The Republican Responsible For The Most Damaging Jeffrey Epstein Disclosures

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has raged against the four Republicans who forced the House of Representatives to vote on the Epstein files, even calling Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) a “traitor” for her trouble. 

But there’s one Republican who’s done more than any other to bring new and damaging Jeffrey Epstein material to light — Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chair of the House Oversight Committee. 

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It was Comer who obtained the “birthday book” made for Epstein in 2003 that contained a creepy tribute apparently from Trump, plus the thousands of documents released this month, including the email from Epstein saying Trump “knew about the girls.”

The latest document dump came shortly before Congress passed legislation to force the release of the Justice Department’s full Epstein files. Trump’s approval rating has fallen to the lowest level of his second term, partly as a result of the Epstein fallout.  

As Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) put it: “James Comer has been doing an extraordinary job for the Democrats.”

It could create a second round of Republican grumbling about Comer, a strong Trump ally who received some intraparty blame when House Republicans’ various efforts to investigate and impeach President Joe Biden mostly fell flat or blew up in their faces. Back then, Comer overpromised on what his evidence showed, especially a Ukrainian bribe that turned out to have been completely fabricated. But if Comer’s done anything wrong this time around, it’s that he’s been overly willing to dig up the truth. 

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“Because I, as well as my Republican colleagues on the House Oversight Committee, we want to know what really happened, what went on, who was involved in these unspeakable crimes,” Comer said last week in a speech on the House floor, referring to his decision to subpoena the Epstein estate. “We want justice for the survivors. That’s why we’re doing this investigation.”

Comer has gone beyond the subpoena that a bipartisan vote in his committee over the summer forced him to send to the Justice Department. On his own initiative, he sent an entirely separate subpoena to the late ****** predator’s estate, which had the birthday book and a cache of emails.  

It’s hard to imagine a more embarrassing document than the 2003 birthday card to Epstein that bears Trump’s signature, which reads “we have certain things in common” and “may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump had denied writing the message — his attorneys even claimed in court it had been “concocted” by The Wall Street Journal — and Comer’s disclosure proved it was real.  

Trump’s allies hyped the Epstein files as the key to unraveling the sort of elite pedophile ring right-wing conspiracy theorists have raved about for years. As of this month, every Republican in Congress but one officially supports releasing the files. But Comer has been way ahead of them. 

Republicans set high expectations for revelations from the Justice Department’s investigatory files on Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while facing federal *** trafficking charges.

In February, Comer set up an Oversight Committee “Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets,” chaired by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), dedicated to revealing the government’s goods on the JFK assassination, UFOs and the Epstein files. 

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That month, the Justice Department handed binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” to a group of right-wing influencers gathered at the White House. The stunt backfired; the binders contained no new information, and some MAGA commentators said the whole thing looked unprofessional. Luna called it a “complete disappointment.”

In May, Luna demanded the Justice Department make its Epstein documents public: “We work alongside the DOJ – not for it. AG Bondi needs to stop stonewalling and communicate with us.”

When the Trump administration announced in July that it wouldn’t release any new information and that there was no Epstein “client list,” contrary to prior statements made by Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, the backlash from MAGA-aligned media figures was intense. Democrats exploited the moment by pushing for a vote on subpoenaing the Justice Department during a subcommittee meeting that month. Comer dutifully sent the subpoena weeks later. 

Republican leaders pointed to the Justice Department’s cooperation with the subpoena as a reason not to vote on separate Epstein legislation, but their pushback only seemed to stiffen the resolve of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ga.), Greene, and the two other Republicans who put their names on a “discharge petition” forcing the House to vote this month. 

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Privately, some Republicans are apparently unhappy with the role Comer played in the Epstein saga. 

“No one has betrayed and fractured MAGA more than Chairman Comer and Rep. Luna,” a senior House aide told HuffPost. “Their Epstein ‘investigation’ created virtually every major headache for House Republicans this Congress.”

Comer declined to comment for this article. A spokesman for Luna did not respond to a request for comment. 

The Oversight Committee has released 33,000 pages of records from its DOJ subpoena, though much was already public. Massie has said he doesn’t trust the material coming through the committee, pointing to redactions in the first batch that protected people who weren’t victims of *** trafficking. 

After The Wall Street Journal reported on the existence of the Epstein birthday book in July, Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), members of the Oversight Committee, sent a letter asking Epstein’s estate for a copy of the book. An attorney for the estate said the estate could only provide it in response to a subpoena.

In September, Comer fired off a subpoena not just for the book, but for a wide range of documents, emails and bank account statements. The committee soon obtained and uploaded to its website another 30,000 pages of documents. Crucially, the Justice Department has had no ability to filter the material. 

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Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), another Oversight Committee member, said Republicans didn’t have much choice but to grab whatever the estate was holding. He called it an easy lift. 

“I think legitimately, we would have been criticized if we had knowledge and did not get it,” Sessions told HuffPost. “It became what I would say material to the case. It became material. And, you know, unfortunately or whatever happened, it turned into a treasure trove of opportunity for people.”

Garcia, the committee’s top Democrat, offered grudging respect to Comer while taking partial credit for his Epstein moves.

“I think when James Comer and Republicans are pushed to do the right thing, they will sometimes do the right thing. And I respect that, and I want to partner in those spaces,” Garcia said. “But when they choose to deny or deflect or slow down the process, we’re going to call that out.”

The committee is still sending out new subpoenas, asking the Treasury Department to hand over any “suspicious activity reports” flagging Epstein’s money transfers, and this month demanded Epstein’s bank records from JPMorganChase and Deutsche Bank.

For Republicans, there is a bright side: The Epstein documents contain plenty of embarrassing references to high-profile Democrats. 

“There was nothing new about the president’s former relationship with Epstein and certainly nothing scandalous,” Comer said in his speech last week. “But we did find two sitting Democrat members of Congress had communications with Epstein.”

The new documents revealed Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.) had been texting with Epstein during a committee hearing in 2019, and that Democratic fundraisers had solicited campaign contributions from Epstein on behalf of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). 

Trump, for his part, aggressively lobbied against the bill to release the Justice Department’s Epstein files, only to switch his position last weekend when it was clear the bill would pass the House over his objections. Now that he’s signed it into law, it’s up to the Justice Department to create a searchable Epstein database by mid-December. 

The White House claims Trump has been on the right side of the Epstein matter all along. 

“President Trump has been consistently calling for transparency related to the Epstein files ― by releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in an email. 

Jackson noted Plaskett’s communications with Epstein and said reporters ought to ask former President Bill Clinton about his numerous flights on Epstein’s private plane. 

“The only people who have behaved cynically are the Democrats and the media,” Jackson said. 

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