On Monday, August 18, 2025, former U.S. Attorney General William Barr appeared behind closed doors on Capitol Hill to answer questions from the House Oversight Committee, marking the first deposition in what committee members are calling a bipartisan investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Jeffrey Epstein. The hearing comes as renewed scrutiny and public interest swirl around the infamous case, with lawmakers, investigators, and the broader American public still seeking answers six years after Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell.
The panel, led by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, has cast a wide net in its pursuit of information. Earlier this month, Comer issued subpoenas to Barr and a host of other prominent figures, including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former FBI Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller. The committee’s stated goal: to probe every angle of the so-called “Epstein Island saga,” and, in Comer’s words, “uncover more information on the late financier and convicted pedophile.” According to Fox News, Comer told reporters before Barr’s deposition, “We’re very excited. This will be our first deposition in the bipartisan investigation into the entire Epstein Island saga, so we’ve got a lot of questions for former Attorney General Barr. I appreciate his willingness to come in, and hopefully this will be the first of many.”
Epstein’s death on August 10, 2019, in a cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, has been the subject of years of speculation, conspiracy theories, and official investigations. At the time, Barr was serving his second stint as attorney general, this time under President Donald Trump, and quickly pledged to personally lead the investigation into the death. According to CBS News, Barr was “appalled” by the news and took the unusual step of dispatching senior members of his staff to the jail—an act described by sources as highly atypical for an inmate death. One source told CBS News they had never seen such a high-level visit in more than two decades of experience.
Barr’s involvement did not stop there. He personally reviewed approximately 11 hours of jail surveillance footage from the night Epstein died. In an interview with The Associated Press three months later, Barr stated the footage showed “no one had entered the area where Epstein was housed,” and he concurred with the medical examiner’s conclusion that Epstein died by suicide. Yet, in July 2025, when the FBI released what it called “raw” surveillance video from the cell block, inconsistencies emerged between Barr’s earlier description and the actual footage. CBS News reported that the video did not conclusively prove no one entered Epstein’s cell block, noting that a staircase leading to the area was almost entirely out of view from the camera. Experts consulted by CBS News said it was impossible to determine from the footage whether anyone accessed the unit without being captured on video.
The Justice Department’s Inspector General flagged multiple inconsistencies between the video and official accounts in a 2023 report. Among the lingering questions is the existence of a missing minute of footage around midnight on the night of Epstein’s death. Attorney General Pam Bondi previously told reporters the missing minute was due to a nightly reset, but this was later disputed by a government source familiar with the investigation. To date, the FBI, Bureau of Prisons, and the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General are said to possess full, unedited copies of the video, though why the publicly released version omitted the segment remains unclear.
Beyond the video, the official narrative has been challenged by Epstein’s family and independent experts. A private autopsy commissioned by the family, conducted alongside the official examination, raised concerns about the angle of ligature marks on Epstein’s neck and the presence of broken neck bones—findings that some experts argue suggest a level of force greater than typical hangings. The official medical examiner, however, maintained that such fractures can occur in suicides, and no evidence has surfaced implicating others in Epstein’s death. Still, the unresolved questions have only fueled public suspicion and calls for greater transparency.
Barr has acknowledged what he called “a perfect storm of screw-ups” at the jail. In his 2019 interview with the AP, he said, “I can understand people who immediately, whose minds went to sort of the worst-case scenario because it was a perfect storm of screw-ups.” Despite the errors and lapses in jail protocol, Barr has consistently asserted that his review of the evidence supports the conclusion of suicide. His appearance before Congress this week, however, suggests that lawmakers are not ready to close the book on the matter.
The bipartisan nature of the committee’s probe is notable. According to Fox News, Democrats Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas and Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia were among those entering the deposition room on Monday. While Comer made clear that the primary focus of the day’s questioning would be Epstein, he hinted that the scope could broaden, noting, “There are some other things that I’m curious about, so we’ll see how it goes.”
The investigation’s reach extends beyond Barr. Comer has stated that “everybody in America wants to know what went on in Epstein Island,” and specifically mentioned Bill Clinton as “a prime suspect to be deposed by the House Oversight Committee,” citing reports of Clinton’s frequent visits to Epstein’s private island. The committee has also voted to compel testimony from individuals linked to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate, who was herself convicted on federal sex trafficking charges.
Adding to the renewed firestorm, the FBI last month released a memo stating that its review of the Epstein case was closed, that there was “no incriminating ‘client list,’” and that “no credible evidence [was] found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.” The agency also stated, “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.” While this might have been intended to quell speculation, it has instead fanned the flames, with many Americans and lawmakers alike demanding to see the full record for themselves.
Comer has subpoenaed the Department of Justice for all records related to Epstein’s case, setting a deadline of August 19, 2025. He told reporters, “You could imagine how many documents there are. I think we’ll receive the documents very soon. They’re compiling everything together, I think. We’re working together in a good faith effort and everything’s coming along.”
As Barr’s deposition kicks off what is expected to be a long and contentious investigation, the central questions remain: What really happened in the hours leading up to Epstein’s death? Were all protocols followed, or did a cascade of failures enable a tragedy that need not have happened? And, perhaps most tantalizingly, will the committee’s work finally bring closure to one of the most notorious and mysterious cases in recent U.S. history?
With subpoenas issued, documents demanded, and testimony underway, the quest for answers about Jeffrey Epstein’s death is far from over. For now, the American public—and many of its elected representatives—are still waiting for the full truth to emerge.
