Former Democratic Attorneys General Merrick Garland and Eric Holder told the House Oversight Committee they have no knowledge of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to letters reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
Holder and Garland were subpoenaed in August to testify behind closed doors this week to Congress regarding the Epstein investigation. However, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) withdrew the demand after the former Justice Department leaders provided written statements.
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“Attorney General Holder served as Attorney General from February 2009 to April 2015,” Holder’s lawyers wrote in a letter to Comer. “As you know, the national notoriety of the Epstein and Maxwell cases largely arose well after that period.”
This is the second round of withdrawn subpoenas since the committee backed off compelling in-person interviews with Attorneys General Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales last month, citing similar sentiments. The committee also withdrew a subpoena for former FBI Director Robert Mueller, citing his declining health.
Garland served as attorney general under the Biden administration. He was held in contempt of Congress by the House last year after he did not turn over audio recordings of special counsel Robert Hur’s interviews with former President Joe Biden.
“Although I cannot rule out that I ever received a status update on matters pertaining to Mr. Epstein or Ms. Maxwell in my role as Attorney General, I do not recall any such update or any other kind of report,” Garland wrote to the committee.
President Donald Trump, House GOP leadership, and the DOJ have sought to move past the Epstein files following the public fallout from the department’s announcement after the July 4 weekend that it had no plans to make any further documents available and affirmed that Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges related to the sex trafficking of minors.
The Trump administration insisted there was no “client list” that would have implicated famous and powerful people involved in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking ring that involved underage girls. Responding to public demands for more information, the House Oversight Committee issued various subpoenas to seek the DOJ files and interviews with witnesses.
The committee originally issued 10 subpoenas for depositions earlier this year, including former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton, from August through October. The other eight subpoenaed individuals were former FBI Directors James Comey and Mueller, and former Attorneys General Bill Barr, Loretta Lynch, Sessions, Gonzales, Eric Holder, and Merrick Garland, although not all were required to appear in person. Barr’s transcript from his testimony was released earlier this month.
Alexander Acosta, former Department of Labor secretary and former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, testified before the committee last month after a separate subpoena. Acosta granted Epstein what many believe was a “sweetheart deal.”
The committee has released multiple batches of documents related to the DOJ files, many of which came from the committee’s subpoena to Epstein’s estate.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced a discharge petition to try to force a vote for a full release of the Epstein files. However, it was one signature short of forcing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to put Massie’s Epstein transparency bill on the House floor for a vote.
DEMOCRATS TIE JOHNSON’S DELAY OF GRIJALVA SWEARING-IN TO EPSTEIN VOTE
After Democrats won last week’s special election in Arizona, Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva is expected to sign the Epstein discharge petition and reach 218 necessary signatures to compel floor action.
Johnson has delayed the swearing-in of Grijalva, a move some Democrats have said is due to her support of the petition to release files related to Epstein.