(Andrew Rice, The Center Square) The U.S. House Oversight Committee will call several members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet to testify as part of its investigation into the Department of Justice’s handling of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are expected to testify before the oversight committee.
U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the oversight committee, said Lutnick “proactively agreed to appear” before the committee.
“I have done nothing wrong and want to set the recofrd straight,” Lutnick said in a statement.
Lutnick has appeared in several documents throughout the Justice Department’s release of files related to Epstein. Notably, he sent an email to Epstein requesting his presence at a 2015 presidential campaign fundraiser for Hillary Clinton.
Lutnick and Epstein were also neighbors in New York City. Photos of Lutnick and Epstein together also appeared in the Justice Department’s release of documents.
Emails in the documents from 2012 also showed Lutnick, his wife and four children planned to visit Little St. James, the island where Epstein had his estate.
An email released in the documents shows Epstein’s assistant passing along a message to Lutnick saying, “nice to see you” on Dec. 24, 2012.
Lutnick testified about the email exchange in a meeting before lawmakers in Congress.
“We had lunch on the island, that is true, for an hour,” Lutnick told lawmakers. “Then we left with all of my children, with my nannies and my wife all together. We were on family vacation. To suggest that there was anything untoward about that in 2012, I don’t recall why we did it. But we did.”
Lutnick’s meeting with Epstein occurred four years after a deal Epstein made to avoid federal prosecution in 2008 over sex trafficking charges. The deal with federal authorities was unsealed in 2009 but did not become widely known until 2018.
The House Oversight Committee also voted to subpoena Bondi over the Justice Department’s release of documents associated with Epstein. Five Republicans joined Democrats in the vote to subpoena Bondi on March 4.
U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., was one of the Republicans who voted to subpoena Bondi. He said he wanted specific answers on some of the problems related to the release.
“I just think it’s time to get some answers,” Burchett said. “She’s in the batter’s box. Let her hit”
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., brought the subpoena before the committee. She said the department’s withholding of certain documents and redaction process has caused more harm to the investigation.
“I’m not impressed with Bondi on the Epstein files, and I’ll make that abundantly clear when I depose her,” Mace said. “She’s lost a lot of support among the base [and] up here as well.”
The Justice Department released files associated with Epstein on March 5 that included interviews with a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted by Trump when she was young.
Trump and the White House have denied any wrongdoing in relation to the woman’s accusations.
“The world is watching as Pam Bondi continues to aid this White House cover-up,” Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said. “We look forward to having her testify under oath before the Oversight Committee as soon as possible.”
Comer also announced that Tova Noel, a correctional officer on duty the night Epstein died in a New York jail, is set to testify before the oversight committee on March 26. Comer said documents released by the Justice Department led the committee to believe Noel may have “information that will assist in its investigation.”
The guards were accused of sleeping and browsing the internet the night Epstein died, according to a grand jury indictment. The indictment accused Noel and another guard of falsely affirming they conducted security rounds.
“To conceal their failure to perform their duties, NOEL and THOMAS repeatedly signed false certifications attesting to having conducted multiple counts of inmates when, in truth and in fact, they never conducted such counts,” the indictment read.
Comer said Lutnick and Bondi will testify in the coming weeks as part of the investigation.
“I’m in communication with them,” Comer said of Bondi and Lutnick. “We’re trying to get them very, very soon.”
