James Comer

James Comer (born August 19, 1972) is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from the first district of Kentucky, seated on November 14, 2016, and the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the 119th Congress. In 2025 his committee requested, and then subpoenaed, the Department of Justice's records on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, subpoenaed Epstein's estate, and released the estate's productions. A tip reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation threatened to kill him unless the "Epstein Files" were released.¹²³

The 2025 Requests and Subpoenas

On February 11, 2025 Comer and Representative Anna Paulina Luna, chair of the committee's Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting a briefing on Epstein investigation records in the department's possession. On February 21, 2025 the FBI's congressional affairs staff reported "receipt of five letters from Chairman Comer and Chairwoman Luna requesting briefings on the declassification process of documents regarding various FBI equities and to view the relevant documents"; the attachments concerned the September 11 attacks, an assassination file, the origins of COVID-19, unidentified anomalous phenomena and Epstein. The next day a bureau official asked for "a RIDS inventory of what we have on these five subjects," covering "Vault posts / Preprocessed / Requests in progress / UAP state of play / Any open litigations and status," with a deadline of close of business the following Monday.³⁴

On May 8, 2025 Comer and Luna wrote again demanding public release of "the entirety of the Epstein files." On July 7, 2025 the Justice Department and the FBI issued an unsigned memorandum stating that their review "revealed no incriminating 'client list'" and that "no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted." On July 23 the committee's Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee voted 8 to 2, on a motion by the Democrat Summer Lee joined by Republicans Nancy Mace, Scott Perry and Brian Jack, to subpoena the department's Epstein files; committee rules required Comer's signature to issue it, and he was not present for the vote.³⁵⁶

On August 5, 2025 the committee subpoenaed Bondi for documents in United States v. Epstein (19-cr-490) and United States v. Maxwell (20-cr-330) and documents relating to Epstein's death. On August 25 Comer subpoenaed Epstein's estate, in a letter to its co-executors Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn in care of Daniel Weiner of Hughes Hubbard and Reed, for the "birthday book," financial and flight records and other material, returnable September 8. The letter recited that "[r]ecent reporting indicates the estate of Mr. Epstein has access to documents relevant to the Committee's investigation," and described the committee's purposes as reviewing "the possible mismanagement of the federal government's investigation," "the circumstances and subsequent investigations of Mr. Epstein's death," "the operation of sex-trafficking rings," and "potential violations of ethics rules related to elected officials," toward legislation reforming "the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations." It was copied to the committee's ranking member, Robert Garcia.³

The September 2025 Release

On September 8, 2025 the committee released the estate's first production. Comer's statement said: "It's appalling Democrats on the Oversight Committee are cherry-picking documents and politicizing information received from the Epstein Estate today. Oversight Committee Republicans are focused on running a thorough investigation to bring transparency and accountability for survivors of Epstein's heinous crimes and the American people. President Trump is not accused of any wrongdoing and Democrats are ignoring the new information the Committee received today. The Committee will pursue additional Epstein bank records based on this new information. Democrats must decide if their priority is justice for the survivors or politics." The release said the committee had "also obtained information about Epstein's bank accounts."⁷

A later estate production released by the committee in November 2025 included Epstein's text messages to Delegate Stacey Plaskett during the committee's hearing of February 27, 2019 with Michael Cohen. On March 4, 2026 the full committee voted 24 to 19, on Mace's motion, to subpoena Bondi to testify on the department's handling of the files.⁸⁹

The Threat

An intake record of a tip to the FBI, undated in the released excerpt, reports a message from a sender styling itself "The Queen of Canada," a group whose stated objective was "peace through death": "We are the Queen of Canada and demand Sen. Comer release the Epstein Files on Donald Trump in 30 days or we will Execute James Comer and Scott Bessent and his partner [name withheld]." The record lists as targets "James Comer and Scott Bessent and his partner [name withheld]," naming the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his partner.¹⁰