CBS News: “One of the world’s wealthiest men will appear Wednesday before the congressional panel investigating Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.”
“Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will sit for the transcribed interview after revelations about his relationship with Epstein rocked his philanthropic foundation.”
“One of Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime assistants told members of the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday morning that she did not know about the late convicted sex offender’s crimes, describing him as a master manipulator who had every reason to keep them a secret from her,“ CNN reports.
“As a way to try to demonstrate her ignorance about Epstein’s wrongdoing, Lesley Groff, Epstein’s former executive assistant, said she believed the massage appointments she made for Epstein with young women and girls were with massage therapists.”
“Former Attorney General Pam Bondi declined to answer questions about President Donald Trump’s role in the Justice Department’s release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, invoking privilege during her interview with the House Oversight Committee,” ABC News reports.
“The UK government released a vast trove of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador, in a move that threatens to cause fresh damage to Keir Starmer’s faltering premiership,” Bloomberg reports.
“The release resurfaces a saga that has weakened and embarrassed Starmer over the nine months since Bloomberg News exposed the extent of Mandelson’s ties with the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.”
New York Times: “Emails and records in the Epstein files released by the Justice Department indicate that Mr. Epstein had been banking his sperm for at least several years before his death, and that he did not want the cryobank to discard it if he died.”
“Democratic lawmakers said former Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to answer questions about President Trump during a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee over the Justice Department’s handling of materials from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
CNBC: “Former Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday defended the Department of Justice’s handling of the release of files about notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in her opening statement to a House panel.”
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi will answer questions about the Justice Department’s release of investigative files connected to Jeffrey Epstein in a closed-door, transcribed interview, not a sworn deposition, NewsNation reports.
New York Times: “Howard Lutnick, President Trump’s secretary of commerce, made a $5 million donation last month to a committee supporting House Republicans, an unusually large contribution for a sitting cabinet secretary.”
“The donation was made on April 1, four weeks after the House Oversight Committee arranged to interview Mr. Lutnick about his ties to the sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed that he only had three “meaningless and inconsequential” interactions with his billionaire neighbor Jeffrey Epstein, including their first encounter in 2005, according to a transcript of his testimony to the House Oversight Committee, ABC News reports.
“A federal judge has released a suicide note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein that was sealed for years as part of the criminal case of his cellmate,” the New York Times reports.
From the note: “They investigated me for months — FOUND NOTHING!!!”
He continued: “It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye. Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!! NO FUN — NOT WORTH IT!!”
“Mr. Epstein’s cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, said he discovered the note in July 2019 after Mr. Epstein was found unresponsive with a strip of cloth wrapped around his neck. Mr. Epstein survived that incident, but he was found dead weeks later at age 66 in the now shuttered Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan.”
“For reasons he said were ‘inexplicable,’ Howard Lutnick acknowledged visiting Jeffrey Epstein’s island seven years after he claimed to have severed his relationship with the convicted sex offender,” Politico reports.
“Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is scheduled to be questioned Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation related to Jeffrey Epstein,” CBS News reports.
“Lutnick’s voluntary closed-door deposition comes amid a monthslong procession of powerful people summoned before the committee, many of whom have been subjected to embarrassing revelations in the more than 3 million pages of records known as the Epstein files.”
Former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) was accused by multiple women of sending sexual messages, including “videos of him masturbating,” CNN reports.
He reportedly did this after becoming one of the first members of Congress to join Snapchat in an effort to restore “faith in democracy.”
New York Times: “Mr. Swalwell had developed a reputation as a digital native, a person who seemed to have a deep understanding of how to harness the power of social media.”
“In the end, social media would also play a critical role in his undoing.”
“It was on social media where early whispers of sexual misconduct accusations against Mr. Swalwell swirled after he entered the California governor’s race last year. After hearing similar chatter and allegations directly from women, two Democratic influencers built a network using some of the same platforms that his accusers said he had used to connect with them.”
New York Times: “A suicide note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein in a Manhattan jail has been kept secret for nearly seven years, locked up in a New York courthouse.”
“A cellmate said he discovered the note in July 2019, after Mr. Epstein was found unresponsive with a strip of cloth around his neck. Mr. Epstein survived that incident but weeks later was found dead in the jail.”
“The note was eventually sealed by a federal judge as part of the cellmate’s own criminal case, according to documents and interviews. That means investigators scrutinizing Mr. Epstein’s high-profile death lacked what could have been a key piece of evidence.”
“Ruben Gallego’s friends told him to, ‘lay low,’ as he put it, ‘and this will pass over.’ He didn’t agree,” Semafor reports.
“The Arizona Democratic senator was right about one thing: This month’s sexual assault allegations against Eric Swalwell, Gallego’s onetime ‘best friend,’ didn’t just destroy the Californian’s political career. They also subjected Gallego to the first stress test of the party’s invisible 2028 presidential primary, which is already underway.”
“Which makes Gallego’s handling of the Swalwell disaster all the more remarkable. He held a 35-minute clear-the-air presser and spoke at length with me recently about the ad hoc war room he developed as the Swalwell crisis grew. He was confident that a rummage through his life, the kind presidential campaigns inevitably prompt, would not turn up stories of misconduct.”
“Former Attorney General Pam Bondi will appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on May 29,” CNBC reports.
“The panel’s majority announced the appearance the same day its Democratic members said they had begun the process to hold Bondi in civil contempt of Congress after she skipped scheduled testimony earlier this month.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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