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WASHINGTON — House lawmakers learned “additional names” of persons of interest who could provide further information about Jeffrey Epstein during an hours-long meeting with six of the deceased sex trafficker’s victims on Tuesday, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) revealed.
The powerful chairman of the House Oversight Committee emerged from the closed-door, over two-hour meeting with Epstein’s victims and said he and other lawmakers had “learned of some additional names today.”
An Oversight rep clarified that the additional names were “persons of interest who would possess information” about the dead pedophile or any alleged co-conspirators.
“Some of the ladies have shared these stories publicly before, but at least two of the women had never told their stories before, one for the very first time in the room, and so, there were tears in the room,” explained House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) afterward.
“There was outrage. It was both — I would describe it as heartbreaking and infuriating. That justice has been delayed so long.”
“This was a two-and-a-half-hour discussion,” Comer also said. “It was just bipartisan as anything I’ve seen in the 9 years I’ve been here.”
The Department of Justice and FBI already determined in July that there was no evidence in the government’s possession that could predicate charging third parties — who may have been allegedly blackmailed by the sex offender — with similar crimes.
No incriminating “client list” related to the Epstein case had emerged either — despite him having victimized more than 1,000 people, according to the July 6 DOJ-FBI memo.
“Some of the women in the room began to be groomed by Epstein and his accomplices, Ghislaine Maxwell and the others, 30 years ago,” explained Johnson.
“Some of them began civil litigation against Epstein and the Epstein evils and everything associated with it 20 years ago,” the House speaker added. “This has gone on for a long, long time, and they, they shared their stories.”
“These brave young women, Epstein and his accomplices stole their innocence, stole their very lives in some cases, stole their hopes and dreams and aspirations and, and ruined them in so many ways, but they came forward courageously to share their thoughts in hopes the House Oversight Committee and that the House itself that we would do this in a bipartisan fashion and seek those answers and we will.”
Though he has opposed a discharge petition brought by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to release the so-called “Epstein files,” Johnson agreed to advance a vote on furthering the Oversight committee’s inquiry into the notorious sex criminal later this week.
“We’re gonna do everything we can,” Comer told reporters Tuesday, “to give the American public the transparency they seek as well as provide accountability in memory of the victims who have already passed away as well as those that were in the room and many others who haven’t come forward.”
The Oversight panel has received 34,000 pages of documents from the DOJ in response to records requests earlier this year.
Comer has also issued subpoenas for around a dozen former federal officials to testify about the Epstein case — including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, six ex-attorneys general and FBI Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller.
Mueller had to withdraw from questioning due to a Parkinson’s diagnosis years prior. Former AGs Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales have agreed to submit statements rather than appear for depositions.
Only former Attorney General Bill Barr has testified, while ex-Miami US Attorney Alex Acosta, who became involved with an earlier state-level prosecution involving Epstein in the mid-2000s, was most recently issued a subpoena for questioning.
Acosta helped secure a federal non-prosecution agreement as part of a 2008 case involving the Palm Beach County State’s Attorney Barry Krischer that forced Epstein to plead guilty to two crimes — including soliciting a minor — and register as a sex offender.
“The White House is working with us,” added Comer.
President Trump was at one time a friend and associate of Epstein’s in the 1990s, but they had a falling out in the mid-2000s before the financier’s first arrest.
