The House oversight committee has a busy summer packed with interviews for its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including former Attorney General Pam Bondi and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
The committee will conduct seven interviews over the next few months as part of its Epstein inquiry. Democrats have been aiming to hold Bondi in contempt of Congress after she failed to comply with the committee’s subpoena earlier this year.
The first of the seven will take place on May 18 with Tova Noel, one of the Metropolitan Correctional Center prison guards on duty when Epstein died in 2019. Bondi is set to testify on May 29, Epstein’s executive assistant Lesley Groff on June 9, and Gates on June 10. Epstein’s client Leon Gates will testify on June 26 and former Obama White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler on July 15.
Bondi faced scrutiny over the Justice Department’s handling of releasing the Epstein files in a timely manner before she was fired last month.
While Gates has maintained his claim that he “saw nothing illicit” when it came to his relationship with Epstein, the tech mogul apologized to his staff earlier this year for his close ties with the sex offender.
“It was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein and bring Gates Foundation executives into meetings with the convicted sex offender,” the former Microsoft chief said during a town hall with staff at the Gates Foundation. “I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made.”
The transcribed interviews come as the oversight panel has been conducting an extensive investigation into Epstein’s crimes and as the Justice Department has released millions of documents. The committee has already conducted ten interviews, including with former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, former Attorney General Bill Barr, Epstein’s former associate and girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, and billionaire Les Wexner.
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As part of the investigation, the committee has released multiple batches of documents related to the files, many of which were obtained from the committee’s subpoena to Epstein’s estate. While the DOJ has released a slew of files, some have been pushed back, saying the department has not complied with a law passed by Congress last year requiring the release of all documents pertaining to Epstein.
The investigation began last year following the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation’s release of a two-page memo stating there is no evidence Epstein blackmailed people or kept a “client list,” reiterating he died by suicide, a conclusion that has resulted in mounting backlash from President Donald Trump’s MAGA base.