Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have released a stark report detailing government failures that enabled convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to abuse young women for decades.
The report was issued Tuesday by the committee, chaired by Kentucky Republican James Comer, after a 15-month investigation. Its work included 19 interviews and depositions, financial records, and documents obtained from the Justice Department and Epstein’s estate.
In a statement, Comer said, ‘The federal government has failed the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s horrific crimes for decades.’
Comer added that ‘Epstein operated with impunity, shielded and enabled by powerful connections and a justice system that repeatedly failed his victims.’
‘Governments at every level and powerful institutions must meet their legal obligations to identify these crimes, stop perpetrators, and deliver justice for survivors,’ Comer said.
Robert Garcia, the committee’s ranking Democrat, criticized the report as being based on ‘an incomplete investigation and zero public hearings on Jeffrey Epstein.’ He said the work ‘is just getting started’ and pledged ‘to hold real public hearings uplifting survivors and asking tough questions of the powerful men who associated with Epstein, including Donald Trump.’
The committee’s most serious findings focused on repeated failures by federal authorities to protect Epstein’s victims. Investigators said those failures allowed the disgraced financier to avoid meaningful consequences despite mounting allegations of sexual abuse.
The committee said it found no material connecting President Donald Trump to Epstein’s crimes, despite what Republicans described as a Democratic ‘obsession’ with trying to ‘implicate President Trump and insinuate that he was involved in the crimes of Epstein and Maxwell.’
James Comer speaks to the media on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC in March
Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein
Republicans’ handling of the Epstein investigation became one factor cited in reports that working-class men were turning away from the GOP ahead of the midterms.
The Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files also provoked anger among members of the MAGA movement. Podcaster Joe Rogan called the issue ‘a line in the sand’ and accused the administration of ‘trying to gaslight’ voters.
Democrats argued that the Epstein controversy was resonating with working-class voters. In Kansas, the party ran advertisements accusing Republican Senator Roger Marshall of ‘protecting pedophiles’ through his congressional votes and belonging to the ‘Epstein class.’
In Florida, Democrats spent heavily on a 30-second advertisement aired during Game 3 of the World Series. The ad featured an Epstein survivor accusing Republican Senator Ashley Moody of ‘voting to protect the man who abused me.’
Men overall supported Democrats by a narrow 50-to-47 margin in the 2026 midterms.
During the months-long inquiry, Republicans and Democrats were among those called to testify about their knowledge—or lack of knowledge—of Epstein’s crimes.
Nineteen people whom the committee sought to interview appeared before lawmakers. Their names included a number of prominent figures.
Billionaire Leon Black defied two congressional subpoenas and refused to testify about Epstein
Leon Black
Leon Black paid Epstein approximately $158 million to $170 million between 2012 and 2017 for tax, estate-planning, and related services.
In September, lawmakers from both parties unanimously voted to hold Black in contempt of Congress after he failed to appear before the committee for a second time.
Bill and Hillary Clinton
The investigation set a new precedent when former President Bill Clinton gave a closed-door deposition to the committee near his home in Chappaqua, New York. His wife, former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also testified.
The investigation also included Republican witnesses, among them current and former officials from the Trump administration.
Howard Lutnick
Howard Lutnick, Trump’s current Commerce Secretary, participated in a transcribed interview. During it, the committee confirmed that Lutnick met Epstein in the financier’s foyer in 2011 and later had lunch with Epstein and Lutnick’s family on Little St. James in 2012.
Pam Bondi
Pam Bondi, the first Attorney General of Trump’s second term, also appeared before the committee. In February 2025, Bondi said she had the entire ‘Epstein client list’ on her desk. She later ‘sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel requesting all remaining Epstein files be produced to the DOJ,’ saying she feared that not every relevant file had been transferred.
Bill Barr
Bill Barr, who served as Attorney General during Trump’s first term in 2019 and 2020, was also deposed. Investigators found that Barr discussed the Epstein case only in broad terms and was not deeply involved. Barr told the committee he had no doubt that Epstein died by suicide.
Bill Gates
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates appeared on Capitol Hill for a transcribed interview and faced renewed scrutiny over his former relationship with Epstein.
Hillary and Bill Clinton were both interviewed by lawmakers during the course of the Epstein Investigation
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft sat through an interview with the House Oversight Committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in June
During a contentious congressional hearing in June, Gates acknowledged cheating on his former wife, Melinda, and said Epstein had tried to use those affairs against him.
Gates was called before Congress after photographs and emails in the Epstein files revealed new details about the depth of his former friendship with the financier.
Ghislaine Maxwell
Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell testified from a federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas, where she is serving a 20-year sentence. She invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination but offered to answer questions ‘fully and honestly’ in exchange for clemency.
Douglas J. Band
Band, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton, was questioned about the former president’s relationship with Epstein. Band told the committee he did not recall Clinton visiting Epstein’s island, Little St. James, despite previously telling Vanity Fair in 2020 that he had. Because of his work with the Clinton Global Initiative, Band was also questioned about his communications with Ghislaine Maxwell. He said he had never engaged in conduct involving Maxwell and young girls and had worked to distance Clinton from Epstein after allegations of illegal sexual behavior began emerging in the early 2000s.
Richard Kahn
Richard Kahn, a former associate of Epstein, was one of the people responsible for overseeing Epstein’s trust after his death. Under oath, Kahn said he had not known about Epstein’s sex trafficking or abuse of women and girls. He also identified several prominent people who had paid Epstein for financial, tax, or estate-planning services.
Richard Indyke
Indyke was the other person responsible for managing Epstein’s affairs after his death. He testified that he had never witnessed Epstein abuse young women or girls and had no reason to view Epstein’s continued support and contact with numerous young women as concerning.
Les Wexner
Victoria’s Secret founder Les Wexner said he considered himself a victim of Jeffrey Epstein. Wexner, 88, categorically denied knowing about Epstein’s sex-trafficking crimes and said in a written statement that he, too, had been victimized by the financier. He described Epstein as ‘diabolical, and a master manipulator.’
Alexander Acosta
Alexander Acosta, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, told lawmakers he became involved only after negotiations over the non-prosecution agreement began. He could not identify everyone who worked on the case, which investigators said appeared to have ‘left the investigation in the hands of probable Epstein loyalists.’
Tova Noel
Noel served as a correctional officer responsible for overseeing Epstein’s jail cell but had not been trained for the special housing unit where he was held. A supervisor nevertheless instructed her to sign the training log. On the day of Epstein’s suicide, she conducted one improper count at 10 p.m. and failed to conduct any counts during her second shift that night.
Sarah Kellen
Epstein’s longtime assistant told lawmakers that he sought to maintain control over her even while encouraging her to pursue business ventures. Kellen said Epstein and Indyke helped create her design company, SLK Designs, but then used it as another means of exerting control. She also said Epstein promised to place an apartment in her name after she had worked for him for five years, but never followed through.
Theodore ‘Ted’ Waitt
Waitt testified about his six-year relationship with Maxwell, during which he met Epstein several times. He described Epstein as ‘off-putting’ and said that, had he known about Maxwell’s involvement in Epstein’s crimes, he would never have introduced her to his children.
Lesley Groff
Groff, who worked as an assistant to both Epstein and Maxwell, handled the scheduling of Epstein’s daily massages. She told the committee she had not suspected Epstein was capable of committing sex crimes, but investigators deemed her testimony ‘not credible.’
Kathryn H. Ruemmler
Ruemmler, a former Obama White House counsel, was criticized for maintaining close ties with Epstein and accepting luxury gifts from him after leaving government service.
James Edward ‘Jes’ Staley
Staley served as a liaison at JPMorgan Chase and frequently communicated with Epstein on the bank’s behalf. He also said he had no knowledge of an email exchange with Epstein that appeared to discuss sexual relations involving one of Epstein’s assistants dressed as a Disney princess character.
In Tuesday’s report, Comer and other Republicans urged the Justice Department to investigate Epstein’s associates further.
The lawmakers called on the DOJ to reinterview key witnesses and provide victims with access to unredacted versions of their personal files and records.
Comer and his Republican colleagues also asked the DOJ to examine the conduct of Epstein’s former assistant Lesley Groff, former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, and celebrity hairstylist Frédéric Fekkai.
Levine and Fekkai were accused of sexual misconduct by Sarah Kellen, another longtime Epstein assistant and survivor, during her interview with the Oversight Committee.
