Epstein survivors push Comer to investigate potential leads from DOJ’s files in private meeting

Documents that were included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files are photographed Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)

In a private meeting last week, a group of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse and family members of the late Virginia Giuffre pointed U.S. House Oversight Chair James Comer to allegations from the Justice Department’s Epstein files to further investigate, arguing that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s suggestion there were no more leads to pursue in the case is not true.

The group brought documents from DOJ’s released Epstein files – an email detailing a list of men from the late convicted sex offender’s orbit, as well as Giuffre’s 2015 testimony to investigators – to help the Republican chairman refine his own probe and to argue there are allegations against powerful men that the Justice Department could pursue.

The private meeting between the survivors and the House Oversight Committee provides a fresh window into the back channeling between the two groups and the pressure the survivors are applying as they seek accountability as the investigation into the late convicted sex offender and his orbit has largely stalled under Blanche.

The survivors presented Comer a partially redacted set of emails from July 2025 that showed FBI officials were aware of an email discussing building out a spreadsheet of allegations against more than a dozen men.

“Take these names and build out new spreadsheet w all the derog on them,” a redacted individual says in one of the emails on the chain, referring to the list of 14 men.

That list includes some who have previously testified to the committee – like Bill Clinton and Les Wexner – and other high-profile names – such as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and President Donald Trump – who have not appeared before the panel. A CNN review of the public Epstein files revealed that agents started to gather allegations for each of the 14 men named later that same day.

Clinton and Wexner, who have appeared before the committee for videotaped and transcribed interviews, have each denied any wrongdoing and knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. CNN has reached out to Mountbatten-Windsor, who has also vehemently denied any and all wrongdoing in his dealings with Epstein.

Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing related to Epstein, and White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told CNN Monday that “just as President Trump has said, he’s been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein. And by releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and calling for more investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, President Trump has done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone before him.”

It was not immediately clear from the files what the FBI and DOJ did to pursue the outlined allegations for the 14 men. The women in the meeting disputed Blanche’s claims – including to CNN’s Dana Bash in February and to FOX in April – that there was nothing in the files that would lead to prosecution and that the files should not be part of cases brought by the current Justice Department.

CNN has reached out to the DOJ, FBI, and representatives of the other men for comment on the email exchange and testimony provided to Comer.

Comer soon acted on at least some of the information provided to him by the survivors.

After meeting with them, the Republican chairman announced he would ask attorney Alan Dershowitz to testify in the panel’s probe. “Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, documents obtained by the Committee, and your former role as Mr. Epstein’s attorney, the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation,” the panel said in its request.

A spokesperson for the committee told CNN that “based on information provided by Epstein survivors and testimony from Ms. Groff, Chairman Comer is requesting that Alan Dershowitz appear for a videotaped, transcribed interview.”

Dershowitz, who has long publicly maintained he has never done anything wrong or illegal related to Epstein or his victims, told CNN on Monday: “I did absolutely nothing wrong. That’s why I volunteered to testify.”

Dershowitz was part of the legal team that negotiated Epstein’s controversial 2008 plea deal. In 2022, Giuffre agreed to drop allegations she made against Dershowitz, which he consistently denied, saying she “may have made a mistake” when she also accused him of sexual abuse.

Giuffre’s family members also took Comer excerpts from their late sister’s 2015 deposition in which she named men she said Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked her to.

The cloud of the Epstein files continues to hang over the Trump administration, even as the Justice Department has maintained in recent months that there is nothing left to investigate.

As CNN reported, a group of Epstein survivors came out in opposition to Blanche’s nomination as Trump’s permanent attorney general in the wake of New York Times reporting that Blanche participated in secret White House meetings on how to contain the political fallout from the Epstein files.

The House Oversight Committee, meanwhile, has conducted at least 15 interviews as part of its ongoing Epstein probe including the Clintons, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Bill Gates and key members of Epstein’s inner circle.