Top Dem Addresses Going After Bannon’s Secret Epstein Tapes
Rep. Robert Garcia said lawmakers planned to subpoena people who had relationships with the disgraced financier.
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee said he and his fellow lawmakers are “absolutely” going to subpoena people with connections to Jeffrey Epstein, potentially including Steve Bannon.
The former Trump White House strategist has about 15 hours of unreleased video footage of Epstein that was shot in 2019, before the disgraced financier was arrested on sex-trafficking charges, according to Epstein’s brother Mark.
The two were working together on a documentary to rehabilitate Jeffrey Epstein’s reputation, his brother said. Bannon has since released a two-minute trailer for The Monsters: Epstein’s Life Among the Global Elite, which he now says will be released as a five-part series early next year.
Steve Bannon briefly served as President Trump's top strategist during his first term.
MANDEL NGAN/MANDEL NGAN/AFP
During an interview with MSNBC, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) was asked whether lawmakers investigating the Epstein scandal had Bannon “in their sights,” and whether they were planning to subpoena other people—like New York City financiers—who reportedly had a relationship with Epstein.
“Are there other people that lawmakers are going to subpoena, seek to have testify, visit Capitol Hill?” host Antonia Hylton asked.
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“Absolutely,” Garcia replied. “Right now, we are working on a lot of different avenues to get information.”
Rep. Robert Garcia called on House Oversight Chair James Comer to follow through on the committee's vote to subpoena the DOJ.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Before breaking for the August recess, the House Oversight Committee defied Republican leadership and voted to subpoena the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.
Garcia said that Rep. James Comer, the House Oversight chair, now needs to issue that subpoena, but that committee members are also trying to get material from Epstein’s estate—including a 2003 book of birthday letters allegedly featuring a vulgar drawing by Donald Trump—and are encouraging whistleblowers to come forward with information.
“There are folks we know, not just in the Department of Justice and the FBI, but others in business—and like you said, within some New York circles and other places—that have information that we want to access,” Garcia said.
Whether it’s working with whistleblowers or using Congress’ subpoena power, he added: “All of it is on the table.”
For years, Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump ran in the same social circles in New York and Florida.
Davidoff Studios Photography/Getty Images
The issue has consumed the Trump administration since earlier this month, when the DOJ and the FBI issued a memo concluding that Epstein—who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial—did not have a “client list” and wasn’t murdered to protect his powerful associates, as many MAGA faithful believe, but killed himself.
The president was good friends with Epstein for about 15 years and is reportedly angry that the issue hasn’t blown over yet.
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