(19 Aug 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
POOL
Washington – 19 August 2025
1. Various of former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr arriving for deposition on the Epstein case before the House Oversight Committee
++SOUNDBITE FULLY COVERED++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. James Comer, (R) Kentucky, House Oversight Committee Chairman:
"Attorney General Barr’s answering every question… He’s being very transparent. And that’s our goal with this investigation is to be transparent."
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. James Comer, (R) Kentucky, House Oversight Committee Chairman:
"Barr said he’s never seen any information that showed that he (Trump) was in the files and that he would he would be shocked if there was anything pertaining to President Trump that was negative, that the Biden administration wouldn’t have leaked out prior to the presidential election."
++WHITE FLASH++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, (D) Virginia:
"And the second is that this president has an incentive to cover up because he was told that he was in the files. And so we just want to know what exists, what existed five years ago, what existed, in February when we were told about that and what exists now. But we’re asking basic questions. We’re doing our job on the oversight committee and the administration isn’t doing its job of being transparent with the American people."
++ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Democrats and Republicans on the House Oversight Committee disagree on the transparency of a deposition about the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation from former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, who served during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Kentucky Rep. James Comer, the Republican committee chair, said he believes Barr answered all of the committee’s questions and is being "very transparent."
"Barr said he’s never seen any information that showed that (Trump) was in the (Epstein) files and that he would he would be shocked if there was anything pertaining to President Trump that was negative, that the Biden administration wouldn’t have leaked out prior to the presidential election," Comer told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Barr is the first of many witnesses who will testify in the Congressional Epstein probe. The House Oversight panel separately issued subpoenas to eight former law enforcement leaders including other former Attorneys General, as well as former Democratic President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Virginia Democrat Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, who also serves on the Oversight committee, is more skeptical of the Trump administration and believes Barr is not being fully transparent with his knowledge of the Epstein case.
"I think the way this administration has responded makes it feel like a cover-up. And so we really want to get to the bottom of what they have," Subramanyam told reporters.
Late Monday night, the Justice Department agreed to provide to Congress documents from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, a move that appears to avert, at least temporarily, a potential separation of powers clash.
The records are to be turned over starting Friday to the House Oversight Committee, which earlier this month issued a broad subpoena to the Justice Department about a criminal case that has long captivated public attention, recently roiled the top rungs of President Donald Trump’s administration and been a consistent magnet for conspiracy theories.
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