House Oversight Chair James Comer has raised eyebrows surrounding the Epstein files saga.
“I fear the report will be like the Warren Report,” the 53-year-old said in an interview with Politico, referring to the 1964 report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. “Nobody will ever believe it.”
“There’s so many conspiracy theories,” he added.
The concerns were a significant reason he “wasn’t excited about doing the investigation,” he added, while admitting he still has not committed to releasing a final report, only telling Politico that it will happen “eventually, I would assume.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Comer’s office for comment.
Comer, in his role as chair of the House Oversight Committee, has overseen the probe into the Epstein saga, including the release of the convicted sex trafficker’s 50th birthday book and more than 20,000 pages of documents belonging to his estate.
He also spearheaded the investigation into former President Joe Biden, including looking into his family’s business dealings and the former president’s alleged mental decline, but neither produced meaningful results.
Comer, a Trump loyalist, has sought to minimize the damage the president’s relationship with Epstein has had on his reputation, refuting claims that the probe has been damaging for Trump despite turning up substantial evidence of the president’s friendship with the financier.
A senior White House official told Politico that Trump “likes James Comer a lot,” despite his involvement in the probe. “In fact, I spoke with [Trump] recently about [Comer] and he said he’s always been good and with him all the way. There’s no problems there,” they added.
In what many viewed as a distraction, the Kentucky congressman announced on Friday that he would be deposing former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton next month because of their ties to both Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
The House Oversight Committee’s probe also provided House Republicans with cover as they fought against legislation that would force the release of the Epstein files, allowing them to use the probe as evidence they were taking the case seriously.
The GOP eventually caved after Trump said he would sign the legislation if it would allow people to “move on” from the issue and focus on his accomplishments instead.
With the bill’s successful passage, the Trump administration now has less than a month to release the files publicly.
Comer, meanwhile, is “not quite sure” what the logical endpoint of the investigation might be, although he remains hopeful that bank records he has subpoenaed will bear fruit.
He has also tasked women on the House Oversight Committee with meeting with Epstein’s victims in order to obtain the identities of his rich and powerful accomplices, a move an attorney representing some of the victims has condemned.
“Why are we putting the burden on them?“ Jennifer Freeman asked.
“If there is no Epstein list, and the American people expect us to compose an Epstein list, if we don’t get any names from the victims, it’s going to be hard to do,” Comer told Politico.
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