Bill Barr rebuts Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theories in deposition with House Oversight Committee

Former attorney general William P. Barr said that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s death in prison was “absolutely” a suicide and that he had limited discussions with President Donald Trump about Epstein, according to testimony released Tuesday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The committee subpoenaed Barr’s testimony on Epstein because he was the attorney general in 2019, when the Justice Department brought sex trafficking charges against Epstein. Conspiracy theorists have claimed, without evidence, that the financier was killed while in federal custody. That obsession, along with broad interest in the case, has fueled demands for greater visibility into Epstein’s crimes and his interactions with law enforcement over the past two decades.

Barr said security camera footage taken outside Epstein’s jail cell did not indicate any anomalies. However, he acknowledged that the camera did have “a bit of a blind spot” and said he understood that might make people “suspicious.” Barr also criticized prison officials for not keeping a closer watch on Epstein. But the former attorney general said that he did not believe it was possible for someone to go into Epstein’s cell without being detected and that he saw no evidence of a homicide.

During his deposition, Barr was asked repeatedly about Trump and Epstein, who socialized together in the 1990s and early 2000s. Trump has said he ended his friendship with Epstein roughly 20 years ago, before the financier came to the attention of law enforcement. The former attorney general told the committee that Trump did not try to meddle in the government’s investigation of the sex offender and that he remembered only two conversations with the president about Epstein.

“You better brace for this,” Barr recalled telling Trump after Epstein was found dead. Barr said that the president “had the same reaction I did, which was, ‘How the hell did that happen, he’s in federal custody?’”

Barr said that in the only other conversation with Trump about Epstein he could recall, the president said he forced Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.

On Tuesday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) also made public a letter sent to Epstein’s estate reiterating that the panel has subpoenaed unredacted versions of cash ledgers, message logs, calendars and flight logs. The committee’s initial, limited review of those documents raised “serious questions,” Comer said.

“Many of those payments went to known survivors,” he wrote. “There are also examples of Mr. Epstein paying thousands of dollars for multiple foreign visas and then women — seemingly of those nationalities — appearing in the ledger mere weeks later and receiving hundreds of dollars of payments for ‘gifts.’”

The committee has seen message logs that “clearly indicated criminal behavior,” Comer said, including notes such as: “She is wondering if 2:30 is ok cuz she needs to stay in school.”

In addition, the committee released two documents it received from Epstein’s estate.

The first was an unredacted version of a note taken from a book of birthday greetings the committee released earlier this month. “So many girls, so little time,” the writer quips in the note, which begins: “Birthday Greetings to Degenerate One.”

Second, the committee released a phone directory apparently connected to Epstein.

Letters from former attorneys general Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzalez, who served during the early part of the first Trump administration and under President George W. Bush, respectively, were included in Tuesday’s release as well. Both former officials, like Barr, were subpoenaed for depositions. Each said they had no knowledge of federal investigations of Epstein.

A number of individuals involved in investigating Epstein, or who may have had ties to him, have been subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee as part of its probe into the federal government’s Epstein investigation. The committee has also subpoenaed documents from the Justice Department, in addition to those from Epstein’s estate, as part of its inquiry.

In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday, Comer provided several updates on the committee’s interview efforts.

Former FBI director James B. Comey “is avoiding service,” Comer wrote, adding that “the Committee is evaluating all legal options at its disposal, including employing the U.S. Marshals Service to execute service of the subpoena.”

Former President Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton have accepted service of subpoenas and plan to respond appropriately, but have not yet agreed to appear. A message bearing Bill Clinton’s name appears in the book of birthday greetings; the former president has said he did travel with Epstein during humanitarian missions. However, the Clintons have said they were not aware of Epstein’s crimes.

Former U.S. attorney Alex Acosta is scheduled to be interviewed Friday. Acosta has faced withering criticism for a deal with Epstein that shielded him from federal charges and allowed him to plead guilty in 2008 to state charges in Florida of soliciting prostitution. Epstein served only 13 months in jail despite allegations of abuse by dozens of women. Acosta has defended the arrangement as a means of making sure Epstein would spend time behind bars.

Tuesday’s release was the House Oversight Committee’s latest transmission of Epstein-related documents.

Eight days ago, the committee released a redacted version of the 238-page book presented to Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003, with messages from his circle of rich and powerful friends. Many entries amount to teasing references to Epstein’s lewd behavior with women.

Democrats seized on a suggestive message written inside the outline of a naked woman that purportedly was signed by Trump. White House officials deny that Trump produced the message and that he signed it.

Earlier this month, the committee made public 33,295 pages on the Epstein case from the Justice Department — mostly court documents that were already available.

Demands for all of the files related to Epstein’s business affairs and the investigation into his crimes have simmered for years. Those calls escalated this summer after the Justice Department issued a memo declaring that no further disclosures of Epstein material “would be appropriate or warranted.” That memo was seen by many on the right as a reversal by Attorney General Pam Bondi, who implied in a February Fox News interview that an Epstein “client list” featuring the names of powerful men who may have been complicit in Epstein’s crimes was on her desk to review.

Trump has called demands for the release of more information on the Epstein case a “Democrat hoax that never ends.”

Pressure from Trump’s right-wing supporters — and his Democratic critics — for more information about the federal investigation into Epstein has only grown in recent weeks. Women who say they were victims of the sex trafficking ring operated by Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, have joined the outcry. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for recruiting women and sending them to Epstein to abuse.

Comer argued in a news release Tuesday that his committee’s inquiry remains the best vehicle to share facts about Epstein with the public: “We continue to believe the Committee’s investigative process is the most appropriate avenue to provide the American people with transparency and the survivors of Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell with accountability and justice,” Comer wrote.

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• Kadia Goba, Desmond Butler and Clara Ence Morse contributed.