House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said the plan for the Department of Justice to respond in “batches” to the committee’s subpoena for files relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein amounts to a “cover-up.”
“Releasing the Epstein files in batches just continues this White House cover-up,” Garcia said in a statement Tuesday. “The American People will not accept anything short of the full, unredacted Epstein files.”
Garcia’s statement came as the clock struck noon Tuesday, the deadline for the Department of Justice to turn over documents and communications relating to the “Epstein files” pursuant to an Oversight panel subpoena issued earlier this month.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chair of the panel, said Monday \the DOJ was going through the material, but it would take time to ensure “identification of victims and any child sexual abuse material are redacted.” He said the DOJ would begin to give the committee records pursuant to the subpoena on Friday.
“In a bipartisan vote, the Committee demanded complete compliance with our subpoena,” Garcia said in the statement. “Handpicked, partial productions are wholly insufficient and potentially misleading, especially after Attorney General Bondi bragged about having the entirety of the Epstein files on her desk mere months ago.”
Comer issued the subpoena to the DOJ pursuant to a Democratic-led motion in a subcommittee in July to seek the “full, unredacted Epstein files,” which passed with support from three Republicans on the panel.
In that same subcommittee meeting, Republicans offered a successful motion to subpoena a swath of former federal officials in the Epstein probe, including former President Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and several former attorneys general and FBI directors.
The first of those depositions occurred Monday when former Attorney General Bill Barr, who held the job in President Trump’s first term, spoke to the panel.
Comer told reporters on Monday that Barr testified he did not know of any information that would implicate Trump.
Garcia, though, said Barr during his deposition “could not clear President Trump of wrongdoing,” calling on Comer to release the full unedited transcript of Barr’s deposition to the public.
“We will keep pressing until the American people get the truth — every document, every fact, in full,” Garcia said. “The administration must comply with our subpoena, by law.”
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