House Oversight Chairman James Comer said Friday his committee will issue two subpoenas for billionaire investor Leon Black as part of the panel’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
The dramatic move — in the middle of a closed-door interview with the panel on Capitol Hill — came after Black declined to answer numerous questions about non-disclosure agreements, lawmakers said. The committee issued subpoenas for a deposition and another for information about the NDAs.
“The NDAs are between him and other women,” Comer told reporters. “We want to know was Jeffrey Epstein involved in the NDAs. Was he involved in writing? Was he involved in awarding funds to the women for the NDA? What was the reason for the NDAs?”
Friday’s developments are likely to fuel the argument from some lawmakers and advocates of Epstein survivors that Congress needs to depose key individuals from Epstein’s orbit rather than allowing them to sit for transcribed interviews.
Black did not respond to questions from reporters as he left the committee room on whether he will comply with the subpoenas.
An attorney for Black said the committee’s move to issue subpoenas was “nothing more than a planned political stunt.”
“The committee did not ask a single question about the legitimate payments to Epstein for professional services on tax and estate matters,” Susan Estrich said. “I want to be clear, as Mr. Black said in his opening statement: He never abused a woman, he never was with an underage woman, he never engaged in sex trafficking, he never paid Epstein for access to women, he was never blackmailed by Epstein, and Mr. Black had no knowledge of any of Mr. Epstein’s heinous conduct.”
Estrich also did not answer questions on whether Black will comply with the subpoenas.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, pushed back on Estrich’s claim that issuing subpoenas was a political maneuver and said that both the minority and majority had “hours” of questions for Black.
Black told members of Congress earlier on Friday that he did not know the extent of Epstein’s crimes – and that he himself never abused women or had sexual relations with minors, according to a copy of his opening remarks shared by his legal team.
“I have never abused a woman. I have never been with an underage woman. I have never engaged in sex trafficking,” Black told members of the House Oversight Committee, according to his opening remarks. “I have never paid Epstein for access to women. I was never blackmailed by Epstein. I was not involved with, and had no knowledge of, any of Epstein’s heinous conduct.”
Black’s voluntary appearance before the panel marks the 16th closed-door interview that the committee has conducted in its bipartisan investigation into Epstein. He is one of numerous influential and wealthy individuals whose past relationships with Epstein have come under further scrutiny since the Justice Department’s release of millions of Epstein files.
Democratic Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a member of the panel, said, “We have had many of these depositions and interviews and this is the first time that someone actually walked out in the middle of it.”
“We had very important questions about Leon Black’s past with Jeffrey Epstein,” he said.
On Friday, Black said in his opening remarks: “I feel terrible for Epstein’s victims.” He also said that while he was aware of Epstein’s conviction in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor, he believed Epstein’s explanation at the time.
