Dem
51
Ties
1
GOP
48
Well, not Jeffrey himself. Almost everyone agrees he died in a prison cell, although not everyone agrees on whether it was a suicide or a homicide or some other kind of cide. While Donald Trump started a war in Iran in part to deflect attention from Epstein's crimes (and his own involvement in them) and then keeps doing other things (e.g. tariffs on Canada) to deflect attention from how badly that war is going, the Epstein investigation keeps plodding along.
In particular, one person in the spotlight is billionaire Leon Black. He paid Epstein $170 million for "tax advice." That is simply unbelievable. A top-rate tax lawyer at an elite firm might bill $4,000/hour. Suppose the lawyer worked full-time for 6 months on a tax plan for Black (which is inconceivable because the top tax lawyers do this all the time and don't have to spend 1,000 hours for a new client; they already know where the Cayman Islands are), then he would bill $4 million for his services. Not $170 million. Nobody pays $170 million for tax planning when a senior partner at a top firm will do it for way under $4 million. The payment was for something very different and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) wants to find out exactly what it was.
The specific issue at hand that is bugging Comer is that when he testified before Comer's panel, Black refused to answer the congressman's questions. He claimed he signed an NDA not to talk about his dealings with the women he met at Epstein's place. Comer's view that Congress' authority to compel testimony from witnesses overrides civil NDAs. Comer is now threatening to hold Black in contempt of Congress if he doesn't answer questions and produce the documents Comer wants to see. Comer has said: "If Mr. Black refuses to provide the Committee with responsive documents or refuses to appear for his scheduled deposition on September 3, 2026, the Committee will use all tools at its disposal, including contempt." We will know within 2 weeks if Black shows up.
Black might try to stall, but he has to be careful not to drag this out too long. If the Democrats win the House, then on Jan. 3, 2027, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) will probably become chairman of the Oversight Committee. Garcia is much more motivated and much more aggressive than Comer and will let Black have it with both barrels. He could be the key to getting an answer, under oath, to the questions: "Why did you really pay Epstein $170 million? Was he blackmailing you (and others) for something? What?"
In any event, much as Trump would like to have everyone forget about Epstein, the drama goes on. (V)