Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in a Wednesday interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill” that the panel will compile its own Jeffrey Epstein “list,” a tally of powerful figures related to the deceased sex offender and financier.
“We’re going to compile a list from the victims. So at the end of the day, there’s going to be a list, whether or not there’s a list in an envelope that Epstein left behind. It doesn’t appear that there was, but I think we could put together a list,” Comer told host Blake Burman.
Comer, whose panel has been investigating the Epstein case, noted that sheer association with the late sex offender or his longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, does not mean being guilty of a crime or that “you knew the crimes they were committing.”
“But we want to know everyone that was in the circle, as well as the people who were victimizing those young girls,” the Kentucky Republican told Burman.
The victims of Epstein said on Tuesday they are working on assembling a list of high-profile figures related to the disgraced financier after growing frustrated with the Trump administration’s handling of the case.
“A lot of us survivors know we’ve been compiling lists of our own, and we have so many other survivors. Please come forward, and we’ll compile our own list and seek justice on our own,” Epstein accuser Lisa Phillips said in an interview with NBC News.
The FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) faced blowback, including from some Trump supporters, after releasing an unnamed, early July memo stating that Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in New York while awaiting trial and that he did not keep a so-called client list.
“There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” the memo said.
The officials also stated in the memo that the departments do not plan to release more information from the Epstein files in order to avoid publishing personal details about victims of the late sex offender.
The saga around the Epstein case has continued as lawmakers returned to the Capitol from the August recess. Some of the Epstein survivors testified during a closed-door meeting to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
So far, Comer’s panel has subpoenaed former President Clinton and ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to provide testimony.
Comer told Burman on Wednesday that the panel is waiting to hear back from the Clintons.
“Well, they’ll have to answer that subpoena, so they have a few more days before he’s supposed to show up,” Comer said. “I believe it’s in a couple of weeks, but we will hear from them, and I do expect them to testify.”
Comer and others on the panel also subpoenaed Epstein’s estate in late August.
The DOJ has sent over thousands of pages of Epstein documents to the Oversight Committee. The panel released the files, although Democrats on the committee said the large majority of the material was already public.
Comer said on Wednesday that the panel deposed former Attorney General Bill Barr, who was the head of the DOJ during Trump’s first term.
“He answered every question, and when we do a deposition, it’s Republican and Democrat, we each get equal time, so it’s not a partisan investigation,” the Kentucky Republican said.
