As a federal judge in Florida ruled Wednesday that the court’s “hands are tied” when it comes to releasing federal grand jury transcripts dating back to 2005 and 2007 in connection with an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, the House Oversight Committee approved a motion to subpoena the Clintons and other prominent former officials in relation to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.
The House Subpoenas
As reported on Friday’s AM Update, the Oversight Committee voted on Wednesday to approve subpoenas to former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other high-profile individuals with possible links to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
All former FBI directors from 2001 through 2017 – meaning James Comey and Robert Mueller – as well as former Attorneys General Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Bill Barr, Jeff Sessions, and Alberto Gonzalez will also be subpoenaed after approval from the Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement.
Additionally, a motion passed directing Chairman James Comer (R-KY) to subpoena the Department of Justice to release the so-called Epstein Files.
Amendments to the motion stipulate the DOJ must include the release of all communications between all Biden administration officials, including President Biden and the DOJ relating to Jeffrey Epstein, and the DOJ must redact any personally identifiable information of victims and possible child sex abuse material prior to release.
Chairman Comer told reporters on Thursday the committee will move quickly to serve these subpoenas. “All the names that were mentioned are names that have been mentioned in the past, with respect to the Epstein saga,” he said. “I never thought that we would be questioning the Clintons and others with respect to the Epstein files, but the Democrats voted in a bipartisan manner yesterday to do that.”
He said Republicans on the committee “have been very interested in this Epstein ordeal for weeks now.”
Meeting with Maxwell
Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch traveled to Tallahassee, Florida, to meet with Maxwell and her legal counsel. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence on sex trafficking charges for her role in helping procure underage girls for Epstein’s sexual abuse, as well as her own acts of sexual abuse.
It is unclear if or when details from the meeting will be made public, but there is a second meeting scheduled for Friday.
Media Meltdown
All the while the media has erupted over a Wall Street Journal report headlined “Justice Department Told Trump in May That His Name Is Among Many in the Epstein Files.”
Despite the attention-grabbing headline, the details have proven to be less scandalous. According to the report, Attorney General Pam Bondi “told the president at the meeting that the files contained what officials felt was unverified hearsay about many people, including Trump, who had socialized with Epstein in the past.”
President Trump and Epstein were once neighbors in Florida and socialized publicly for many years. They reportedly had a falling out in 2004, before Epstein was indicted for soliciting prostitution in 2006. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from a minor as part of a highly controversial plea deal.
Epstein was sentenced to only 18 months in prison and was allowed to leave the jail for 12 hours a day, six days a week on a work release program.
The Journal also published a follow-up to its “nothingburger,” in Megyn’s view, report from last week that alleged Trump was one of many high-profile individuals to write Epstein a “bawdy” letter for this fiftieth birthday at the request of Maxwell. While the president denies it and has since sued, the outlet reported Thursday that the leather-bound album also featured notes from Bill Clinton, billionaire Leon Black, fashion designer Vera Wang, and more.
In response to the latest WSJ reports, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said, “The fact is that the president kicked him out of the club for being a creep.”
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