The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has subpoenaed former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to provide a deposition later this month as part of its ongoing investigation into the federal government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
The subpoenas come after members of the Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee voted on a bipartisan basis last month to compel witness testimony from 10 high-ranking officials with knowledge of the subjects.
Additionally, a subpoena was sent to the U.S. Department of Justice seeking documents and records related to Epstein before August 19.
Sessions, the former Alabama senator who served as the 84th attorney general from 2017 to 2018 under President Donald Trump, received the subpoena due to his tenure overlapping with key events in the Department of Justice’s involvement with Epstein, including litigation involving victims and potential investigatory efforts that preceded Epstein’s 2019 arrest.
“During your tenure as U.S. Attorney General from 2017 to 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice was litigating against victims of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein who alleged that the Department had violated their rights under the Crime Victims Rights Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3771, in negotiating a non-prosecution agreement with Mr. Epstein,” Committee Chairman James Comer wrote in a letter accompanying the subpoena.
“In addition, while you were Attorney General, the Department may have been engaging in an investigation of Mr. Epstein that led to his final arrest in 2019. Pursuant to this direction, please see the attached subpoena for you to appear at a deposition on August 28, 2025.”
Sessions was one of seven former attorneys general, dating back to the George W. Bush administration, who received deposition subpoenas, including Alberto Gonzales, Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch, James Comey, William Barr, Merrick Garland and Robert Mueller.
The committee also issued subpoenas to former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and current U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“While the Department undertakes efforts to uncover and publicly disclose additional information related to Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell’s cases, it is imperative that Congress conduct oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell,” Comer said.
“The Committee may use the results of this investigation to inform legislative solutions to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations,” Comer continued. “Because you were Attorney General during the time when the Department of Justice was litigating against Mr. Epstein’s victims regarding Mr. Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement and less than a year before Mr. Epstein was federally indicted, the Committee believes that you possess knowledge and information relevant to its investigation.”
Sessions has not yet publicly responded to the subpoena or the committee’s claims.
