeks to release the Epstein files to the Oversight Committee. Justice must apply to everyone, no matter how rich, powerful, or well-connected they are.”
An amendment by GOP Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona to include the release of all communications between President Biden and Biden Administration officials and the Justice Department “related to Jeffrey Epstein” was also adopted by voice vote at the time and included in the subpoenas, Comer said.
Those subpoenaed couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. They include six former attorneys general: Merrick Garland from the Biden administration, William Barr and Jeff Sessions from the first Trump administration, Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch from the Obama administration and Alberto Gonzales from the George W. Bush administration.
Representatives for former President Clinton and Hillary Clinton did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Justice Department didn’t respond when asked if it would comply with the subpoena.
The committee also subpoenaed former FBI Director James Comey, who served under Obama and Trump before Trump fired him in May 2017 and his predecessor, Robert S. Mueller III, who served under Obama and Bush. Trump’s second FBI director, Christopher Wray, was not among those named in the Aug. 5 committee documents describing the subpoenas.
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Another notable law enforcement official not included in the subpoenas was Alex Acosta, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, who was directly involved in negotiating a controversial 2007 plea deal that allowed Epstein to escape prison time.
A Miami Herald investigation in November 2018 revealed Acosta’s role in that deal, in which Epstein agreed to plead guilty to two state felony prostitution charges, pay restitution to his victims, register as a sex offender and serve 13 months in county jail. In February 2019, a federal judge ruled Acosta had broken the law in negotiating the plea deal by failing to notify Epstein’s underage victims of the plea deal.
Acosta served as Trump’s cabinet as secretary of labor from 2017 to 2019.
Epstein’s lawyers argued in 2019 that the lenient plea deal he struck in Florida in 2007 that allowed him to avoid federal prosecution should apply in New York − where he had just been arrested − because it was made in consultation with senior Justice Department officials.
Asked by a judge to name those officials, Epstein attorney Martin Weinberg cited “several top-level DOJ employees, including Alice Fisher, who was the head of the criminal division at the time, and Mark Filip, who became deputy attorney general in 2008,” CNN reported at the time.
Trump has been dogged by repeated questions over his nearly 15-year friendship with Epstein, which reportedly ended before the financier was first arrested for soliciting minors in 2006. Epstein was also friendly with former President Clinton.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House Oversight Committee subpoenas top Dems in Jeffrey Epstein probe
