Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee took a victory lap Friday after releasing a transcript of their recent interview with former U.S. attorney Alex Acosta regarding Jeffrey Epstein, saying it provides evidence President Donald Trump was not involved in the case against the late convicted sex offender.
“Acosta NEVER talked to Trump about Epstein,” the Republican majority of the Oversight Committee said in a post on X, attaching a screenshot of Acosta’s interview from September. “Not in person. Not on the phone. Not over email.”
At one point in the exchange between lawmakers and Acosta — who appeared before the committee as part of its ongoing investigation into the Epstein case — Oversight committee ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) asked, “So you never — the entire time you were U.S. attorney, you never once spoke to Donald Trump?”
Acosta replied, according to the interview transcript, “The entire time — let me be more clear. I did not speak with President Trump, with Donald Trump before I was considered for Secretary of Labor.”
Asked by another Democrat whether Trump was named in any document in the Epstein case, Acosta said he did not recall any such instance.
Oversight Democrats, however, had a starkly different takeaway from Acosta’s interview, with Sara Guerrero, a Democratic spokesperson, arguing his remarks suggested a lack of contrition for his part in the case.
“The transcripts of Alex Acosta’s interview confirm what we’ve known all along: he has no remorse for his mishandling of the Epstein case,” Guerrero said in a statement. “Because of the deal Alex Acosta gave Epstein, he was able to continue assaulting and raping young women and girls for another decade. No matter how House Republicans try to spin this, Oversight Democrats will keep pushing for the truth.”
Acosta, in his capacity as U.S. attorney, oversaw the deal between the federal government and Epstein that many have argued allowed the financier to continue to victimize women for years. Acosta resigned from his post as Labor Secretary in the first Trump administration amid renewed scrutiny of the Epstein case. He told Congressional investigators last month that the decision to resign was his choice and not by the urging of the White House.
The panel has been probing the Epstein case for months, after a subcommittee in July compelled the full committee chair, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), to subpoena the Justice Department for documents.
Epstein’s estate has also turned over materials to Congressional investigators, including a so-called birthday book that included a note allegedly written by Trump for Epstein.
Trump has denied his connection to the note and sued the Wall Street Journal, which was the first to report on its existence. Democrats continue to suggest Trump is trying to hide his longtime relationship with Epstein.
The House Oversight Committee also on Friday released a new batch of documents it had previously received from Epstein’s estate, including Epstein’s schedules.
The materials mention a host of powerful men with whom Epstein had dealings, including a proposed 2011 appointment with Tom Pritzker — who appears to be the businessman and executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels — and a planned 2012 dinner with filmmaker Woody Allen and his partner, Soon-Yi Previn.
Among other events mentioned, Epstein also appeared to scheduled a dinner in Feb. 2013 with the former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak and Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary and Harvard University President.
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