GOP House report accuses federal authorities of systemic failures in Epstein case

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Tuesday released its findings after a 15-month inquiry involving 19 transcribed interviews and depositions, subpoenas to federal agencies, financial institutions and Epstein’s estate, and an extensive review of financial records. The report condemned federal investigators and prosecutors in South Florida and Washington for alleged negligence. The panel ascribed the outcomes to “poor judgment” and said a combination of bureaucratic indifference, missed warnings and compromised plea deals consistently shielded Epstein and his associates while denying justice to victims.

Republican Representative James Comer of Kentucky, who chairs the committee, said in a video address: “What we found was both heartbreaking and infuriating. These women endured unimaginable abuse, and the federal government failed them at nearly every turn. Had the government done its job, much of this abuse could have been prevented.”

The committee, which currently holds a Republican majority, is the House’s main investigative panel with the power to subpoena witnesses and documents. Democrats will take control of the chamber in January after a historic victory in the November 3 midterm elections, and California Representative Robert Garcia, the committee’s top Democrat, has formally announced his bid to chair it.

GOP lawmakers sharply rebuked a controversial 2007 non-prosecution agreement in South Florida that effectively shelved Epstein’s federal case after he pleaded guilty to lesser state offences. Florida prosecutors, working alongside the FBI, granted him a lenient 18-month sentence with extensive work-release privileges, a period during which he continued to abuse women, according to the report. The panel flagged potential conflicts of interest involving two former prosecutors, Matthew Menchel and Bruce Reinhart, then employed in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. “Former US Attorney Alexander Acosta’s hands-off approach to the investigation and his failures to oversee the daily involvement of those at the USAO left the investigation in the hands of potential Epstein loyalists,” the report read.

Separately, the report blamed understaffing and institutional dysfunction at the New York federal jail where Epstein died by alleged suicide in August 2019. It revealed that guards skipped 12 patrols and three inmate counts, failing to perform the required 30-minute safety checks. Epstein was housed in the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s Special Housing Unit when his cell was left unmonitored for nearly eight hours the night he died. According to testimony from Tova Noel, a former MCC correctional officer who performed Epstein’s final cell check, the critical lapse was simply “the MCC way”. The report defined the jail’s institutional culture as one in which “departures from established policies and procedures had become routine”.

The Republican-led committee urged the Department of Justice to interview or re-interview key witnesses and to investigate Epstein associates accused of criminal activity. The report includes testimony from a witness who accused two high-profile figures of abuse: former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and French celebrity hairstylist Frederic Fekkai. Comer said in a statement: “The evidence we uncovered makes clear that the Department of Justice must interview or re-interview key witnesses, investigate Epstein associates accused of criminal activity, and ensure survivors have access to their records,” adding that “Congress must also pass legislation protecting the ability of individuals with knowledge of sexual abuse and survivors to speak freely about these crimes, regardless of nondisclosure agreements.”

The report dismissed the committee Democrats’ probe into Trump as an “unfounded witch hunt”, saying they were “obsessed with trying to implicate President Trump and insinuate that he was involved in the crimes of Epstein and Maxwell”.

Questions remain about whether the DOJ provided all required records under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by a near-unanimous Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump in November 2025. The rushed nature of the disclosure led to “deficient redaction” that “exposed sensitive information” belonging to victims, the GOP-led report added. The panel recommended measures granting survivors access to unredacted personal files and urged passing the Survivor’s Voice Protection Act to prohibit using non-disclosure agreements to conceal sexual abuse.