Epstein files: House committee subpoenas Ghislaine Maxwell, votes to subpoena DOJ

Epstein files: House committee subpoenas Ghislaine Maxwell, votes to subpoena DOJ.

Kohberger sentenced to life in Idaho 4 murders; motive remains elusive.

Yesterday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson adjourned the House until September to prevent a vote on a resolution calling on the Trump administration to release FBI files pertaining to late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Today, the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena for Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator in trafficking and sexual abuse of underage girls. The committee is seeking a deposition from Maxwell on August 11th at the facility in Florida where she is serving her 20 year sentence. Yesterday, the DOJ announced that one of their top officials would also soon meet with Maxwell.

The committee also voted to subpoena the Department of Justice to turn over the full, unredacted Epstein files to the committee. Committee chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) has not yet signed off on this subpoena but is expected to do so. Republicans on the Oversight Committee also amended the DOJ subpoena to include several high profile Democrats, including Bill and Hillary Clinton.

These moves by the Republican-dominated committee May be seen as an act of defiance against House GOP leadership, which seemed content to leave the matter totally in the hands of the White House.

Today, a judge in Florida turned down a request by the DOJ to release grand jury information from an indictment against Epstein in the early 2000s. President Trump had asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to request the release of these of these files as a gesture to appease the MAGA base, which still appears to be animated on these issues despite Trump heaping scorn upon them in recent days.

Reports: Trump was told in May that his name appears several times in the still-unreleased Epstein files.

Kohberger sentenced to life in Idaho 4 murders; motive remains elusive

Bryan Kohberger, 30, was sentenced to four consecutive life terms for the brutal 2022 slayings of four college students in Moscow, ID. Family members of the victims – Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Madison Mogen, 21 – were present in court and several delivered emotional victim impact statements. Judge Steven Hippler then passed sentence. In addition to the four life terms, Kohberger was also sentenced to 10 years for burglary and ordered to pay a total of $200,000 in civil fines and $20,000 in restitution to his victims’ families.

Kohberger accepted a plea deal last month which took the death penalty off the table and avoided what would have been a lengthy trial. This decision by the Latah County prosecutors divided family members. Some families said the deal robbed them and their lost loved ones of real justice; others said they were satisfied with the deal, since it would mean they would not have to endure a trial and years of appeal proceedings.

Unanswered questions

Nearly three years after the killings, there remains no known motive for Kohberger’s actions. Idaho State Police Lt. Darren Gilbertson told reporters today that despite expending considerable resources, investigators “have never, to this day, found a single connection between [Kohberger] and any of the four victims or the two surviving roommates”. Goncalves’ family have claimed publicly that Kohberger followed their daughter and another of the slain girls on social media, but police were unable to confirm this.

During impact statements, Kim Kernodle, an aunt of Xana, told Kohberger she had forgiven him and told him and pleaded with him for answers. “Anytime you want to talk and tell me what happened, get my number. I’m here, no judgment,” Kernodle said. “I’ll be the one that’ll listen to you”.

Following victim impact statements, Kohberger declined to speak and thus offered no insight into his crimes.

Before passing sentence, Judge Hippler opined that, “by continuing to focus on ‘why’, we continue to give Mr. Kohberger relevance. We give him agency and we give him power”. Hippler continued, saying that our need to understand “what is inherently not understandable” only serves to give Kohberger “the spotlight, the attention, and the power that he appears to crave”.

Hippler added he suspects any reason Kohberger might give would not be truthful, and that even if he were truthful, it would not satisfy anyone’s need for undersanding. “There is no reason for these crimes that could approach anything resembling rationality. No conceivable reason could make any sense”.