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Darren Indyke, a longtime attorney for Jeffrey Epstein, told the House Oversight Committee during a deposition on Thursday that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls at the time it occurred. Indyke, who said he worked as Epstein’s personal attorney for roughly two decades, framed his testimony as a denial of any awareness of abuse happening while he remained employed.
Indyke told lawmakers in his opening statement that he “had no knowledge whatsoever” of Epstein’s abuse and said he would have quit working for Epstein if he had known the financier was trafficking women and underage girls. The deposition added to the record of sworn statements by other people connected to Epstein who have told the committee they did not know about his abuse, the Associated Press reported.
Among those previously named by lawmakers as having taken the same position in sworn depositions is Epstein’s former accountant Richard Kahn, as well as Les Wexner and former President Bill Clinton. Democrats on the House panel said Indyke had adopted a “defensive” posture during questioning, according to the Associated Press account of the deposition.
Committee Chair James Comer said Indyke was questioned about why he continued to work with Epstein after Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea for soliciting prostitution from a minor. Comer said Indyke told the panel that Epstein convinced him it was a one-time mistake and that Epstein was remorseful.
Comer also criticized what he described as the committee’s focus being shifted away from substantive details the panel is seeking. In comments reported by the AP after Indyke’s deposition, Comer said he viewed the exchange as consistent with other witnesses’ claims that they did not know about Epstein’s involvement with women and young women until after it became public.
Democrats, including Rep. Dave Min, disputed the estate executors’ credibility and argued that the committee’s effort to obtain details has repeatedly collided with denials. Min, a California Democrat, said it had become “crystal clear” that the people who have been deposed were going to “lie to us over and over and over,” as the AP reported.
Indyke and Kahn have also previously agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by survivors of Epstein’s abuse that alleged the executors aided Epstein’s “illegal conduct” for financial gain. The settlement, according to the AP, did not include admissions of wrongdoing by Indyke or Kahn.
Lawmakers then turned to the question of access to additional materials from Epstein’s estate. Democratic lawmakers pressed for the release of further documents, saying Indyke indicated he was awaiting instructions from the Republican-controlled committee regarding a set of records tied to a lawsuit filed by survivor Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell. Comer responded that the committee had already requested those documents from other entities and that obtaining them from the estate would result in “overlapping information,” the AP reported.
The deposition also touched on an allegation Democrats have been raising about President Donald Trump. The AP reported that Democratic lawmakers asked Indyke about an accusation made in 2019 during the broader Epstein investigation, and that Rep. Robert Garcia said Indyke would not confirm or deny whether a woman who made the accusation had entered an agreement with Epstein’s estate. Garcia, speaking after the deposition, said Indyke confirmed that hard drives are held by private investigators hired by Epstein, adding that the committee viewed the hard drives as of “great interest.”
Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein, and Comer said the line of questioning showed Democrats were fixated on the president despite what he said was an absence of substantive information that would place Trump under suspicion. The AP also described how the House’s investigation has become increasingly partisan, including Democrats storming out of a briefing with Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday night, an episode Comer called a “low point” in the Epstein investigation.
After Indyke’s deposition, Garcia said Oversight Democrats planned to continue pressing for transparency, and other Democrats said they were planning a public hearing with survivors and others with knowledge of Epstein’s crimes even if Republicans do not join the effort.