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A former attorney general under George W. Bush’s administration is testifying to House Oversight Committee investigators on Tuesday.
Alberto Gonzales, who led the Department of Justice (DOJ) from February 2005 until mid-September 2007, is the second witness being called in the bipartisan House probe into Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
It’s not immediately clear how many lawmakers will appear at the closed-door deposition, which is expected to largely be staff-led. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., is likely to attend, however.
Gonzales notably led the DOJ during early talks with Florida federal prosecutors for Epstein’s infamous non-prosecution agreement, which was formed in 2007 and finalized in 2008.
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He left shortly before it was signed, however – something Comer noted in a subpoena cover letter to Gonzales earlier this month.
“Your tenure as U.S. Attorney General, from 2005 to late 2007, coincided with a time period when the FBI investigated Jeffrey Epstein for sex crimes, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida prepared a draft 60-count indictment of Mr. Epstein, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida offered a plea bargain to Mr. Epstein, leading to the signing of Mr. Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement only one week after you left office,” Comer wrote.
The House Oversight Committee sent a flurry of subpoenas regarding Epstein earlier this month, kicking off a bipartisan investigation into the late pedophile.
In addition to Gonzales, subpoenas were also issued seeking depositions from former FBI directors Robert Mueller and James Comey, ex-attorneys general Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions, as well as former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Notably excluded from the list is Alex Acosta, the former Trump Labor Secretary who approved the non-prosecution agreement with Epstein while serving as a U.S. attorney in Florida.
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The subpoenas were directed via a bipartisan vote during an unrelated House Oversight subcommittee hearing on illegal immigrant children in late July.
Renewed interest in Epstein’s case has gripped Capitol Hill after the DOJ’s handling of the matter spurred a GOP revolt by far-right figures.
The DOJ effectively declared the case closed after an “exhaustive review,” revealing Epstein had no “client list,” did not blackmail “prominent individuals,” and confirmed he did die by suicide in a New York City jail while awaiting prosecution.
Democrats seized on the discord with newfound calls for transparency in Epstein’s case – spurring accusations of hypocrisy from their Republican colleagues.
Indeed, the bipartisan unity that the investigation was kicked off with quickly disintegrated after the first witness, Barr, was deposed last week.
Reps. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., and Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who attended part of Barr’s deposition, left the room roughly halfway through the sit-down and accused Republicans of insufficiently probing questions during their allotted time to depose Barr.
Comer, in response, implored Democrats not to politicize a bipartisan investigation.
Divisions deepened after Comer said Barr had no knowledge of, nor did he believe, any implications of wrongdoing on President Donald Trump’s part related to Epstein.
House Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., who was not in the room, released a statement after the deposition, claiming Barr did not clear Trump.
In addition to Gonzales’ deposition Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee is also expected to hear this week from former Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
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