The Republican James Comer, chairman of the committee, requested documents regarding Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell last week and has now received a response that the documents will be provided, writes The Washington Post.
However, it is unclear whether this applies to all papers in the gigantic investigation, and whether all documents will be released, and to what extent they are edited.
It will take time for the Department of Justice to produce all the documents and ensure that victims and children who have been subjected to abuse cannot be identified, says Comer to the newspaper.
I appreciate the Trump administration's efforts to secure transparency and efforts to provide the American people with information on the matter.
President Donald Trump promised during the election campaign that all documents would be made public, but this has not yet happened. He has several times wavered on the issue, and there have been rumors that he is mentioned in the documents, in a not favorable way.
A court in New York decided last week to reject the Department of Justice's request to release the interviews with Ghislaine Maxwell, the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend and accomplice.
Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his prison cell in New York in 2019 while awaiting trial. According to the coroner, the cause of death is suicide, but his death is surrounded by several conspiracy theories. Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her involvement in the crimes.
Facts: The Jeffrey Epstein case
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(TT) An investigation into Jeffrey Epstein was initiated as early as 2005 after a 14-year-old girl told the police that she had been molested by him in his home in Palm Beach, Florida. The investigation swells and in 2007 he is prosecuted in a federal court.
After an agreement with prosecutor Alexander Acosta, Epstein is sentenced to 18 months in prison for buying sex in 2008. He is released after 13 months.
The case comes to attention again in 2018 after a series of articles in the Miami Herald where women come forward and accuse Epstein of sexual abuse during the period 2001 to 2005.
In early July 2019, Epstein is arrested at an airport in New Jersey. The new charges against him concern abuse of dozens of underage girls between 2002 and 2005. According to the prosecution, Epstein tried to buy the silence of witnesses with millions after the Miami Herald's articles. Epstein denies the crimes.
The twists and turns in the Epstein case also reach the White House. Alexander Acosta, Labor Minister in Donald Trump's government, is forced to resign as a result of the agreement with Epstein.
On August 10, 2019, Epstein is found lifeless in his cell in the detention center on Manhattan. He is taken to the hospital where he is declared dead. According to the US Department of Justice, he apparently took his own life.
