House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) is asking the estate of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to turn over unredacted versions of his cash ledgers and message logs.
Comer sent a letter to an attorney for the managers of Epstein’s estate requesting the ledgers and message logs, as well as Epstein’s flight logs and calendars. Oversight Committee staff have conducted a review of the documents, but Comer wants them unredacted for its investigation into Epstein’s activities.
“While the Committee appreciates the ability to review these documents in camera, it is necessary for the Estate to produce full, unredacted copies,” Comer wrote.
The Oversight Committee would redact the names of victims and any child sexual abuse materials before releasing the documents to the public.
“Understanding that, the Committee will work with the Estate—in accordance with H. Res. 668—to ensure identifying information of any survivors is properly redacted prior to release. Receiving the documents in unredacted form is necessary for the Committee’s investigative and legislative needs,” Comer added.
The letter was one of several actions Comer announced Tuesday pertaining to the Epstein investigation.
The Oversight Committee released the full transcript of Attorney General Bill Barr’s testimony last month for the investigation. Barr saw no evidence that Trump committed criminal acts in connection with his friendship with Epstein, as NR previously reported.
Former AGs Alberto Gonzales and Jeff Sessions provided sworn statements saying they had no knowledge relevant to the Epstein matter, which Comer allowed them to do instead of appearing for closed-door testimony.
Moreover, Comer wrote a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) updating him on the progress of the investigation up to this point. The high-profile, bipartisan investigation began amid renewed uproar over Epstein’s activities because of the Trump administration’s decision not to release the federal government’s documents on Epstein.
The committee subpoenaed Epstein’s estate in August for communications and documents necessary for its investigation. Epstein’s estate turned over documents earlier this month including a birthday book Epstein’s partner Ghislaine Maxwell put together for his 50th birthday in 2003.
The book included a mysterious letter President Donald Trump allegedly wrote to Epstein on an image outlining a woman’s upper body. Maxwell’s birthday book was full of unsettling images and notes, with several of them joking around about Epstein’s sordid activities with underage girls. Trump has called the letter fake and filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal for first reporting on its existence.
The trove of documents also features Epstein’s last will and testament, entries from Epstein’s contact books from 1990 until his death, and the non-prosecution agreement he came to with federal authorities in Florida.
The Oversight Committee released another batch of documents from Epstein’s estate Tuesday afternoon. It contains a couple of additional pages from the birthday book and an address book that was previously disclosed.
Epstein died in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges in Manhattan. His untimely death in a New York City jail cell was ruled a suicide but many observers have doubted the official conclusion. The Trump administration similarly determined that Epstein committed suicide and did not have a “client list” of beneficiaries.
Trump and Epstein were friends for the better part of 15 years from the 1990s through the early 2000s. Their relationship broke down before Epstein’s conviction on state-level sex crimes in Florida. Nobody has accused Trump of wrongdoing related to his time with Epstein.
Maxwell is serving 20 years in prison for sex trafficking charges stemming from her work with Epstein. She conducted an interview with the Justice Department in July where she spoke flatteringly of Trump as she seeks a pardon for heinous crimes. Comer and Maxwell have engaged in negotiations to have her potentially testify for the committee’s investigation.