Oversight chair working to have Blanche testify in Epstein probe

Washington — The Republican leader of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Wednesday that he is working to have Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appear before the panel next month to answer questions about the Justice Department's investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, told reporters that he is communicating with the Justice Department about potential testimony from Blanche and wants to see him appear in July.

"We're working to bring Todd Blanche in," he said.

Comer said the main question House investigators have for Blanche is "what, if any, documents are left out there." 

Still, the Kentucky Republican noted that Blanche has a "big confirmation" coming up, referring to his nomination for attorney general, which the White House officially sent to the Senate on Monday. President Trump announced last week he had selected Blanche for the post.

The Oversight panel has been investigating the Justice Department's handling of Epstein's case for several months and has interviewed more than a dozen people behind closed doors, including former Attorney General Pam Bondi, former President Bill Clinton and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. 

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is testifying before the Oversight Committee about his ties to Epstein on Wednesday. Lesley Groff, Epstein's longtime assistance, appeared before lawmakers Tuesday. Comer said he will also ask former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz to come before House investigators. 

"We will have questions for him. We're going to give him an opportunity to come in and answer several questions that arose yesterday based on Ms. Groff's testimony and some things that some of the Epstein survivors said," Comer said of Dershowitz.

Bondi led the Justice Department during the release of more than 3 million pages of files from the federal investigation into Epstein, which were required to be made public under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. But she came under fierce criticism over the document rollout and was ousted from her position in April.

During her testimony late last month, Bondi told lawmakers, "to the best of my knowledge, the department produced everything required" under the law.

Following Bondi's appearance, the Oversight Committee's top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, pressed Comer to bring in Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel for interviews. Garcia said that during her testimony, Bondi "repeatedly shifted responsibility" to Blanche and said she "delegated oversight" of the process for reviewing the Epstein documents to Blanche, who was deputy attorney general.

According to Garcia, Bondi also indicated it was Blanche's decision to interview Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of Epstein's who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in helping him recruit, groom and abuse minor girls. Blanche met with Maxwell last July and days after the meeting, she was transferred to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas. 

Jaala Brown contributed to this report.