Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) on Tuesday called for the CIA to release any records it holds related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Mace said the documents could shed light on suggestions that the late convicted sex offender and his close associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, could have supported U.S. intelligence efforts. As a member of the House oversight committee, Mace wrote a letter to CIA Director John Ratcliffe, referencing a 2011 Freedom of Information Act request from Epstein’s lawyers “to show his affiliation with the CIA.” The letter also noted Epstein’s relationship with former CIA Director William Burns.
“Congress needs to know what, if any, relationship the CIA had with Jeffrey Epstein and what information they’re sitting on,” she wrote in a post to X.
“Classified or not, we want to see it. The American people deserve answers about whether our intelligence agencies had connections to a child sex trafficker,” Mace added.
The possibility Epstein could have been an intelligence recruit has long been floated as an explanation for his nebulous background, swift ascendancy in New York’s financial community, and ties to powerful figures across the political, scientific, business, technology, and entertainment industries, both in the United States and abroad.
In addition to Burns, Epstein held connections to former Harvard President Larry Summers, leaders at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, Democratic Virgin Islands House Del. Stacey Plaskett, Victoria’s Secret’s Les Wexner, former President Bill Clinton, Obama White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, President Donald Trump, and former British Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson.
The House oversight committee summoned Mandelson to testify before Congress last week over his ties to Epstein.
There is no proof Epstein was a CIA agent, and members of the U.S. and Israeli governments have long denied he was an intelligence asset.
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The Department of Justice has released millions of files on Epstein during the Trump administration amid widespread public curiosity about the deceased financier, though the rollout and significant redactions on many of the documents have sparked further controversy.
The latest trove of files was released on Jan. 30. Members of Congress were recently allowed to privately view unredacted versions of the Epstein files under DOJ supervision.