House Oversight Expands Epstein Probe With New Hearings Including Ex-Clinton Aide
House Oversight expanded its Jeffrey Epstein probe with new hearings, including testimony from former Bill Clinton aide Doug Band on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, in Washington.[1]
The committee released a 138-page transcript of Bill Gates' interview on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in which he said he met Jeffrey Epstein to raise money for his global health foundation.[2] Gates testified he knew of Epstein's prior sex-crime conviction but did not suspect crimes at the time, and called the association a "grave error in judgment." MS NOW Gates told lawmakers Epstein later made "veiled threats" to expose his extramarital affairs but did not succeed in blackmailing him.[3] Separately, billionaire Leon Black met the committee in a closed session and was served two subpoenas requiring him to return and produce documents after the interview.[4] Transcripts also show longtime Epstein aide Lesley Groff told lawmakers she arranged American Express Centurion travel for women tied to Epstein but denied booking trips for girls under 18.[5]
House Oversight opened its review in February 2025 with requests to the Justice Department for briefings and files. Chairman James Comer issued a subpoena to the Justice Department on August 5, 2025, and the committee publicly released 33,295 pages of DOJ records on September 2, 2025. Those records repeatedly mentioned Bill Gates and Lesley Groff and prompted Comer to seek voluntary transcribed interviews, which took place June 9 and June 10, 2026.
Initial mainstream coverage emphasized Gates' account that meetings were aimed at fundraising for his foundation. But the transcripts show Gates acknowledged multiple affairs and said Epstein tried to use those affairs to pressure him, changing how reporters and lawmakers describe his ties.[6] The Justice Department has identified more than 1,200 survivors of Epstein's sex trafficking operations as of July 2025, underscoring the stakes of the committee's work.
The mainstream summary does not mention the extent of Bill Clinton's ties to Jeffrey Epstein, specifically that flight logs indicate Clinton was on 26 flights aboard Epstein's planes between 2001 and 2003. This detail adds a layer of complexity to the narrative surrounding Epstein's connections to high-profile figures and suggests a broader network of elite involvement that the summary overlooks. Furthermore, while the summary highlights the Justice Department's identification of over 1,200 survivors of Epstein's trafficking operations, it fails to emphasize the implications of this figure for the ongoing investigation and the urgency it creates for accountability. The sheer number of identified survivors underscores the gravity of the committee's work and the potential for uncovering deeper systemic failures in addressing such abuses.[7][8]
Show source details & analysis (7 sources)
📊 Relevant Data
Flight logs show Bill Clinton listed on 26 total flight legs aboard Jeffrey Epstein's planes, most as segments of four international trips in 2002-2003.
Timeline: Bill Clinton's interactions with Jeffrey Epstein — ABC News
The Department of Justice has identified more than 1,200 survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operations.
FBI Memo — U.S. Department of Justice
📌 Key Facts
- Bill Gates’ transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee runs 138 pages and was released Tuesday, June 23, 2026 — read the Bill Gates’ transcribed interview.
- Bill Gates told lawmakers in a nearly six‑hour June 10, 2026 session that his meetings with Jeffrey Epstein were aimed at raising money for his global health foundation, that he knew of Epstein’s prior sex‑crime conviction but did not see or suspect crimes at the time, and that the association was a “grave error in judgment,” adding that Epstein later made “veiled threats” to expose his affairs but did not ultimately blackmail him — reporting summarized by Bill Gates.
- Gates testified he had roughly a dozen in‑person meetings with Epstein between 2011 and 2015, including visits to Epstein’s New York and Paris homes, a flight on Epstein’s plane from New York to Florida, and several video calls — details in the roughly a dozen in-person meetings transcript coverage.
- Gates acknowledged a third affair and said he had not previously known that Epstein and adviser Boris Nikolic may have been connected through that woman, and that Epstein acted as a middleman in negotiating Nikolic’s exit package — as reported about Boris Nikolic.
- Billionaire Leon Black testified in a closed‑door session on Friday, June 26, 2026 about his payments to Jeffrey Epstein, and the committee immediately issued two subpoenas requiring him to return for further testimony and document production — coverage focused on Leon Black.
- Epstein aide Lesley Groff testified under oath on June 9, 2026 about arranging American Express Centurion travel for women or girls tied to Epstein; a transcript released the week of June 22 shows she was questioned about a 2016 “decoy flight” email and a 2012 consulate‑related booking, and Groff denied booking travel for girls under 18, saying the travelers were Epstein’s “traveling assistants” — reporting on Lesley Groff.
- Former Bill Clinton aide Doug Band began testifying before the committee on Tuesday, June 30, 2026; Justice Department files show he exchanged dozens of emails with Ghislaine Maxwell (some described as flirtatious), Band has denied a physical relationship and called Maxwell “a monster,” and his appearance follows earlier testimony by Bill and Hillary Clinton and public records showing Clinton took flights with Epstein in 2002 and contributed to a 2003 “birthday book” compiled by Maxwell — reporting on Doug Band.
📰 Source Timeline (7)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
- On Tuesday, June 30, 2026, former Bill Clinton aide Doug Band is testifying before the House Oversight Committee as part of its Epstein investigation.
- Committee Chairman James Comer first requested Band's testimony in a March 2026 letter.
- Justice Department Epstein files show Band exchanged dozens of emails with Ghislaine Maxwell, including some described as flirtatious.
- Band previously told The New York Times that he never had a physical relationship with Maxwell and called her "a monster."
- Bill and Hillary Clinton testified before the committee earlier in 2026 and both denied knowing about Epstein's crimes; Band's appearance follows those sessions.
- Flight logs indicate Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein took various international trips together in 2002, and Clinton contributed to a "birthday book" compiled by Maxwell in 2003, but Clinton has not been accused of wrongdoing and says he cut ties before Epstein's Florida case.
- On Friday, June 26, 2026, billionaire Leon Black testified before the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door session about his payments to Jeffrey Epstein.
- After Black ended the interview, the committee immediately issued two subpoenas requiring him to return for further testimony and document production.
- Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a member of House Oversight, publicly discussed Black’s appearance and the issuance of the subpoenas in a CBS News interview on June 26, 2026.
- On June 9, 2026, Epstein aide Lesley Groff testified under oath before the House Oversight Committee about her role arranging American Express Centurion travel for women or girls tied to Jeffrey Epstein.
- A transcript released the week of June 22, 2026 shows Groff was questioned about 2016 and 2012 email exchanges with Amex relationship manager Natalia Molotkova that described a 'decoy flight' from Rome to London and a fully refundable booking used to show proof of hotel and air for a consular interview.
- Groff told lawmakers she did not believe she ever booked travel for girls under 18 and said she understood the travelers to be Epstein's 'traveling assistants,' denying knowledge that trips were arranged for sexual activity.
- In explaining the 2016 'decoy flight' email, Groff testified that the woman wanted to conceal from her parents that she was visiting Epstein, and asserted the itinerary was not for visa purposes, contradicting the impression created by the Amex correspondence.
- Regarding the 2012 consulate-related email, Groff told committee counsel Brittany Brignac she thought the booking was to help an assistant obtain a visa, acknowledging that Molotkova had warned such reservations only for visa purposes were against Amex policy.
- The CBS article emphasizes that during his June 10, 2026 testimony, Bill Gates said Epstein appeared to know about two affairs with young Russian women — a bridge player and a nuclear scientist — and at one point requested several thousand dollars in reimbursements related to one of the women.
- Gates told the committee he believes emails show Epstein tried to use knowledge of his affairs, plus additional lies, to "pressure" him to reengage, though Gates said Epstein was unsuccessful and did not ultimately blackmail him.
- Gates testified that he had roughly a dozen in-person meetings with Epstein between 2011 and 2015, including visits to Epstein's New York and Paris homes and a flight on Epstein's plane from New York to Florida, as well as several video calls.
- Gates acknowledged a third affair and, in response to questioning, said he had not previously known that Epstein and adviser Boris Nikolic may have originally been connected through that woman, and that Epstein acted as a middleman in negotiating Nikolic's exit package.
- Gates reiterated in a post-testimony statement that he supports release of all Epstein files and hopes his participation contributes to justice for victims, while CBS notes that the Oversight Committee is also interviewing other high-profile witnesses including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Les Wexner, and plans to question Leon Black and others.
- In his transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee, Bill Gates testified that after he cut ties with Jeffrey Epstein, Epstein made what Gates considered "veiled threats" to expose Gates’s extramarital affairs.
- CBS reports that these "veiled threats" were part of Gates’s explanation to lawmakers of how his relationship with Epstein evolved and why he viewed the association as a grave mistake.
- The article reinforces that these statements come from sworn congressional testimony that was only publicly released this week.
- MS NOW reports that Bill Gates’ transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee runs 138 pages and was released Tuesday, June 23, 2026.
- The article specifies that Gates appeared before the committee for nearly six hours on June 10, 2026, to answer questions about his past involvement with Jeffrey Epstein.
- In the transcript, Gates says he did not see or suspect Epstein was committing crimes at the time, though he knew of Epstein’s prior sex-crime conviction, and he characterizes his decision to meet Epstein as a "grave error in judgment."
- Gates tells lawmakers that his meetings with Epstein were aimed at raising money for his global health foundation.