Congress
House Oversight panel to issue more subpoenas in Epstein case
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will subpoena Les Wexner, the longtime friend and client of Jeffrey Epstein, along with two men who worked for the late convicted sex offender.
It was the culmination of a flurry of subpoena requests Wednesday from rank-and-file members of the panel, several of which were ultimately approved. The committee also voted to subpoena Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn — Epstein’s lawyer and accountant, respectively.
It shows how the House Oversight Committee could continue to find itself at the center of efforts to re-investigate the Epstein case as the Justice Department presides over a prolonged and rocky rollout of materials.
The successful motions, brought by the top Democrat on panel, California Rep. Robert Garcia, appeared to be the result of an agreement between Garcia and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who also successfully moved to subpoena American businessman Neville Singham and journalist Seth Harp.
“There is probably no one more important as it relates to the financing and the work of this investigation, which both sides of the aisle are interested in,” Garcia said, of Wexner. “Public reporting has documented their longstanding ties. He should answer our questions in a non-partisan way to get the truth.”
Luna concurred: “I think that this is a sound motion for subpoena because Les Wexner has been named by victims and also, too, is in a number of documentaries,” she said and urged her colleagues to join her in supporting the effort.
In moving to subpoena Singham, Luna cited a letter signed by then-Sen. Marco Rubio, who now serves as Secretary of State, suggesting the entrepreneur may have been connected to activities that violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Luna also claimed Singham was funding groups that were adverse to American interests.
Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.) questioned why Luna was making her motion at this time. Still, Garcia recommended lawmakers vote “yes” despite Min’s concerns, explaining “the representative made clear her support for the deposition that we’re going to have with Mr. Wexner.”
In an interview after the Wexner vote, Garcia said he did not negotiate the matter with Luna before the hearing.
“[Congress is] about compromise, and I think for us, the Les Wexner subpoena is at the center of this investigation,” he said.
Garcia also supported Luna’s motion to subpoena Harp, who has been accused of doxxing a Delta Force official involved in the operation to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Separately, the committee rejected a bid from Democrats to subpoena the Department of Homeland Security for records related to the Wednesday shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by an ICE agent.
The panel struck down an attempt from Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) to issue the subpoena at the end of an hours-long hearing around the welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota. Pressley requested “documents and footage” of the fatal incident.
Garcia said he was hopeful the panel would investigate the episode.
“We’re talking about Minnesota right now,” he said. “This was a killing by an ICE agent. There are videos that are now online. There’s testimony that’s being brought to light. It’s horrific. I encourage folks to watch those videos and see what’s happened for themselves.”
President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson will meet at the White House Tuesday with the executives of top artificial intelligence companies, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss private plans.
The meeting comes as Congress is coming under increasing pressure to put federal guardrails on AI development, as fears mount that technological advancements could soon spiral beyond human control.
Responding to some warnings that AI development was on track to cause human extinction by the end of the decade, Johnson has said he wants Trump and AI CEOs to “go in a big room, close the door and sort this out.” He has yet to endorse major legislative action to address the issue, as Trump has resisted calls for government regulations, citing concerns about lagging behind China.
The president and speaker were in attendance at the State Dinner on Thursday night in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, as were OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. It was not immediately clear which of these executives would be invited to next week’s meeting, and who will be participating.
News that the meeting had been scheduled was first reported by Axios.
A group of 10 Democrats has signed on to Rep. Greg Casar’s (D-Texas) bill that would ban superintelligence and pause advanced AI development until a vetting regime could be stood up.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), both of whom are mulling a 2028 presidential run, are cosponsoring the bill, named the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act.
Khanna, in a statement, noted that he convened a hearing this week on AI safety cooperation between the U.S. and China as ranking member of the House China Select Committee with AI experts who underscored the need for a verifiable pause on superintelligence.
AI superintelligence is an as-yet hypothetical form of the advanced technology that surpasses humans’ cognitive capabilities, but exactly when AI crosses the threshold into superintelligence remains contested. The bill would subject violators to a 20-year prison sentence.
The support from prominent progressives in the Democratic caucus comes as the party is navigating how they would approach AI regulation should they retake control of one or both chambers in November.
Other cosponsors include Reps. Analilia Mejia of New Jersey, Yassamin Ansari and Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, Val Hoyle of Oregon, Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, Chuy García of Illinois, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania and Nydia Velázquez of New York.
“We absolutely have to slow down and regulate the advancement of dangerous AI technologies that have the potential to spiral out-of-control and threaten humanity,” Ansari said.
To Lynch, a string of recent AI-led cyberbreaches has “shown us that the advanced forms of this are out of control,” he said in an interview. “We haven’t really solved that control problem yet, nor have we got the alignment problem right yet.”
Casar’s bill, introduced this week with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), is among the most stringent AI regulations proposed by either party.
Rather than focusing on bans as Casar and his progressive allies have done, centrist Democrats are looking to legislative proposals they say can address the technology’s risks without stifling innovation.
Senate Republicans are discussing whether to call up a data center utility costs bill as they make plans to stay in Washington next week rather than beat an early exit before the midterms.
Two GOP aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the Senate will remain in town amid pressure from some corners of the party to send members home early to campaign.
Asked if the Senate will stay next week, Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday it’s “looking that way.”
While some lawmakers had hoped to move a long-brewing bipartisan energy permitting deal, those hopes have evaporated, and GOP leaders are instead eyeing votes on the Ratepayer Protection Act — a top priority of endangered Ohio Sen. Jon Husted.
Thune said Thursday moving to the data-center-focused bill next week “is an option.” The Senate is also expected to take up a Democratic resolution condemning the Iran war and several presidential nominations.
The Ratepayer Protection Act easily passed the House earlier this month, but some Senate Democrats are arguing it does not go far enough and party leaders could be motivated to deny Husted a pre-election win.
Josh Siegel contributed to this report.
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