House panel wants Alan Dershowitz to testify about Jeffrey Epstein, his former client
A congressional committee wants attorney and retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz to testify before the panel next month in connection with its investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In a Friday letter to Dershowitz, who previously represented Epstein, Representative James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said the panel is requesting the attorney testify on July 9.
The committee said it is reviewing several contentious issues, including: the “alleged mismanagement” of the federal government’s investigation into Epstein and his associate, Ghislane Maxwell, who’s currently imprisoned for her role in Epstein’s sex trafficking; the circumstances and “subsequent investigations” of Epstein’s death in 2019 while in federal custody for child sex trafficking charges; the manner in which Epstein and Maxwell “sought to curry favor and exercise influence” to conceal their crimes; and the potential flouting of “ethics rules” regarding elected officials.
“Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, documents obtained by the Committee, and your former role as Mr. Epstein’s attorney, the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation,” Comer wrote to Dershowitz.
Dershowitz said via text message on Tuesday that he’ll oblige.
“I volunteered and repeatedly urged them to call me,” Dershowitz wrote. “After weeks of urging, they agreed. I’m looking forward to testifying about everything I know. I did no wrong and have nothing to hide.”
The Harvard Crimson previously reported that Dershowitz has been asked to testify.
Dershowitz, whose client list has included O.J. Simpson, Claus von Bülow, and Mike Tyson, was part of the high-powered legal team representing Epstein when the financier pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to state charges including soliciting prostitution from someone under 18.
Epstein received an 18-month jail term with generous work release provisions, avoiding a more serious federal indictment under terms of a controversial plea deal.
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In July 2019, Epstein was arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges.
Prior to his downfall, Epstein had hobnobbed with heads of state, Hollywood celebrities, titans of industry, and stars of academia for years, even after his guilty plea in Florida.
While Epstein managed to stay largely under the radar after he was initially released from jail in Florida, he came under increasing scrutiny in recent years, as scores of women came forward to accuse him and boldfaced names in his orbit of sexually assaulting them when they were teens.
One woman, Virginia Giuffre, accused Dershowitz of multiple incidents of sexual abuse when she was underage.
Dershowitz vehemently denied those allegations, and after he filed a defamation lawsuit against Giuffre’s lawyers,she eventually withdrew her claim against him in 2022, saying she “may have made a mistake” in identifying him as one of the men she had sex with at the request of Epstein or Maxwell. “I was very young at the time,” she said, and “it was a very stressful and traumatic environment.”
Giuffre died last year.
Comer said in his letter on Friday that Dershowitz “recently made statements to the press in which you expressed your willingness to appear to testify ‘about everything’ in a ‘videotaped, under oath and open to the public’ interview.”
Comer said the panel would take him up on that.
“Accordingly, we request your testimony at an in-person, videotaped transcribed interview on July 9, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. E.T. in Washington, D.C,” Comer wrote. “The Committee will publicly release the transcript and video as expeditiously as practical after the interview.”
Material from Globe wire services and from prior Globe stories was used in this report. This breaking story will be updated when more information is released.
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