4:26Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, highlights a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell during a press conference in New York on July 2, 2020.John Minchillo/AP, FILE
A subcommittee of the House Oversight voted on Wednesday to issue a subpoena to the Department of Justice for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein documents.
The motion was approved by a vote of 8-2. Significantly, three Republican lawmakers — Reps. Nancy Mace, Scott Perry, and Brian Jack — collaborated with Democrats on the subcommittee to support the subpoena, breaking away from Republican leadership.
According to committee regulations, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer must authorize the subpoena before it can be formally issued. A Republican source from the committee informed ABC News that Comer intends to approve the subpoena.
The leading Democrat on the subcommittee, Rep. Summer Lee, was the one who proposed the motion.
Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, highlights a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell during a press conference in New York on July 2, 2020.John Minchillo/AP, FILE
Republicans on the committee responded by modifying the subpoena to also encompass communications from officials within the Biden administration and the DOJ. This includes figures like Bill and Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Robert Mueller, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, and Alberto Gonzales.
Oversight Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia stated in a press release that the subcommittee’s vote on Wednesday was “just the first step towards accountability, and we will persist in seeking the truth.”
"Today, Oversight Democrats advocated for transparency and accountability regarding the Epstein documents and succeeded. House Republicans were not cooperative, but the motion was ultimately passed to compel the Department of Justice to disclose the Epstein files," Garcia remarked.
This announcement coincides with House Oversight Committee Chairman Comer’s issuance of a subpoena to Ghislaine Maxwell on Wednesday, requiring her deposition at Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee on August 11.
"The details and context surrounding both your case and Mr. Epstein’s have garnered significant public attention and examination," Comer mentioned in a statement on Wednesday.
Maxwell was found guilty of sex trafficking and other offenses and received a 20-year prison sentence in 2022.
"What we're discussing here involves an individual who is currently in federal prison appealing her case, so our lawyers will need to communicate with her legal team to determine if there are any conditions she would like to set," Comer stated prior to the subpoena being issued. "If there are no conditions, we will proceed swiftly."
The scenario will be akin to Comer's previous attempt to interview Jason Galanis, a former business associate of Hunter Biden and Devon Archer, during the GOP’s impeachment investigation of then-President Joe Biden.
"I managed to do that with [Jason] Galanis, and the Democrats were quite upset about our desire to interview anyone incarcerated. But now it seems they are also eager to interview someone in prison," Comer commented.
The committee has indicated a tendency to record video of its interviews and subsequently release the footage, as was done with several former Biden officials who invoked their 5th Amendment rights earlier this summer, so it’s plausible that there could be video released from the deposition.
In a separate development, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Monday that Deputy Attorney Todd Blanche will meet with Maxwell in the "coming days."
Last week, President Donald Trump stated on his social media platform that he had instructed the Justice Department to "release all Grand Jury testimony concerning Jeffrey Epstein, contingent only on Court Approval."
Comer has also indicated that the circumstances surrounding a private deposition at a federal facility could draw interest from both Democrats and Republicans to attend the interview.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
