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Tag: House Oversight Committee

  • Epstein emails say Trump ‘knew about the girls’ and spent time with a victim

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    More documents related to Jeffrey Epstein were handed over to the House Oversight Committee this week, including the letter and drawings signed with President Donald Trump’s name in the so-called birthday book. Now ahead of the public release on Monday, Democrats on the committee posted on social media revealing the page first reported on by the Wall Street Journal back in July. While old images circulating online of his signature on other documents do seem to resemble the signature in the. The president has repeatedly denied writing the letter and sued the Wall Street Journal for defamation. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said in part, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it. The committee also released Epstein’s last will and testament, entries from his address book and the 2007 non-prosecution agreement between Epstein and the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. The panel has been investigating the Epstein case and subpoenaed the estate for documents as part of its ongoing probe. We’ve got *** lot more documents we expect to get in. Uh, we’re gonna bring *** lot of people in for depositions, so this investigation is moving along very rapidly and hopefully we’ll get some answers for and some justice very soon. But some say the committee isn’t going far enough. In *** separate effort, *** bipartisan pair of House lawmakers is working to force *** vote on *** measure calling for the full release of documents related to Epstein. They need 218 signatures on *** discharge petition in order to bypass leadership and force the vote, reporting at the White House, I’m Julie Vanbrook.

    Epstein emails released by Democrats say Trump ‘knew about the girls’ and spent time with a victim

    Updated: 8:11 AM PST Nov 12, 2025

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    Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2011 email that Donald Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with a victim of sex trafficking and said in a separate message years later that Trump “knew about the girls,” according to communications released Wednesday.The emails made public by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee add to the questions about Trump’s friendship with Epstein and about any knowledge he may have had in what prosecutors call a yearslong effort by Epstein to exploit underage girls. The Republican president has consistently denied any knowledge of Epstein’s alleged crimes and has said he ended their relationship years ago.The messages are part of a batch of 23,000 documents provided by Epstein’s estate to the Oversight Committee. The release resurfaces a storyline that had shadowed Trump’s presidency during the summer when the FBI and the Justice Department abruptly announced that they would not be releasing additional documents that investigators had spent weeks examining, disappointing conspiracy theorists and online sleuths who had expected to see new revelations.In an April 2, 2011, email to Ghislaine Maxwell, an Epstein girlfriend now imprisoned for conspiring to engage in sex trafficking, Epstein wrote, “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump. (Redacted name) spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. police chief. etc. im 75 % there.”Maxwell replied the same day: “I have been thinking about that.”The name of the person said to have spent time with Trump was blacked out of the email, but House Democrats identified the person as a “victim.”In a separate 2019 email to journalist Michael Wolff, who has written extensively about Trump, Epstein wrote of Trump, “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt accused the Democrats of having “selectively leaked emails” to “create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”She said in a statement that the unnamed person referenced in the emails is Virginia Giuffre, who had accused Britain’s Prince Andrew and other influential men of sexually exploiting her as a teenager and who died by suicide in April. Andrew has rejected Giuffre’s allegations and said he didn’t recall meeting her.Leavitt said in a statement that Giuffre had “repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions.”“The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre,” the statement said. “These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments, and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again.”Giuffre came forward publicly after an initial investigation ended in an 18-month Florida jail term for Epstein, who made a secret deal to avoid federal prosecution by pleading guilty instead to relatively minor state-level charges of soliciting prostitution. He was released in 2009.In subsequent lawsuits, Giuffre said she was a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, club, when she was approached in 2000 by Maxwell.Epstein took his own life in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges.Lawyers for Maxwell, a British socialite, have argued that she never should have been tried or convicted for her role in luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. She is serving a 20-year prison term, though she was moved from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas after she was interviewed in July by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

    WASHINGTON —

    Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2011 email that Donald Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with a victim of sex trafficking and said in a separate message years later that Trump “knew about the girls,” according to communications released Wednesday.

    The emails, made public by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, add to the questions about Trump’s friendship with Epstein and about any knowledge he may have had in what prosecutors call a yearslong effort by Epstein to exploit underage girls. The Republican president has consistently denied any knowledge of Epstein’s alleged crimes and has said he ended their relationship years ago.

    In one 2011 email to Ghislaine Maxwell, an Epstein girlfriend now imprisoned for conspiring to engage in sex trafficking, Epstein wrote, “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.” He added that Trump had “spent hours at my house” with a person whose name is blacked out of the emails but who House Democrats identified as a “victim.” Epstein wrote that Trump “has never once been mentioned.”

    In a separate email to journalist Michael Wolff, who has written extensively about Trump, Epstein wrote of Trump, “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”

    The White House did not immediately return a message seeking comment Wednesday.

    Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges.

    Lawyers for Maxwell, a British socialite, have argued that she never should have been tried or convicted for her role in luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. She is serving a 20-year prison term, though she was moved from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas after she was interviewed in July by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

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  • Trump ‘knew about the girls,’ Jeffrey Epstein claimed in emails as Democrats, GOP release trove of records

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    Donald Trump “spent hours at my house” and “knew about the girls,” Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier accused of orchestrating sex trafficking of young women and underage girls, wrote in private emails released Wednesday by House Democrats.

    The release of a small batch of Epstein’s communications sent shock waves through Washington, prompting a panicked defense of the president from White House aides who accused Democrats of colluding with the media to smear him. It also triggered Republican lawmakers to release an additional 20,000 documents from Epstein’s private estate, a move Democrats said was designed to distract from the implication of Trump.

    But several of the documents shared by the Republicans added fuel to the fire, highlighting Epstein’s interest in Trump in the years after Trump claimed their friendship had come to an end, and suggesting the convicted sex offender had information on the president he was keeping secret.

    By Wednesday afternoon, House Democrats — and a few Republicans — secured enough signatures for a petition that would force a chamber vote on the release of Justice Department files related to the Epstein investigation.

    The drama began Wednesday morning, when Democrats released three of Epstein’s old email exchanges.

    “Of course he knew about the girls,” Epstein said of Trump in an email to author and journalist Michael Wolff in early 2019, during Trump’s first term as president — one of three emails released by Democrats that Epstein sent to Wolff and to Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking after Epstein’s death.

    A few hours after Democrats released three emails referencing Trump — and urged the Department of Justice to release all Epstein documents to the public — Republicans on the House Oversight Committee suddenly dumped a massive trove of documents, portions of which are redacted.

    Those files suggest that even after Trump won the 2016 election — a time when Trump has said he was no longer friends with Epstein — Epstein was deeply interested in Trump’s affairs and possibly involved in some way.

    In May 2017, a New York Times reporter emailed criminal defense attorney Reid Weingarten, then a finalist for Trump’s outside counsel, seeking comment. Weingarten forwarded the email to Epstein less than an hour and a half later: “do you want it? Or Jared?” he asked. It is not clear who Weingarten was referring to, but Jared Kushner was the president’s son-in-law and senior advisor at the time.

    “Do I have the choice?” Epstein replied. “And if so, your view?”

    Multiple people wrote to Epstein apparently under the belief that he could pass information along to Trump or people in his orbit.

    In June 2017, someone whose name has been redacted sent Epstein an email with a link to a YouTube video. “How are u? Send this interview to Donald Trump pls,” the subject line read. “Its going to be everywhere.”

    “ok,” Epstein responded.

    The documents released by Republicans show Epstein cultivating cozy relationships with national figures across the political spectrum, often for the purpose of gathering information and exchanging political gossip and legal opinion on Trump. Among the figures he appears to exchange emails with are Larry H. Summers, former U.S. secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton, and Steve Bannon, Trump’s former advisor.

    The documents released Wednesday are sure to revive questions about Epstein’s relationship with Trump and what the president knew about Epstein’s sexual misconduct with girls and young women.

    Trump has denied knowing anything about Epstein’s crimes, though in July he told reporters he fell out with Epstein over his recruitment of spa workers at Mar-a-Lago. No investigation has tied Trump to Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking of young women.

    “The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) said in a statement as he released the documents.

    “These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the president,” Garcia added.

    Even after the GOP shared thousands of Epstein documents, Trump dismissed the focus on the Epstein files as a Democratic attempt to divert attention from the party’s caving to Republicans on the government shutdown.

    “The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects,” Trump posted on TruthSocial. “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap… There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”

    Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that Democrats had “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”

    “These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments,” she said in a statement, “and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again.”

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    Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released emails from Jeffery Epstein discussing President Trump.  (House Oversight Committee)

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    Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released emails from Jeffery Epstein discussing President Trump.  (House Oversight Committee)

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    Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released emails from Jeffery Epstein discussing President Trump.  (House Oversight Committee)

    It is not clear exactly when or how Trump and Epstein’s friendship came to an end.

    When prosecutors brought federal charges against Epstein in 2019, Trump downplayed their relationship and said he hadn’t spoken to Epstein for 15 years. “I had a falling out with him,” Trump told reporters the day after federal authorities took Epstein into custody. “I was not a fan.”

    In the emails released by Democrats, Epstein argued that Trump had more knowledge of Epstein’s affairs than he admitted.

    In the 2019 email to Wolff, which references a ‘victim’ whose name has been redacted, Epstein referred to Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago club: “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever,” he wrote. “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”

    The White House, however, pushed back on the idea that Trump was implicated by that email to Wolff: “The ‘unnamed victim’ referenced in these emails is the late Virginia Giuffre, who repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions,” Leavitt said.

    “The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre,” Leavitt added.

    In another email dated Dec. 15, 2015, Wolff wrote to Epstein ahead of a Republican presidential primary debate: “I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you — either on air or in scrum afterwards.”

    Epstein wrote back: “If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?”

    In a memo released Wednesday, the White House targeted Wolff as a journalist whose record is “riddled with mistakes and inaccuracies.” It cited concerns over his credibility documented in mainstream media outlets, including The Times, the Washington Post and others.

    In a third email, sent to Maxwell in 2011, Epstein wrote: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned.”

    Maxwell responded: “I have been thinking about that … .”

    The documents released by the GOP indicate that Epstein seemed to have had a special interest in Trump, his political career and his legal troubles. Over the years, the president’s name appears again and again in Epstein’s emails as he and his friends exchange articles about Trump. Some of Epstein’s acquaintances sent him their emailed exchanges with reporters regarding Trump, and in others Epstein is discussing Trump directly with reporters.

    In a June 2018 email exchange with Bannon, at the time a Trump advisor, Bannon shared an article critical of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into the president and his campaign’s ties to Russia, suggesting it was tainted from the start by political bias.

    “Big deal,” Bannon wrote.

    Epstein responded that there were “many open questions” and that it was his belief that “flippers will dictate” the course of the investigation — or that the course of the investigation would be decided by the ability of prosecutors to flip associates of Trump into informants.

    In another 2018 exchange, Epstein appeared to email back and forth with Kathy Ruemmler, attorney and former White House counsel under President Obama, on former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s cooperation with prosecutors.

    After Ruemmler sent Epstein a link to a New York Times story referencing Cohen pleading guilty to violating campaign finance laws to pay adult filmmaker Stormy Daniels, Epstein wrote, “you see, i know how dirty donald is. My guess is that non lawyers ny biz people have no idea. What it means to have your fixer flip.”

    Before the 2024 presidential election, Trump called for the release of more documents related to Epstein, but his administration appears to have backtracked on its promises to release documents.

    Garcia called on the Department of Justice on Wednesday to release all Epstein files to the public immediately. “The Oversight Committee will continue pushing for answers and will not stop until we get justice for the victims,” he said in a statement.

    By the afternoon, Adelita Grijalva, a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona who was sworn in to office earlier in the day, became the 218th House member to sign a petition that would force a vote on releasing files from the Epstein investigation. Her signature kicked off a countdown of seven legislative days for House Speaker Mike Johnson to schedule a vote on the matter.

    As Democrats push the Justice Department to release the files, GOP leaders are pressuring some Republicans to remove their names from the petition. The White House confirmed that senior administration officials met with Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert on Wednesday about the issue.

    Epstein, 66, died by suicide in a New York jail in August 2019, weeks after he was arrested and charged in federal court with sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. A watchdog report released last year found that negligence, misconduct and other failures at the jail contributed to his death.

    More than a decade earlier, Epstein evaded federal criminal charges when he struck a plea deal in a Florida case related to accusations that he molested dozens of girls.

    As part of the agreement, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges, including soliciting prostitution. He registered as a sex offender and served 13 months in jail but was allowed to leave six days a week to work at his office.

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    Jenny Jarvie, Michael Wilner, Kevin Rector

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  • Survivors, lawmakers demand release of all Jeffrey Epstein files

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    Survivors, lawmakers demand release of all Jeffrey Epstein files

    Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse and a bipartisan group of lawmakers are pushing for a discharge petition, forcing a House floor vote to release nearly everything related to the case.

    Updated: 3:17 PM PDT Sep 3, 2025

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    Demanding transparency, truth and their own healing, survivors of sexual abuse, along with bipartisan lawmakers, called for the release of all documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. Survivors accuse Epstein of abusing and trafficking countless underage girls for decades before his death in a New York jail cell in 2019. Survivors, including some speaking out for the first time, joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers, pushing for a discharge petition that would force a House floor vote on releasing nearly everything related to the Epstein case. “I am no longer weak, I am no longer powerless and I am no longer alone,” Anouska De Georgiou, a survivor, said before reporters on Wednesday. “With your vote, neither will the next generation be.”On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee released more than 30,000 pages on the case, which some say were heavily redacted and revealed too little new information. The petition’s supporters want all investigation files released, emphasizing that the issue should be non-partisan.”The American people deserve to see everything,” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said. “When you sign this discharge petition, it should mean nothing should be off limits.””The FBI, the DOJ, and the CIA hold the truth. And the truth we are demanding come out,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said.But the petition is already facing some roadblocks. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., says he believes the House Oversight Committee should be responsible for carefully handling the documents, while President Trump dismissed the effort Wednesday, calling it “a Democrat hoax.”Related video below: Speaker Johnson on meeting with Epstein victimsSurvivors responded directly to President Trump’s dismissal, with one registered Republican calling on him to meet her at the Capitol to share her story and explain why the issue is not a hoax. Others pleaded that he recognize the abuse as real and humanize them.Lawmakers leading the petition are close to a House floor vote, needing only two more signatures to reach the required 218. So far, the petition includes all Democrats and at least a handful of Republicans, including Greene and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.Lawmakers emphasized the rare coalition of bipartisanship, signifying the growing issue. If the petition passes the House, it still needs to pass the Senate before heading to Trump’s desk.Regardless of the petition’s outcome, survivors are planning their own action for justice by compiling a list of those involved in Epstein’s network of abuse, though they did not specify if or when they would release it. In Wednesday’s press conference, the victims said they aim to hold the powerful accountable and help their healing, despite concerns about retaliation from Epstein’s circle.

    WASHINGTON —

    Demanding transparency, truth and their own healing, survivors of sexual abuse, along with bipartisan lawmakers, called for the release of all documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.

    Survivors accuse Epstein of abusing and trafficking countless underage girls for decades before his death in a New York jail cell in 2019.

    Survivors, including some speaking out for the first time, joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers, pushing for a discharge petition that would force a House floor vote on releasing nearly everything related to the Epstein case.

    “I am no longer weak, I am no longer powerless and I am no longer alone,” Anouska De Georgiou, a survivor, said before reporters on Wednesday. “With your vote, neither will the next generation be.”

    On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee released more than 30,000 pages on the case, which some say were heavily redacted and revealed too little new information. The petition’s supporters want all investigation files released, emphasizing that the issue should be non-partisan.

    “The American people deserve to see everything,” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said. “When you sign this discharge petition, it should mean nothing should be off limits.”

    “The FBI, the DOJ, and the CIA hold the truth. And the truth we are demanding come out,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said.

    But the petition is already facing some roadblocks. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., says he believes the House Oversight Committee should be responsible for carefully handling the documents, while President Trump dismissed the effort Wednesday, calling it “a Democrat hoax.”

    Related video below: Speaker Johnson on meeting with Epstein victims

    Survivors responded directly to President Trump’s dismissal, with one registered Republican calling on him to meet her at the Capitol to share her story and explain why the issue is not a hoax. Others pleaded that he recognize the abuse as real and humanize them.

    Lawmakers leading the petition are close to a House floor vote, needing only two more signatures to reach the required 218. So far, the petition includes all Democrats and at least a handful of Republicans, including Greene and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.

    Lawmakers emphasized the rare coalition of bipartisanship, signifying the growing issue.

    If the petition passes the House, it still needs to pass the Senate before heading to Trump’s desk.

    Regardless of the petition’s outcome, survivors are planning their own action for justice by compiling a list of those involved in Epstein’s network of abuse, though they did not specify if or when they would release it. In Wednesday’s press conference, the victims said they aim to hold the powerful accountable and help their healing, despite concerns about retaliation from Epstein’s circle.

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  • Johnson faces escalating pressure as House GOP prepares for Epstein vote

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    On his first full day back in Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson sat for hours in a closed-door interview with six women who say they were abused by the late Jeffrey Epstein.Johnson’s presence in the room on the first day of a frenetically busy September on Capitol Hill underscores how significant the issue of Epstein’s past crimes has become within the GOP.Within days, House Republicans are expected to take their first major floor votes on forcing President Donald Trump’s administration to release more records related to the case. And Johnson — like his members — is under intense pressure to meet the base’s demands for transparency without going against the wishes of the president, whose inner circle has attempted to quiet this summer’s political firestorm over Epstein.“The fact that Mike Johnson sat there for two and a half hours — we’re serious about this,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer told reporters after leaving the meeting Tuesday. “We’re going to do everything we can to make this right.”Johnson himself told reporters the testimonials he heard were “heartbreaking and infuriating” and said “there were tears in the room. There was outrage.”Five weeks ago, Johnson and his leadership team had hoped that sending lawmakers home early to their districts for their August recess would defuse tension around the issue. But the return of Congress to Washington showed that the pressure on GOP leaders has only continued to build.That pressure on Republicans will dramatically increase on Wednesday, when Rep. Thomas Massie and his Democratic counterpart in the effort, Rep. Ro Khanna of California, will hold a press conference in which some of Epstein’s survivors are expected to speak publicly for the first time.Massie and Khanna are leading a push to force the full House to vote on a resolution that would require Trump’s Justice Department to turn over all documents related to Epstein or his crimes. Under their maneuver, known as a discharge petition, Massie would need just five more Republicans to force the bill to the floor since every Democrat is expected to sign on.So far, two other Republicans have signaled they’ll support it: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado. Other Republicans who have supported the bill itself — including Reps. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Eli Crane of Arizona and Tim Burchett of Tennessee — were either noncommittal or suggested they would not support the discharge petition when asked by CNN on Tuesday.The House Oversight Committee has been leading an investigation into Epstein after some Republicans joined with Democrats to compel a subpoena to the Justice Department for records. The panel on Tuesday night released more than 33,000 pages related to the case – all of the subpoenaed documents the panel had obtained earlier this summer.But the public release of information has not stopped the push for more transparency that has ratcheted up the pressure on Johnson. Massie and Democrats said nearly all of those documents had already been made public as part of various court cases and that it did not alter their push for their own Epstein measure.As part of its investigation, the Oversight Committee hosted a meeting on Tuesday with several survivors who are planning to speak at Wednesday’s press conference. In that closed-door meeting, several of them shared chilling stories of abuse. GOP Rep. Nancy Mace, one of the lawmakers in the room who has spoken out about being raped at age 16, left the meeting in tears.Inside the room, one survivor said the women had been told by Epstein that they were disposable and threatened against coming forward, according to a person in the room who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting. The women were told if they went to police that Epstein had powerful friends, that person said.If the bipartisan Epstein resolution does pass the House, its fate is unclear in the Senate. But it would be an extraordinary move by a GOP-controlled Congress to take against a president of its own party.To prevent such an escalation, Johnson and the White House are attempting to sell their GOP members on an alternative path. They have backed a non-binding resolution that encourages the Oversight Committee’s investigation. And Johnson stressed the importance of the work of that panel, in part by sitting in on one of the sessions himself.“I sat by him in our meeting and listened to his compassion for these survivors. I listened to his questions,” Greene said of Johnson as she left the meeting. “I’ve listened to some of his plans that he has going forward. I do think he’s doing a great job there.”Even so, Greene is one of the three Republicans so far willing to buck her leadership on the discharge petition. She said it was nothing against Johnson personally, but that she decided: “I just think we need to do everything we can to bring it out.”Inside the House GOP conference, some Republicans are privately dreading weeks of questions about the Epstein matter and would rather move onto issues like appropriations, tariffs or Russian sanctions, according to multiple lawmakers and senior aides. But many of those GOP lawmakers also realize that there is a small but vocal faction of their party that is deeply invested in getting more answers on Epstein and that they can’t be seen as dropping the issue.Democrats, meanwhile, are accusing Johnson of attempting to stonewall further investigations in Congress.Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico told reporters after the meeting that Johnson was advocating that the investigation should remain within the Oversight panel — rather than expanding the probe to include more committees.“In the room with six victims of sexual violence by Jeffrey Epstein, it was suggested by Democrats that this be investigated using the full force of every committee here in Congress. And the speaker ended by saying he didn’t think that was necessary. He’d like to just keep it in the Oversight Committee,” Stansbury said. “That is where the speaker actually chose to end this conversation.”Johnson, speaking after the Tuesday meeting, vowed “transparency” in releasing information to the public, and said that Trump shares the same perspective.“That’s his mindset. And he wants the American people to have information so they can draw their own conclusions. I’ve talked with him about this very subject myself.. He also, just as we do, is insistent that we protect the innocent victims, and that’s what this has been about,” he said.

    WASHINGTON —

    On his first full day back in Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson sat for hours in a closed-door interview with six women who say they were abused by the late Jeffrey Epstein.

    Johnson’s presence in the room on the first day of a frenetically busy September on Capitol Hill underscores how significant the issue of Epstein’s past crimes has become within the GOP.

    Within days, House Republicans are expected to take their first major floor votes on forcing President Donald Trump’s administration to release more records related to the case. And Johnson — like his members — is under intense pressure to meet the base’s demands for transparency without going against the wishes of the president, whose inner circle has attempted to quiet this summer’s political firestorm over Epstein.

    “The fact that Mike Johnson sat there for two and a half hours — we’re serious about this,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer told reporters after leaving the meeting Tuesday. “We’re going to do everything we can to make this right.”

    Johnson himself told reporters the testimonials he heard were “heartbreaking and infuriating” and said “there were tears in the room. There was outrage.”

    Five weeks ago, Johnson and his leadership team had hoped that sending lawmakers home early to their districts for their August recess would defuse tension around the issue. But the return of Congress to Washington showed that the pressure on GOP leaders has only continued to build.

    That pressure on Republicans will dramatically increase on Wednesday, when Rep. Thomas Massie and his Democratic counterpart in the effort, Rep. Ro Khanna of California, will hold a press conference in which some of Epstein’s survivors are expected to speak publicly for the first time.

    Massie and Khanna are leading a push to force the full House to vote on a resolution that would require Trump’s Justice Department to turn over all documents related to Epstein or his crimes. Under their maneuver, known as a discharge petition, Massie would need just five more Republicans to force the bill to the floor since every Democrat is expected to sign on.

    So far, two other Republicans have signaled they’ll support it: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado. Other Republicans who have supported the bill itself — including Reps. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Eli Crane of Arizona and Tim Burchett of Tennessee — were either noncommittal or suggested they would not support the discharge petition when asked by CNN on Tuesday.

    The House Oversight Committee has been leading an investigation into Epstein after some Republicans joined with Democrats to compel a subpoena to the Justice Department for records. The panel on Tuesday night released more than 33,000 pages related to the case – all of the subpoenaed documents the panel had obtained earlier this summer.

    But the public release of information has not stopped the push for more transparency that has ratcheted up the pressure on Johnson. Massie and Democrats said nearly all of those documents had already been made public as part of various court cases and that it did not alter their push for their own Epstein measure.

    As part of its investigation, the Oversight Committee hosted a meeting on Tuesday with several survivors who are planning to speak at Wednesday’s press conference. In that closed-door meeting, several of them shared chilling stories of abuse. GOP Rep. Nancy Mace, one of the lawmakers in the room who has spoken out about being raped at age 16, left the meeting in tears.

    Inside the room, one survivor said the women had been told by Epstein that they were disposable and threatened against coming forward, according to a person in the room who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting. The women were told if they went to police that Epstein had powerful friends, that person said.

    If the bipartisan Epstein resolution does pass the House, its fate is unclear in the Senate. But it would be an extraordinary move by a GOP-controlled Congress to take against a president of its own party.

    To prevent such an escalation, Johnson and the White House are attempting to sell their GOP members on an alternative path. They have backed a non-binding resolution that encourages the Oversight Committee’s investigation. And Johnson stressed the importance of the work of that panel, in part by sitting in on one of the sessions himself.

    “I sat by him in our meeting and listened to his compassion for these survivors. I listened to his questions,” Greene said of Johnson as she left the meeting. “I’ve listened to some of his plans that he has going forward. I do think he’s doing a great job there.”

    Even so, Greene is one of the three Republicans so far willing to buck her leadership on the discharge petition. She said it was nothing against Johnson personally, but that she decided: “I just think we need to do everything we can to bring it out.”

    Inside the House GOP conference, some Republicans are privately dreading weeks of questions about the Epstein matter and would rather move onto issues like appropriations, tariffs or Russian sanctions, according to multiple lawmakers and senior aides. But many of those GOP lawmakers also realize that there is a small but vocal faction of their party that is deeply invested in getting more answers on Epstein and that they can’t be seen as dropping the issue.

    Democrats, meanwhile, are accusing Johnson of attempting to stonewall further investigations in Congress.

    Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico told reporters after the meeting that Johnson was advocating that the investigation should remain within the Oversight panel — rather than expanding the probe to include more committees.

    “In the room with six victims of sexual violence by Jeffrey Epstein, it was suggested by Democrats that this be investigated using the full force of every committee here in Congress. And the speaker ended by saying he didn’t think that was necessary. He’d like to just keep it in the Oversight Committee,” Stansbury said. “That is where the speaker actually chose to end this conversation.”

    Johnson, speaking after the Tuesday meeting, vowed “transparency” in releasing information to the public, and said that Trump shares the same perspective.

    “That’s his mindset. And he wants the American people to have information so they can draw their own conclusions. I’ve talked with him about this very subject myself.. He also, just as we do, is insistent that we protect the innocent victims, and that’s what this has been about,” he said.

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  • House committee subpoenas Epstein’s estate for documents, including birthday book and contacts

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    House committee subpoenas Epstein’s estate for documents, including birthday book and contacts

    Updated: 4:41 PM EDT Aug 25, 2025

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    The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the estate of the late Jeffrey Epstein on Monday as congressional lawmakers try to determine who was connected to the disgraced financier and whether prosecutors mishandled his case.The committee’s subpoena is the latest effort by both Republicans and Democrats to respond to public clamor for more disclosure in the investigation into Epstein, who was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019. Lawmakers are trying to guide an investigation into who among Epstein’s high-powered social circle may have been aware of his sexual abuse of teenage girls, delving into a criminal case that has spurred conspiracy theories and roiled top officials in President Donald Trump’s administration.The subpoena, signed by Rep. James Comer, the Republican chair of the oversight committee, and dated Monday, demands that Epstein’s estate provide Congress with documents including a book that was compiled with notes from friends for his 50th birthday, his last will and testament, agreements he signed with prosecutors, his contact books, and his financial transactions and holdings.Comer wrote to the executors of Epstein’s estate that the committee “is reviewing the possible mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein and Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell, the circumstances and subsequent investigations of Mr. Epstein’s death, the operation of sex-trafficking rings and ways for the federal government to effectively combat them, and potential violations of ethics rules related to elected officials.”The Justice Department, trying to distance Trump and Epstein, last week began handing over to lawmakers documentation of the federal investigation into Epstein. It has also released transcripts of interviews conducted with Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend. But Democrats on the committee have not been satisfied with those efforts, saying that the some 33,000 pages of documents they’ve received are mostly already public.“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,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement.Pressure from lawmakers to release more information is likely to only grow when Congress returns to Washington next week.A bipartisan group of House members is attempting to maneuver around Republican leadership to hold a vote to pass legislation meant to require the Justice Department to release a full accounting of the sex trafficking investigation into Epstein.

    WASHINGTON —

    The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the estate of the late Jeffrey Epstein on Monday as congressional lawmakers try to determine who was connected to the disgraced financier and whether prosecutors mishandled his case.

    The committee’s subpoena is the latest effort by both Republicans and Democrats to respond to public clamor for more disclosure in the investigation into Epstein, who was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019. Lawmakers are trying to guide an investigation into who among Epstein’s high-powered social circle may have been aware of his sexual abuse of teenage girls, delving into a criminal case that has spurred conspiracy theories and roiled top officials in President Donald Trump’s administration.

    The subpoena, signed by Rep. James Comer, the Republican chair of the oversight committee, and dated Monday, demands that Epstein’s estate provide Congress with documents including a book that was compiled with notes from friends for his 50th birthday, his last will and testament, agreements he signed with prosecutors, his contact books, and his financial transactions and holdings.

    Comer wrote to the executors of Epstein’s estate that the committee “is reviewing the possible mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein and Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell, the circumstances and subsequent investigations of Mr. Epstein’s death, the operation of sex-trafficking rings and ways for the federal government to effectively combat them, and potential violations of ethics rules related to elected officials.”

    The Justice Department, trying to distance Trump and Epstein, last week began handing over to lawmakers documentation of the federal investigation into Epstein. It has also released transcripts of interviews conducted with Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend. But Democrats on the committee have not been satisfied with those efforts, saying that the some 33,000 pages of documents they’ve received are mostly already public.

    “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,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement.

    Pressure from lawmakers to release more information is likely to only grow when Congress returns to Washington next week.

    A bipartisan group of House members is attempting to maneuver around Republican leadership to hold a vote to pass legislation meant to require the Justice Department to release a full accounting of the sex trafficking investigation into Epstein.

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  • House Republicans authorize Joe Biden impeachment investigation in major escalation

    House Republicans authorize Joe Biden impeachment investigation in major escalation

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    WASHINGTON — House Republicans formally authorized their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden on Wednesday, taking their most significant step toward impeaching the president.

    The House voted along party lines by a vote of 221-212 to green light the inquiry.

    Republicans have alleged the president financially benefited from his family’s foreign business dealings, though they haven’t publicly released evidence backing up the claims.

    The votes comes after House Republicans accused the White House of stonewalling their investigation. Authorizing the inquiry, they say, could bolster their legal standing if their requests for information make it to court.

    The White House says it has cooperated fully with the investigation and provided plenty of evidence disputing House Republicans’ allegations.

    The impeachment inquiry “only proves how divorced from reality this sham investigation is,” said Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for Oversight and Investigations.

    House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and GOP investigators leading the inquiry say it’s simply an investigation, and House Republicans have not predetermined whether to draft articles of impeachment against the president.

    “To fulfill our constitutional responsibility, we have to take the next step. We’re not making a political decision, it’s not. It’s a legal decision,” Johnson said at a weekly press conference on Tuesday. “We can’t prejudge the outcome. The Constitution does not permit us to do so. We have to follow the truth where it takes us.”

    House Speaker Mike Johnson of La., speaks to reporters following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Capitol, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, in Washington.

    House Speaker Mike Johnson of La., speaks to reporters following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Capitol, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, in Washington.

    But House Democrats have questioned the purpose of the investigation, given that Republicans have yet to turn up evidence directly tying Biden to his family’s business dealings.

    “What is the crime that Joe Biden is being accused of? They don’t have it,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said. Raskin is the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, which is one of three committees tasked with leading the investigation into Biden.

    The vote to authorize Republicans’ inquiry came the same day the president’s son, Hunter Biden was scheduled to testify in a Capitol Hill deposition behind closed doors.

    But Hunter Biden defied the subpoena, instead delivering impassioned remarks at a press conference early Wednesday morning. He defended his father and accused GOP investigators of weaponizing his substance use disorder to attack the president.

    “In the depths of my addiction, I was extremely irresponsible with my finances. But to suggest that is grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd. It’s shameless,” Hunter Biden said. “There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was involved in my business because it did not happen.”

    Hunter Biden has demanded to testify in a public hearing, rather than behind closed doors. But the GOP investigators leading the probe are asking Hunter Biden to testify in a deposition first, claiming that Democrats would disrupt public proceedings. The House Oversight Committee has said it will begin proceedings to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress.

    “We have specific questions for the president’s son. He does not get to dictate the terms of this subpoena,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said.

    Months ago, an impeachment inquiry looked like it was a tough sell for moderate and vulnerable House Republicans, most of them hailing from the 17 districts Biden won in the 2020 election.

    That lack of support was in part what led then–House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to open the probe in September without a formal vote. The California Republican criticized Democrats in 2019 for doing the same and vowed to have the approval of the lower chamber before opening the Biden impeachment inquiry.

    But even those vulnerable Republicans now agree that the White House has been uncooperative and think authorizing the probe will allow them to further investigate.

    “We have enough information and testimony and evidence right now to continue the process of the inquiry,” said Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., a Biden-district GOP member.

    President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council in the Indian Treaty Room on the White House campus, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, in Washington.President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council in the Indian Treaty Room on the White House campus, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, in Washington.

    President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council in the Indian Treaty Room on the White House campus, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, in Washington.

    This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House Republicans formalize impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden

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  • CNN's Jake Tapper Mocks Rep. James Comer's Hunter Biden Theory To His Face

    CNN's Jake Tapper Mocks Rep. James Comer's Hunter Biden Theory To His Face

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    Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) has a new conspiracy theory about Hunter Biden, but he couldn’t get CNN’s Jake Tapper to take it seriously during an interview Friday.

    In fact, Tapper mocked the Kentucky congressman to his face.

    The president’s son was indicted Thursday on nine tax charges in California, and Comer, the House Oversight Committee chair, appeared on CNN the next day to discuss the matter.

    Although Biden could face serious time behind bars if convicted, Comer dubiously claimed the criminal charges were actually part of a cover-up designed to throw off his investigation into unproven allegations around the Biden family’s supposedly shady financial dealings.

    Comer said none of the crimes that Hunter Biden was accused of dealt with things his committee is investigating, and then suggested that special counsel David Weiss indicted the president’s son “to protect him from having to be deposed in the House Oversight Committee [next week].”

    Tapper’s eyebrows raised over that theory, and he couldn’t help but mock it to Comer directly.

    “He indicted him to protect him?” Tapper asked, before sarcastically adding, “The classic rubric, I got it.”

    Comer said the whole Biden story has been about a cover-up, but Tapper went back to Comer’s previous, somewhat contradictory statement.

    “That’s why [Weiss] indicted him, to protect him? To cover it up?” Tapper asked incredulously.

    Comer responded, “Look, you indict him on the least little thing, the gun charge and not paying taxes,” before Tapper pointed out why the theory sounded ridiculous.

    ″[Biden’s] facing like 17 additional years in prison! These are felonies!” Tapper said.

    “Yeah, but look at what he’s done! Anybody else in America would already be in prison,” Comer said.

    You can see their exchange — and Tapper’s reaction — in the video below.

    Tapper’s snark continued when he grilled Comer on why he won’t let Biden testify before his committee in public, an offer he made previously.

    “Why not just jump at the opportunity to grill Hunter Biden on national television?” Tapper asked. “Here’s your chance, you know? You’re the dog that caught the bus. Here it is!”

    Comer claimed his investigation wasn’t about politics or theater, to which Tapper chuckled.

    The CNN anchor’s reaction to Comer’s very dubious theory didn’t go unnoticed on X, formerly known as Twitter.

    Some commented that Comer probably wasn’t used to being fact-checked, since he tends to only do interviews with conservative media.

    One woman couldn’t help but take Comer’s theory that the indictment was good for Biden and apply it to former President Donald Trump.

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  • Social Security Official Shreds Lauren Boebert Over What She Finds ‘Unacceptable’

    Social Security Official Shreds Lauren Boebert Over What She Finds ‘Unacceptable’

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    Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) flopped in her attempt to scold a Social Security Administration official over employee productivity on Wednesday.

    Boebert told Oren “Hank” McKnelly, an executive counselor for the SSA, that the agency was allowing “delinquent employees to sit on their sofas at home” instead of “actually getting to work and doing their jobs” as she took aim at telework policies during a House Oversight Committee hearing.

    “This is absolutely unacceptable,” said Boebert, who is known for her bizarre behavior in – and outside of – Washington.

    McKnelly, who was testifying before the committee, swiftly checked Boebert and broke down how SSA employees’ performances are monitored as they work from the office or at home.

    “So real time understanding of what actions are being processed at any particular given time,” noted McKnelly, who added that employees are required to be “accessible” during work hours to supervisors, clients and colleagues.

    Boebert pressed further on employee productivity before McKnelly shut the Republican down.

    “Then why is the backlogs for Social Security applicants increased from 41,000 to 107,000?” asked Boebert.

    “Because we’ve been historically underfunded for a number of years now,” McKnelly replied.

    “I don’t think you’re underfunded. You’re funded at the Nancy Pelosi levels, at the democrat levels. We just continued that same funding,” said Boebert, adding that it’s at “pandemic-level spending.”

    “So I’d say we’d have an increase of over eight million beneficiaries over the last 10 years. At the same time, we experienced our lowest work staffing levels at the end of FY 22. That’s a math problem,” he replied.

    “I mean, that is a problem. If you have those workloads increasing and you don’t have the staff to take care of those workloads, you’re going to have the backlogs that you’re talking about, representative.”

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  • GOP Rep. James Comer Says Another Biden Source Is Missing, Braces For MSNBC Mockery

    GOP Rep. James Comer Says Another Biden Source Is Missing, Braces For MSNBC Mockery

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    House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) claimed Thursday that another source in the GOP’s Biden family probe has been missing ― for the last three years. The lawmaker complained to Fox News host Sean Hannity that MSNBC rides him over informants who have disappeared. (Watch the video below.)

    Hannity asked Comer if he had any contact with an unidentified oligarch who claimed he bribed President Joe Biden as vice president.

    Comer answered: “Unfortunately, nobody’s had any contact with him for the last three years. You know, MSNBC makes fun of me when I said that there are a lot of people that were involved in the Biden shenanigans that are currently missing. But with respect to this oligarch, we think we know where he is. He just hasn’t been seen in public in a long time, but we’re following the money.”

    Comer raised eyebrows last month when he admitted to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that a key informant was missing. He chalked it up to the mystery person likely being in the “spy business.” Comer indicated that others also could not be found.

    “Nine of the 10 people that we’ve identified that have very good knowledge with respect to the Bidens, they’re one of three things,” he said. “They’re either currently in court, they’re currently in jail or they’re currently missing.”

    Republicans have produced no proof of shady dealings by the president in their investigation.

    As for Comer’s concern about MSNBC razzing him, that will likely continue. After Comer confessed to Bartiromo, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough had a field day.

    “Come on! You lost an informant? You lost the informant, the guy that you claimed gave you all this information that you built this entire charade on!” the host exclaimed.

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