--- alias: - House Oversight Committee - House Committee on Oversight and Accountability - House Committee on Oversight and Reform - United States House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight - House Government Reform and Oversight Committee - House Committee on Government Reform - United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform category: U.S. Government created: 2026-09-25 location: Washington, D.C. relations: - fn: 2 reverse: true role: chairman type: head_of with: '[[James Comer]]' - end: 2026-02 fn: 12 role: subpoena, contempt vote and deposition in the Epstein inquiry start: 2025-08 type: investigated with: '[[Bill Clinton]]' - fn: 9 role: deposition on the 2008 non-prosecution agreement start: 2025-09 type: investigated with: '[[Alexander Acosta]]' - end: 2026-02 fn: 10 role: subpoena and deposition start: 2025-07 type: investigated with: '[[Ghislaine Maxwell]]' - fn: 3 role: subpoena for testimony on the Epstein files start: 2026-03-04 type: investigated with: '[[Pam Bondi]]' - end: 2026-09-16 fn: 15 role: subpoenas and contempt of Congress citation start: 2026-03-03 type: investigated with: '[[Leon Black]]' start: 1927 summary: Principal investigative committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, which from 2025 subpoenaed Jeffrey Epstein's estate, deposed Bill and Hillary Clinton, subpoenaed Attorney General Pam Bondi and cited Leon Black for contempt. tags: - Organization - Government - Congress - CongressionalOversight - JeffreyEpstein - EpsteinFiles - Subpoena - ContemptOfCongress updated: 2026-09-25 --- The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, with jurisdiction over the operations of the federal government and authority to investigate any matter within the jurisdiction of any other House committee. It was formed in 1927 as the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments and has since been renamed several times with changes of party control: Government Operations from 1952, Government Reform and Oversight from 1995, Government Reform from 1997, Oversight and Government Reform from 2007, Oversight and Reform from 2019, and Oversight and Accountability for the 118th Congress (2023 to 2025). The rules package of the 119th Congress restored the name Oversight and Government Reform in January 2025.[^1] Its chairman is James Comer of Kentucky; its ranking Democrat is Robert Garcia of California.[^2][^3] ### Earlier Investigations As the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight under Dan Burton, the committee investigated fundraising for the 1996 Clinton campaign; its 1998 interim report traced the partnership between the [Lippo Group](/organizations/lippo-group/) of the [Riady](/people/james-riady/) family and the [Stephens](/people/jackson-stephens/) family of Arkansas through [Stephens Finance Ltd.](/organizations/stephens-finance-ltd/) and [Worthen Bank](/organizations/worthen-bank/).[^4] On July 2, 2008, the chairman Henry Waxman released documents showing that officials of the State and Commerce Departments knew of [Hunt Oil](/organizations/hunt-oil-company/)'s interest in Iraqi Kurdistan months before its contract with the Kurdistan Regional Government.[^5] On July 26, 2023, a subcommittee of the renamed Committee on Oversight and Accountability heard [David Grusch](/people/david-grusch/), formerly of the [National Reconnaissance Office](/organizations/national-reconnaissance-office/), testify that officials had told him of special access programs for the retrieval of unidentified anomalous phenomena that had not been disclosed to Congress.[^6] In February 2025 Comer created a Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets under Representative Anna Paulina Luna, with a remit covering the assassinations of [John F. Kennedy](/people/john-f-kennedy/), [Robert F. Kennedy](/people/robert-kennedy/) and [Martin Luther King Jr.](/people/martin-luther-king-jr/), unidentified aerial phenomena, the origins of COVID-19, the September 11 attacks and the Epstein "client list." Its Republican members included Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert and Tim Burchett. The task force had no subpoena power of its own.[^7] ### The Epstein Inquiry On August 25, 2025, Comer subpoenaed the estate of [Jeffrey Epstein](/people/jeffrey-epstein/), and the committee also approved subpoenas to former officials and to Bill and Hillary Clinton. On September 2, 2025, it released records received from the [Department of Justice](/organizations/department-of-justice/), and on September 8 the estate's first production, including the fiftieth-birthday album assembled by [Ghislaine Maxwell](/people/ghislaine-maxwell/) in 2003. Comer said Democrats were "cherry-picking documents" and that "President Trump is not accused of any wrongdoing," and the committee stated that it had "obtained information about Epstein's bank accounts" and would "pursue these bank records."[^8] [Alexander Acosta](/people/alexander-acosta/), who as United States Attorney in Miami negotiated the [2008 non-prosecution agreement](/events/epstein-non-prosecution-agreement/), sat for a closed deposition of about six hours in September 2025, and the committee released the transcript on October 17.[^9] On a motion by Burchett, Comer subpoenaed Maxwell in July 2025 for a deposition at the federal prison in Tallahassee on August 11. Her lawyers asked for immunity and wrote that if she "were to receive clemency" she would testify in public; the committee refused immunity and postponed the deposition. By then she had already been interviewed by Deputy Attorney General [Todd Blanche](/people/todd-blanche/) on July 24 and 25 under a grant of limited immunity and moved to a minimum-security camp in Texas. At her deposition in early February 2026 she invoked the Fifth Amendment in answer to every question, and her lawyer said she would testify if [Donald Trump](/people/donald-trump/) granted her clemency.[^10] On November 12, 2025, the committee's Democrats released three estate emails, including a 2019 message to the writer Michael Wolff in which Epstein wrote that Donald Trump "knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop," and a 2015 exchange in which Wolff suggested that a denial by Trump of having been on the plane or at the house would give Epstein "a valuable PR and political currency." Garcia said the emails "raise serious questions about what else the [White House](/places/white-house/) is hiding." Committee Republicans released about 20,000 pages from the estate the same day.[^11] The Clintons declined to appear under the subpoenas. On January 21, 2026, the committee voted 34 to 8 to recommend that Bill Clinton be held in contempt of Congress and 28 to 15 for Hillary Clinton; nine Democrats voted for the first resolution and three for the second. Both were then deposed in late February 2026 near their home in Chappaqua, New York, where Bill Clinton said, "I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong," and video of the depositions was released in early March.[^12][^13] On March 4, 2026, on a motion by Mace, the committee voted 24 to 19 to subpoena Attorney General [Pam Bondi](/people/pam-bondi/), with Mace, Burchett, Boebert, Michael Cloud and Scott Perry joining the Democrats; Comer had told members that Bondi's chief of staff offered to brief small groups instead. Mace said: "The Epstein case is one of the greatest cover-ups in American history." The subpoena, issued on March 17, set a deposition for April 14.[^3] Donald Trump removed Bondi on April 2. Comer said he would consult committee Republicans on whether to pursue the subpoena; Garcia said Bondi "remains legally obligated to appear before our Committee under oath."[^14] On March 3, 2026, Comer asked [Leon Black](/people/leon-black/), the co-founder of [Apollo Global Management](/organizations/apollo-global-management/) who paid Epstein about 158 million dollars, for a transcribed interview into how the federal government "for decades failed survivors" and "how Mr. Epstein sought to curry favor with influential individuals to avoid scrutiny." The Senate Committee on Finance minority referred its own findings on Black to the committee on June 4, 2026. Black walked out of a voluntary interview on June 26, 2026, and was subpoenaed for a deposition and for the nondisclosure agreements he had signed, including any with Epstein's victims; he did not appear on September 3 and sued the committee and Comer in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Black v. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, No. 1:26-cv-03084). The committee voted 41 to 0 on September 15 to recommend contempt, and on September 16, 2026, the House held Black in contempt by unanimous consent, the first witness in the Epstein inquiry so cited, with referral to the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Comer said: "No one is above the law." Black's lawyers called the action "outrageous."[^15][^16][^17][^18] [^1]: Congressional Research Service, *House Rules Changes Affecting Committee Procedure in the 119th Congress (2025-2026),* R48466. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48466 ; U.S. Government Publishing Office, "House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform," committee publications index. https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-oversight [^2]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "About," committee website, accessed September 2026. https://oversight.house.gov/about/ [^3]: Dareh Gregorian, Kyle Stewart, Owen Hayes and Michael Kosnar, "House Oversight Committee votes to subpoena Pam Bondi for testimony on Epstein files," NBC News, March 4, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/pam-bondi-subpoenaed-testify-epstein-files-house-oversight-committee-rcna261779 ; House Oversight Committee Democrats, "Ranking Member Robert Garcia Statement on Securing Subpoena for Attorney General Pam Bondi," March 4, 2026. https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/ranking-member-robert-garcia-statement-on-securing-subpoena-for-attorney-general-pam-bondi-to-testify-before-oversight-in-epstein-files-cover-up ; Office of Representative Nancy Mace, "Rep. Nancy Mace Issues Statement After Oversight Committee Issues Subpoena to AG," March 17, 2026. https://mace.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-nancy-mace-issues-statement-after-oversight-committee-issues-subpoena-ag [^4]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. *Investigation of Political Fundraising Improprieties and Possible Violations of Law: Interim Report.* House Report 105-829, 105th Congress, 2nd Session, 1998, vol. 2. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt829/html/CRPT-105hrpt829-vol2.htm [^5]: Waxman, Henry A., letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, July 2, 2008, as reported in "U.S. officials condoned Kurdish oil deal," NBC News, July 2008. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25506968 [^6]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. *Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency,* hearing, July 26, 2023. [^7]: "Congress creates task force to look into UAPs, COVID origins, JFK assassination, Epstein client list," The Washington Times, February 11, 2025. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/11/congress-creates-task-force-investigate-uaps-covid/ [^8]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Oversight Committee Releases Records Provided by the Epstein Estate, Chairman Comer Provides Statement," September 8, 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-committee-releases-records-provided-by-the-epstein-estate-chairman-comer-provides-statement/ ; "US representative files discharge petition to compel release of Epstein investigation documents," JURIST, September 5, 2025. https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/09/us-representative-files-discharge-petition-to-compel-release-of-epstein-investigation-documents/ [^9]: "Alex Acosta, former US attorney who negotiated Epstein's plea deal, appears before House Oversight Committee," ABC News, September 2025 (transcript released October 17, 2025). https://abcnews.com/Politics/alex-acosta-former-us-attorney-negotiated-epsteins-plea/story?id=125731737 [^10]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Chairman Comer Subpoenas Ghislaine Maxwell for Deposition at Federal Prison," July 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/release/chairman-comer-subpoenas-ghislaine-maxwell-for-deposition-at-federal-prison ; "House Oversight Committee rejects Ghislaine Maxwell's request for immunity," NBC News, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-oversight-committee-rejects-ghislaine-maxwells-request-immunity-rcna221773 ; "Ghislaine Maxwell pleads the Fifth, with lawyer saying she'll testify in Epstein probe if Trump grants her clemency," CBS News, February 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ghislaine-maxwell-house-oversight-committee-deposition-fifth-amendment/ ; Office of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, "Whitehouse Demands Documents on Transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to Minimum-Security Bureau of Prisons Facility," August 11, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-demands-documents-on-transfer-of-ghislaine-maxwell-to-minimum-security-bureau-of-prisons-facility [^11]: House Oversight Committee Democrats, press release, November 12, 2025. https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/house-oversight-committee-releases-jeffrey-epstein-email-correspondence-raising ; "House committee releases over 20,000 documents from Epstein estate," NPR, November 13, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/11/13/nx-s1-5607057/house-committee-releases-over-20-000-documents-from-epstein-estate [^12]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Oversight Committee Republicans and Democrats Hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in Contempt for Defying Lawful Subpoenas," January 21, 2026. https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-committee-republicans-and-democrats-hold-bill-and-hillary-clinton-in-contempt-for-defying-lawful-subpoenas ; "Vote to hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress passes House Oversight Committee," The Washington Post, January 21, 2026. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/01/21/bill-clinton-hillary-clinton-epstein-contempt-congress-oversight-vote/ [^13]: "Bill Clinton defends himself at House deposition on Epstein: 'I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,'" CBS News, February 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-clinton-epstein-house-oversight-committee-deposition/ ; "Videos of Clinton depositions in Epstein investigation released," The Washington Post, March 2, 2026. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/03/02/bill-hillary-clinton-deposition-videos/ [^14]: "Trump fires Pam Bondi as attorney general, installs Todd Blanche as acting AG," CBS News, April 2, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-pam-bondi-attorney-general/ [^15]: "House holds billionaire Leon Black in contempt of Congress over Epstein investigation," NPR, September 16, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/09/16/nx-s1-5954258/leon-black-jeffrey-epstein-contempt-congress ; "House votes to hold Leon Black in contempt of Congress over Epstein subpoenas defiance," CNBC, September 16, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/16/leon-black-contempt-house-epstein-subpoenas-refusal.html [^16]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Refers Findings on Leon Black's Epstein Ties to House Oversight Committee," June 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-refers-findings-on-leon-blacks-epstein-ties-to-house-oversight-committee [^17]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Resolution Recommending That the House of Representatives Find Leon D. Black in Contempt of Congress,* House Report 119-831, September 2026. https://www.congress.gov/committee-report/119th-congress/house-report/831/1 [^18]: Black v. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, No. 1:26-cv-03084 (D.D.C., filed September 3, 2026). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74743039/black-v-house-committee-on-oversight-and-government-reform/