WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeffrey Epstein's longtime personal attorney testified to a House committee Thursday that he was unaware of the late financier's sexual abuse of underage girls at the time it was happening, becoming the latest person connected to Epstein to take that stance.
Darren Indyke, who worked as Epstein's attorney for roughly two decades, told the House Oversight Committee in his opening statement that he “had had no knowledge whatsoever”
of Epstein's abuse and would have quit working for him if he had known he was trafficking women and underage girls.
Other associates of Epstein, including his former accountant Richard Kahn, one of his largest clients Les Wexner, and former President Bill Clinton, have also told the committee in sworn depositions that they didn't know about Epstein's abuse.
Democrats on the committee aired their frustration during a break from Indyke's deposition, saying that the lawyer had taken a “defensive” posture in the face of questioning.
Indyke, along with Kahn, are executors of Epstein's estate, and lawmakers had hoped they would provide details about Epstein's abuse that would bring accountability. So far, though, lawmakers have struggled to uncover substantive details about the associates of Epstein, who died in 2019 in a New York jail cell while he faced charges for sex trafficking.
“As with all the other witnesses, they all claim they never had any knowledge before it became public that Mr. Epstein was involved with women, doing anything inappropriately with young women,” said Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee.
Comer, R-Ky., added that Indyke was asked why he had continued to work with Epstein following his 2008 guilty plea for soliciting prostitution from a minor. He said Indyke told lawmakers that Epstein convinced him it was a one-time mistake and he was remorseful.
Still, Democrats accused Indyke and Kahn of covering up for Epstein. “I think what has become crystal clear over the course of these last few depositions is that these people are going to lie to us over and over and over,” said Rep. Dave Min, a California Democrat.
Both Indyke and Kahn have said repeatedly that they did not know about Epstein's abuse. As executors of his estate, they agreed earlier this year to settle a class action lawsuit brought against them by survivors of Epstein's abuse for up to $35 million that alleged they had aided “Epstein's illegal conduct” for financial gain. They did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
Democratic lawmakers are pushing for the release of further documents from Epstein's estate. They said Indyke indicated that he is awaiting further instructions from the Republican-controlled committee about providing a tranche of documents that relate to a lawsuit that a prominent Epstein abuse survivor, Virginia Giuffre filed against Epstein's former girlfriend and confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other documentation on businesses connected to Epstein.
But Comer countered that those documents had already been requested by the committee from other entities and getting them from Epstein's estate would produce “overlapping information.”
Democratic lawmakers were also closely questioning an uncorroborated accusation made by a woman against President Donald Trump in 2019 during the investigation into Epstein. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, said that Indyke declined to answer whether that woman had also entered an agreement with Epstein's estate.
Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and Comer said the line of questioning showed Democrats are fixated on the president when the investigation has not produced substantive information to put Trump under suspicion.
“They have created a false narrative that Donald Trump's somehow some type of liability in this,” he said.
The House's investigation into Epstein started with some bipartisan cooperation, but it has increasingly become a bitter political fight. Democrats stormed out of a briefing with Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday night, arguing that she had appeared on Capitol Hill only to head off her own deposition that is scheduled for April 14.
Comer called the episode a “low point in the Epstein investigation” and accused the Democratic lawmakers of “acting like low-IQ fools." He said he still planned on holding the deposition with Bondi but would ask GOP members of the committee whether they still supported the plan.
Democratic lawmakers added that they were planning to hold a public hearing with survivors of Epstein's abuse and others with knowledge of his crimes regardless of whether Republicans join them.
