MAGA Rep. James Comer has admitted that President Donald Trump’s Justice Department has “botched” the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The Kentucky Republican was asked on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper on Monday if he had “confidence” in the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein case, with Tapper noting that Attorney General Pam Bondi’s department has not been in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The DOJ identified 6 million Epstein files for potential release, but has only disclosed about 3.5 million.
“Well, I think the Justice Department has botched this,” said Comer, who once described himself as a “Trump man” shortly after the Jan 6. Capitol attack.
“I don’t think anyone in America, Republican or avid Trump supporter, would defend the way that this has been rolled out,” the House Oversight Committee chair continued.
Comer also said, “Obviously, there’s a lot of frustration on both sides of the aisle in Congress, as witnessed by the subpoena to Pam Bondi for a deposition on this very subject.”
The attorney general met with the Oversight Committee earlier this month following bipartisan outcry over her department’s handling of the files on the convicted sex offender, but Democrats stormed out of the briefing over her evasiveness.
Comer, on the other hand, was apparently satisfied with Bondi’s answers, telling Tapper on Monday, “I do think after listening to Attorney General Bondi, that there are legitimate legal reasons as to why some of the documents haven‘t been released.”
He said Bondi blamed the slow release on ongoing class-action lawsuits involving victims, which he said make it difficult for the DOJ to turn over some documents.
It’s unclear what lawsuits Comer or Bondi are referring to. A group of Epstein survivors filed a class-action lawsuit against the DOJ last week over its failure to redact victims’ personal information in the documents, but it’s unclear how that would affect the millions of files still to be released.
Comer then redirected the discussion away from the DOJ’s handling of the files, claiming that survivors had not given the names of their abusers in Epstein’s sex trafficking ring.
“To this day, they have not given us one single name of a man who has victimized them. Now, part of the reason is because many of them have received settlements,” he said.
Comer, who forced Bill and Hillary Clinton to testify about Epstein last month, also blamed the DOJ’s botched rollout on the redaction process and “non-disclosure agreements that have been signed by multiple parties.”
“It’s a pretty complicated mess here,” he said. He did not directly answer Tapper’s question about whether he thought the roughly 3 million unreleased Epstein files would ever see the light of day, despite calling it a “very good question.”
Five Republicans on the Oversight Committee—but not Comer—joined all Democrats in a motion to call on Bondi to testify earlier this month. She is slated to testify under oath on April 14.
Trump was close friends with Epstein for more than a decade and lobbied Congress for months not to release the files. After several Republicans defected to force a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the president ended his opposition and the law passed nearly unanimously in November.
Trump has denied having any knowledge of or involvement in Epstein’s crimes at the time.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the DOJ and the White House for comment.
