House Oversight Committee votes unanimously to hold billionaire Leon Black in contempt over Epstein probe
The House oversight panel voted 41-0 to recommend Leon Black be held in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas tied to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
House panel moves to hold Leon Black in contempt over Epstein subpoenas
The House oversight committee voted unanimously on Tuesday to recommend that billionaire financier Leon Black be held in contempt of Congress, after he refused to comply with subpoenas seeking his testimony and nondisclosure agreements as part of the panel's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, theguardian.com reports.
The bipartisan resolution passed 41-0. Committee chair James Comer said the panel would now move the report to the full House of Representatives for consideration.
"Subpoenas are not suggestions; they carry the force of law and require full compliance," Comer said in the chamber before the vote. "Mr Black's testimony is crucial to our investigation because he maintained a close personal relationship with Epstein for years during the time when Epstein was engaged in sex trafficking."
Black has contested the subpoenas as "invalid" and filed a lawsuit to block them, arguing they exceed the committee's delegated authority and seek "private information that bears no legitimate connection" to its legislative purpose.
Black failed to appear for scheduled deposition
The contempt vote is the latest escalation in an ongoing dispute between the committee and Black, whose name has surfaced repeatedly in the Epstein files. The New York Times previously reported that Black paid Epstein a total of $170m for what he described as tax and estate planning services between 2013 and 2017.
Comer announced the contempt resolution last week, after Black did not appear for his deposition scheduled for 3 September and failed to produce all of the nondisclosure agreements requested by the panel. Black had previously appeared voluntarily before the committee for a transcribed interview in June, but that session ended abruptly after lawmakers from both parties said he refused to answer questions about the NDAs.
Comer subsequently issued two subpoenas: one requiring Black to produce "all non-disclosure agreements to which he is a party", and a second ordering him to appear again before the committee. In August, Comer had already threatened contempt proceedings if Black did not fully cooperate.
On Tuesday, Comer told the chamber that Black had submitted only a single NDA to the committee prior to skipping the 3 September deposition.
Black's legal team calls proceedings an 'abomination'
Attorneys representing Black sought to postpone Tuesday's markup, calling it a "complete abomination". They said they had sent letters to both Comer and ranking Democrat Robert Garcia alleging that Comer had violated House rules ahead of Black's scheduled deposition, and announced plans to file a complaint with the office of congressional conduct.
"The Committee under the leadership of Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Robert Garcia has lost sight of its legislative purpose and is abusing its power," Black's attorney said in a statement issued Tuesday.
The lawyers characterised the subpoenas as "illegitimate, illegal and a textbook abuse of power designed to bully and destroy legal protections of private citizens."
Black's legal team also argued that compliance would harm third parties, saying the subpoenas would "expose women who value their privacy, who have no known or public connection to Epstein, who bargained for confidentiality and have refused to release it."
In the same statement, Black's attorneys reiterated his longstanding denials of any wrongdoing. "Mr Black has repeatedly said that he feels terrible for Epstein's victims and that he regrets ever doing business with Epstein. He never abused a woman. He never was with an underage woman. He never engaged in sex trafficking. He never paid Epstein for access to women. He was never blackmailed by Epstein. Mr Black had no knowledge of any of Epstein's heinous conduct."
Survivors urge compliance; Speaker's office silent
Before Black's 3 September deposition, more than a dozen survivors of Epstein's abuse publicly urged him to comply with the congressional subpoenas. They argued that his use of NDAs underscored why Congress must examine the agreements and assess whether they shed light on Black's relationship with Epstein and others in his orbit.
The office of House Speaker Mike Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the full chamber would take up the contempt measure.
The move against Black follows a similar pattern earlier this year, when the same committee moved to hold former president Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton in contempt for initially declining to testify about Epstein. Both Clintons ultimately appeared before the panel.
The full House must now decide whether to advance the contempt recommendation, a step that would increase legal pressure on Black to comply with the panel's demands.
Source: Google News MT