Jeffrey Epstein’s estate began handing documents over to Capitol Hill lawmakers on Monday, pursuant to a subpoena issued by the House Oversight Committee last month.

Trustees tasked with handling the late pedophile’s matters were ordered to turn over a tranche of files, including his infamous ‘birthday book,’ as part of House lawmakers’ investigation into Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

The ‘birthday book,’ along with Epstein’s last will and testament, details of his 2007-2008 non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, entries from Epstein’s contact books from Jan. 1, 1990 through Aug. 10, 2019, and information about Epstein’s known bank accounts, were all handed over to investigators.

A committee aide told Fox News Digital that staff would review the documents, and they would be made public ‘in the near future.’

House Oversight Committee Democrats, meanwhile, took to X with what appears to be an excerpt from the ‘birthday book’ that shows a message from President Donald Trump to Epstein, though the White House denied its veracity.

‘As I have said all along, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it. President Trump’s legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X, specifically in reference to a Wall Street Journal story that first mentioned allegations of Trump writing in the book.

A letter from attorneys representing Epstein’s estate signaled in a letter to the Oversight Committee that Monday’s production was just the first tranche of documents pursuant to the congressional subpoena.

Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., sent a letter on Aug. 25, requesting a slew of documents by Sept. 8.

‘It is our understanding that the Estate of Jeffrey Epstein is in custody and control of documents that may further the Committee’s investigation and legislative goals. Further, it is our understanding the Estate is ready and willing to provide these documents to the Committee pursuant to a subpoena,’ Comer wrote at the time.

As part of his non-prosecution agreement, Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to two state charges in Florida of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution, avoiding more severe federal charges. He ended up serving 13 months in county jail with the benefit of a work-release program, confidential settlements with some victims, and being registered as a sex offender. 

It also allowed co-conspirators to avoid charges – a major point of contention during his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s federal trial in late 2021. It’s also the basis of Maxwell’s appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn her guilty verdict.

Subpoenaed documents include all entries in a book compiled by Maxwell for Epstein’s 50th birthday, Epstein’s will and information on his 2008 non-prosecution agreement.

Lawmakers hope that the ‘birthday book,’ which allegedly includes personalized messages from Epstein’s friends and associates, will shed light on his personal connections. The information is likely to be dated, however, with the book having been compiled in 2003.

Information was also sought on Epstein’s financial transactions, call and visitor logs, and ‘any document or record that could reasonably be construed to be a potential list of clients involved in sex, sex acts, or sex trafficking facilitated by Mr. Jeffrey Epstein,’ according to a copy of the subpoena viewed by Fox News Digital.

Comer has subpoenaed a litany of individuals, as well as the Department of Justice (DOJ), for information related to Epstein.

He is also bringing in Alexander Acosta, a former Trump administration labor secretary who also served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida when Epstein entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the federal government in 2008, for a transcribed interview on Sept. 19.

Comer and other members of the House Oversight Committee met with Epstein survivors last week.

About 33,000 pages of files turned over by the DOJ have already been released by the House Oversight Committee, though the vast majority of those were already public knowledge.

Senate Republicans have started the process of going nuclear on Senate Democrats in their quest to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominees.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Monday laid the framework for the GOP to use the ‘nuclear option,’ a move that allows for a rule change in the Senate with a simple majority vote in order to install a new rule that allows for nominees to be voted on in groups.

Republicans are moving forward with a plan originally devised by Democrats during the Biden administration, due to frustrations at the time with the sluggish pace that nominees were moving through the upper chamber.

However, that pace has turned into an outright crawl during Trump’s second term. No nominee at any level has received a voice vote or moved through unanimous consent — two methods meant to fast-track the confirmation process for sub-cabinet level positions in the bureaucracy.

Thune quoted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who in 2022 railed against Republicans during a Senate floor speech for slowing some of former President Joe Biden’s nominees, and said, ‘Regardless of the party in the White House, both sides have long agreed that a President deserves to have his or her administration in place, quickly.’ 

Thune charged that the Democrats’ blockade was ‘Trump derangement syndrome on steroids’ and argued that if the nominees were as historically bad as they claimed, they would not have voted some of them out of committee on a bipartisan basis.

‘We’ve got a crisis, and it’s time to take steps to restore Senate precedent and codify in Senate rules what was once understood to be standard practice,’ he said. 

‘This afternoon I will be taking the necessary procedural steps to amend the rules,’ Thune continued. ‘It is an idea with a Democrat pedigree.’

Thune is expected to take the first step in the process Monday night and will file a resolution with dozens of nominees who advanced out of committee on a bipartisan basis. 

The plan, which takes its cue from a bill pushed by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Angus King, I-Maine, and former Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., would allow for nominees to be voted on in groups, or ‘en bloc.’

The original bill put a cap of 10 nominees per en bloc group and included both district judge and U.S. attorney picks. Republicans are likely to go beyond the cap but may not include judicial nominees.

Instead, the focus is on sub-cabinet level nominees that make their way through their respective committees with bipartisan support.

‘What I’m just saying is we’re returning to the way the Senate used to work,’ Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital. ‘When the vast majority of nominees, after being scrutinized in committee, had their hearings voted out and sent to the floor. Then you know, Bush, Clinton — 99% of them by unanimous consent or by voice vote, and President Trump has had zero.’

Thune’s move comes after he and Schumer were unable to reach a deal on moving nominees last month before lawmakers left Washington for recess.

Both parties have turned to the nuclear option a handful of times since 2010. In 2013, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., used the nuclear option to allow for all executive branch nominees to be confirmed by simple majority. 

Four years later, then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., went nuclear to allow for Supreme Court nominees to be confirmed by a simple majority. And in 2019, McConnell reduced the debate time to two hours for civilian nominees.

Republicans voiced hope that using a proposal from Democrats would sway some to support the change and argued that the move is meant to further streamline the process and prevent future blockades by either party.

‘I really look at this like they’re forcing us to do something,’ Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Fox News Digital. ‘There’s nothing nuclear about it, in my humble opinion. And again, this is their bill, and we’ll see. It’s great to watch them squirm as they try to figure out what to do with this.’

President Donald Trump is still facing a $83.3 million payment to writer E. Jean Carroll after a federal appeals court rejected his challenge of a defamation verdict against him Monday.

The ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a lower court decision finding that Trump did, in fact, defame Carroll. Trump’s lawyers argued his comments about Carroll were protected by presidential immunity and that the verdict in the case was unjust. The three-judge panel rejected both of those claims.

‘We conclude that Trump has failed to identify any grounds that would warrant reconsidering our prior holding on presidential immunity. We also conclude that the district court did not err in any of the challenged rulings and that the jury’s damages awards are fair and reasonable,’ the court opinion read.

‘The record in this case supports the district court’s determination that the ‘the degree of reprehensibility’ of Mr. Trump’s conduct was remarkably high, perhaps unprecedented,’ the court added.

Carroll sued Trump twice after she released a book in 2019, which claimed Trump raped her during a brief encounter with him in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.

Trump vigorously denied the claims, saying he had never met Carroll, that she was not his ‘type’ and that she fabricated the incident to sell books. His vocal and repeated criticisms and denials led to Carroll’s defamation allegations.

Monday’s ruling comes months after the same court rejected Trump’s appeal in another Carroll-related case. In that appeal, Trump challenged evidence that Carroll’s legal team introduced to the jury during the civil lawsuit, including the Access Hollywood tape that surfaced during Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The full panel of judges declined to hear Trump’s argument, however, forcing the president to either accept defeat or appeal to the Supreme Court.

Read the full ruling below (App users click here)

Fox News’ Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed President Donald Trump to fire a member of the Federal Trade Commission without cause as the high court inches toward revisiting a landmark ruling about executive power over terminations.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a brief order that Biden-appointed FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter should remain terminated from her job, at least for the next week, while the Supreme Court continues to consider her case.

The high court’s order responding to an emergency petition from the Trump administration comes as Slaughter has faced whiplash in the courts while challenging Trump’s decision to fire her at will.

A district court reinstated Slaughter, and then through the appeals process, Slaughter was re-fired, re-hired, and then re-fired once again on Monday. After an appellate court allowed her to return to work on Sept. 2, she did so right away, even sharing on social media multiple dissents she has authored in the days since her return.

Fox News Digital reached out to Slaughter’s legal team for comment.

Trump’s decision to fire Slaughter and the other Democrat-appointed commissioner, Alvaro Bedoya, stood in tension with the FTC Act, which says commissioners should only be fired from their seven-year tenures for cause, such as malfeasance.

Their firings are at odds with a 90-year-old Supreme Court ruling in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which found that President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s firing of an FTC commissioner was illegal.

While the Supreme Court has let Trump’s firings at other independent agencies proceed temporarily while the lawsuits play out in the lower courts, Slaughter’s case has presented the most blatant question yet to the justices about whether they plan to overturn Humphrey’s Executor. Legal scholars have speculated that the current conservative-leaning Supreme Court has an appetite to reverse or narrow that decision.

Solicitor General John Sauer argued to the high court that the FTC wielded significant executive power and that its authority had expanded since the 1930s, when Humphrey’s Executor first established that an at-will FTC firing was illegal. The FTC now enforces dozens of statutes, including the Sherman Act, and has power to bring lawsuits seeking injunctions and penalties, Sauer noted.

‘Contrary to the lower courts’ suggestion, Humphrey’s Executor does not mean that Article II permits tenure protections for any agency named the ‘Federal Trade Commission,’ no matter how much more executive power the FTC accumulates,’ Sauer said.

A specialized unit with the Los Angeles Police Department is no longer providing former Vice President Kamala Harris security, according to a new report. 

Officers with LAPD’s Metropolitan Division, which falls under the police department’s special operations group, stepped in to provide Harris with security after President Donald Trump yanked Harris’ security detail in August, The New York Times reported. 

But that protection ended on Saturday following backlash from the LAPD’s union, The Los Angeles Police Protective League. The union called the arrangement ‘nuts,’ arguing that ‘LA taxpayers should not be footing the bill for this ridiculousness.’

‘We are happy to report that the Metro officers assigned to protect the multimillionaire failed presidential candidate are back on the street fighting crime,’ the union’s board of directors said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Monday. 

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said using LAPD resources to provide Harris with protection was never a permanent solution. 

‘The plan was always to provide temporary support, and I thank L.A.P.D. for protecting former V.P. Harris and always prioritizing the safety of all Angelenos,’ Bass said in a statement to The New York Times. 

Bass’ office did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Bass previously said in a statement Wednesday that Trump’s decision to revoke Harris’ security detail amounted to an ‘act of revenge’ on a political opponent, and put Harris ‘in danger,’ according to The New York Times. 

The LAPD did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Fox News Digital. 

The Los Angeles Times also reported on Aug. 29 that the California Highway Patrol was providing security for Harris, according to law enforcement sources. California Gov. Gavin Newsom must approve such protection, per the publication. 

‘Our office does not comment on security arrangements,’ Izzy Gardon, a spokesperson for Newsom, said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Thursday. 

The White House confirmed to Fox News Digital that Trump pulled Harris’ security detail on Aug. 29, and noted that typically vice presidents are only offered Secret Service protection for six months after leaving office. 

However, former President Joe Biden signed an order before leaving office that extended Harris’ Secret Service protection by an additional year. 

CNN first reported that Trump signed a memo pulling Harris’ Secret Service security detail. A spokesperson for Harris told Fox News Digital no reason was provided for eliminating the protection. 

The U.S. Secret Service did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

The Wall Street Journal reported in July that Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, had his security detail rescinded in July. 

Former presidents and their spouses receive Secret Service security details for the remainder of their lives unless they voluntarily opt out, according to the Secret Service’s website. 

Fox News’ Greg Norman, Patrick Ward, and David Spunt contributed to this report. 

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said his panel is wrapping up its investigation into President Joe Biden’s use of the autopen after a new report revealed concerns raised within the former administration itself.

‘New records reveal President Biden’s own administration raised concerns about autopen use to grant thousands of pardons. This is a historic scandal with massive repercussions,’ Comer told Fox News Digital in response to the Axios report.

‘As President Biden declined, his aides carried out executive actions without his approval, casting doubt on the legitimacy of thousands of pardons and other executive actions.’

Comer added, ‘The House Oversight Committee is in the final stages of its investigation. There must be accountability for this scandal.’

President Donald Trump weighed in on Truth Social: ‘THE BIDEN AUTOPEN SCANDAL IS BIG, NOT AS BIG AS THE RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX, OR THE RIGGED 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, BUT, NEVERTHELESS, ONE OF THE BIGGEST, EVER!!!’

A former Biden White House staffer familiar with the pardons process pushed back.

‘Republicans like to talk about Biden whenever news hits that they don’t want to talk about. Today, they want to talk about Biden because Trump is responsible for the latest jobs report, which is the worst August jobs gain since 2020,’ the staffer told Fox News Digital.

‘What these emails show is a full process to support that decision-making and checks on the use of the autopen.’

Axios reported over the weekend that senior Department of Justice (DOJ) officials flagged issues with Biden’s clemency process in his final days in office.

Biden approved nearly 2,500 commutations on Jan. 17, just days before leaving the White House, setting a record for most clemency orders ever granted by a U.S. president — more than 4,200 in total — and the most ever in a single day.

The next day, DOJ ethics lawyer Bradley Weinsheimer reportedly wrote in a memo: ‘Unfortunately and despite repeated requests and warnings, we were not afforded a reasonable opportunity to vet and provide input on those you were considering.’

Noting that at least one murderer granted clemency had been flagged by DOJ, he added: ‘I have no idea if the president was aware of these backgrounds when making clemency decisions.’ The New York Post first reported details of the memo.

Meanwhile, Axios reported that a DOJ pardon attorney took issue with White House lawyers asking the department not to solicit views of murder victims’ families of multiple death row inmates if it had not already done so — including people whose sentences Biden commuted as well.

The Axios report further revealed that Biden White House staff secretary Stef Feldman repeatedly sought clarity on the autopen process. In one Jan. 16 email, she asked for details on drug-related clemency orders approved by then-Chief of Staff Jeff Zients. After being asked to use autopen on an executive order, Feldman reportedly wrote: ‘When did we get [Biden’s] approval of this?’

The former Biden staffer insisted the process was sound.

‘The pardon power rests with the president — not the Department of Justice,’ the staffer said. ‘While the DOJ is free to raise its own concerns about pardons, and did before Trump fired all of the career staff who did so, it is ultimately the President’s decision.’

Biden himself told The New York Times recently that he made every clemency decision on his own.

Zients is expected to testify before the Oversight Committee later this month. Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is also scheduled for a closed-door interview Friday.

President Donald Trump spoke at the Museum of the Bible in Washington on Monday, bringing new focus to news that the Biden administration ‘weaponized’ the federal government against Christians, including the pro-life movement. 

‘Upon taking office, I also ended the weaponization of law enforcement against religious believers and pardoned the pro-life activists thrown in jail by Joe Biden,’ Trump said on Monday before launching a scathing attack on the Biden administration as ‘one of the meanest we’ve ever had.’

‘People don’t realize about the Biden administration. It was a very mean administration. He’s a mean guy, actually. Not a smart guy. Never was. But he was a mean guy. He was a mean guy. And he knew enough about what was going on,’ Trump continued, calling Biden or his administration ‘mean’ or the ‘meanest’ at least nine times, including for prosecuting those involved with the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 

Trump spoke at the Christian attraction during a hearing on religious liberty in education.

‘His (Biden’s) administration was one of the meanest we’ve ever had. And that’s why they’re out of here,’ Trump continued. 

Ahead of the event, Fox News Digital exclusively reported, according to Trump leadership, that the president’s remarks would include a focus on a new report that compiled the ‘numerous instances’ of past anti-Christian bias and recommendations on how to protect faith in America.

He delivered remarks during the second meeting of the Religious Liberty Commission that he established earlier this year to protect the rights of Americans to practice their faith, and at the hearing, parents and students will discuss their experience of expressing their faith in public schools.

‘The previous administration abused the federal government’s power to interfere with Americans’ First Amendment right to religious freedom,’ White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told Fox News ahead of the event. 

‘They even used the Department of Justice to target peaceful people of faith, specifically Christians. This is exactly why President Trump established the Religious Liberty Commission to stop the emerging threats against Americans’ inalienable right to practice their religion freely. President Trump is the greatest defender for people of faith in modern history and will continue to protect and promote America’s founding principle of religious freedom.’

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained the report published by the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, created by Trump and chaired by Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The task force had a clear mandate to ensure that ‘any unlawful and improper conduct, policies, or practices that target Christians are identified, terminated, and rectified.’

Read the report below. App users: Click here

The task force was directed to deliver an initial assessment, which Fox News Digital exclusively obtained Friday. The report provides an overview of ‘the damage that can be done when religious liberty is not protected and preserved for all Americans.’

‘The Task Force makes this commitment: the federal government will never again be permitted to turn its power against people of faith,’ the report states. ‘Under President Trump and Attorney General Bondi’s leadership, in partnership with all members of this Task Force, the rule of law will be enforced with vigor, and every religion will be treated with equality in both policy and action.’

The report added: ‘The days of anti-Christian bias in the federal government are over. Faith is not a liability in America—it is a liberty.’

After a preliminary review of federal agencies and departments, the task force uncovered ‘numerous instances of anti-Christian bias during the Biden administration.’

‘Joe Biden weaponized the full weight of the federal government against Christians and trampled on their fundamental First Amendment rights,’ White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. ‘Unlike Joe Biden, President Trump is protecting Christians, not punishing them.’

The Task Force found that the Department of Defense, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Department of Labor all ‘deprioritized, mishandled, or denied requests for religious exemptions to the Biden administration’s COVID-19 mandate.’

The Task Force also found that at the Department of Education the Biden administration ‘attempted to impose record-breaking fines on some of the nation’s largest Christian universities, including Liberty University ($14 million) and Grand Canyon University ($37.7 million).’ 

At the Department of Homeland Security, the task force found that Customs and Border Protection omitted Christian perspectives from a directive for detainees but deliberately noted accommodations for Islam, Rastafarianism and sects of Judaism.

At the Justice Department, the task force found that the Biden administration lacked an effort to ‘address and prosecute violations of the law where anti-Christian bias was demonstrated by the persecutors.’

‘Instead, during that time, the DOJ pursued novel theories of prosecution against those speaking or demonstrating based upon their Christian faith,’ the report states.

The task force also found that the Department of Justice, under the Biden administration, arrested and convicted approximately two dozen individuals under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act for praying and demonstrating outside abortion facilities.

‘Yet, the same DOJ refused to apply the FACE Act to protect places of worship and crisis pregnancy centers,’ the report states.

At the FBI, the task force pointed to the bureau’s memo asserting that ‘radical-traditionalist’ Catholics were ‘domestic terrorism threats.’

At the Treasury Department, the task force pointed to the many ‘pro-Christian groups’ that have been ‘debanked.’

The task force found that, under the Biden administration, the Department of State provided ‘limited humanitarian relief to Christians relative to other populations and offered muted responses to attacks on Christians compared to other groups.’

Also at the State Department, the task force said it discovered evidence that ‘preferential employment practices were afforded’ for those of non-Christian religions, while Christian employees ‘were disfavored.’

‘It was particularly concerning that employees were less likely to be permitted leave for observation of certain Christian holidays as opposed to non-Christian ones.’

Officials also said the State Department imposed ‘radical LGBTQ gender ideology on foreign governments and State employees, including the forced usage of preferred pronouns and rainbow flags, violating the sincerely held religious beliefs of many Christians and other Americans of faith.’

The task force also found that the Department of Labor dismantled its office of faith-based initiatives and replaced it with a diversity, equity and inclusion office.

The task force also said that the Department of Housing and Urban Development ‘discriminated against Christian perspectives in its marketing, treating social media posts celebrating Christian holidays, such as Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter, differently than posts celebrating other religious or interest group holidays, including Pride Month, Ramadan, and Diwali.’ 

Officials said Housing and Urban Development took down the Christian posts and left up the others.

The task force held its first meeting in April. Prior to the meeting, members of the task force conducted initial reviews of their respective agencies to identify any unlawful anti-Christian policies, practices or agency conduct during the Biden administration.

Officials said that the task force is not finished with its inquiry, but merely just beginning, and will continue its work to investigate the full scope of anti-Christian bias that ‘pervaded the federal government during the Biden administration.’

A final report is expected by February 2026.

Trump also signed an executive order establishing a White House Faith Office in February. 

The office empowers faith-based entities, community organizations and houses of worship ‘to better serve families and communities,’ according to the White House. 

The office is housed under the Domestic Policy Council and consults with experts in the faith community on policy changes to ‘better align with American values.’ 

A former Biden White House official did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Jeffrey Epstein’s estate is expected to begin handing documents over to Capitol Hill lawmakers on Monday, pursuant to a subpoena issued by the House Oversight Committee last month.

Trustees tasked with handling the late pedophile’s matters were ordered to turn over a tranche of files, including his infamous ‘birthday book,’ as part of House lawmakers’ investigation into Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

A committee aide told Fox News Digital on Monday that they expect the first production of documents from the Epstein estate that day, but they did not elaborate on what the first tranche might contain.

A lawyer representing the executors of Epstein’s estate confirmed to Fox News Digital that files would be handed over Monday.

‘As the Co-Executors have always said, they will comply with all lawful process in this matter, and that includes the subpoena issued by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,’ the attorney said.

‘As part of the Estate’s compliance with that subpoena, the Co-Executors have arranged to produce documents, records and other materials to the Committee on an agreed-on schedule, commencing today as requested by the Committee.’

Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., sent a letter on Aug. 25, requesting a slew of documents by Sept. 8.

‘It is our understanding that the Estate of Jeffrey Epstein is in custody and control of documents that may further the Committee’s investigation and legislative goals. Further, it is our understanding the Estate is ready and willing to provide these documents to the Committee pursuant to a subpoena,’ Comer wrote at the time.

Subpoenaed documents include all entries in a book compiled by Maxwell for Epstein’s 50th birthday, Epstein’s will and information on his 2008 non-prosecution agreement.

Lawmakers hope that the ‘birthday book,’ which allegedly includes personalized messages from Epstein’s friends and associates, will shed light on his personal connections. The information is likely to be dated, however, with the book having been compiled in 2003.

Information is also being sought on Epstein’s financial transactions, call and visitor logs, and ‘any document or record that could reasonably be construed to be a potential list of clients involved in sex, sex acts, or sex trafficking facilitated by Mr. Jeffrey Epstein,’ according to a copy of the subpoena viewed by Fox News Digital.

Comer has subpoenaed a litany of individuals, as well as the Department of Justice (DOJ), for information related to Epstein.

He is also bringing in Alexander Acosta, a former Trump administration labor secretary who also served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida when Epstein entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the federal government in 2008, for a transcribed interview on Sept. 19.

Comer and other members of the House Oversight Committee met with Epstein survivors last week.

About 33,000 pages of files turned over by the DOJ have already been released by the House Oversight Committee, though the vast majority of those were already public knowledge.

President Donald Trump wants to bring the death penalty back to Washington for those convicted of murder amid his crime crackdown in the District — even though capital punishment has been outlawed there for decades. 

While Washington, D.C.’s Superior Court that handles local trial matters is barred from utilizing the death penalty, and any changes at that level likely would require intervention from the D.C. City Council or Congress, the death penalty is legal at the federal level. 

As a result, Trump would seek to capitalize on capital punishment in Washington for those convicted of federal crimes, according to Matthew Cavedon, the director of the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice. 

‘What would happen is, on major crimes, the U.S. Department of Justice would be prosecuting those cases through the United States Attorney’s Office,’ Cavedon said. ‘And that’s the new U.S. attorney, Jeane Pirro. Those cases would be brought in U.S. District Court… rather than D.C. Superior Court and D.C.’s internal court system.’

Trump laid out his plans to revive the death penalty in Washington during an August Cabinet meeting while discussing efforts to drive down crime in the nation’s capital. Trump has dispatched hundreds of D.C. National Guard troops to combat crime in Washington — resulting in more than 1,600 arrests since Aug. 11. 

‘If somebody kills somebody in the capital, Washington, D.C., we’re going to be seeking the death penalty,’ Trump told reporters during an August Cabinet meeting. ‘And that’s a very strong preventative. And everybody that’s heard it agrees with it. I don’t know if we’re ready for it in this country, but we have it.… We have no choice.’

The White House referred Fox News Digital back to Trump’s comments at the Cabinet meeting.

Trump has long voiced support for the death penalty, and issued an executive order in January titled ‘Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety.’ The order calls for the attorney general to ‘pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.’ 

‘Capital punishment is an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens,’ the order said. ‘Before, during, and after the founding of the United States, our cities, States, and country have continuously relied upon capital punishment as the ultimate deterrent and only proper punishment for the vilest crimes.’

That executive order, coupled with Trump’s statements on the matter, show he will request federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in D.C. murder cases, Cavedon said. 

The D.C. Council officially rescinded the death penalty in 1981, and voters in the nation’s capital rejected the death penalty in a 1992 referendum, according to the nonprofit organization the Death Penalty Information Center. There hasn’t been an execution in Washington since 1957. 

Twenty-seven states still permit the death penalty, while 23 states do not have capital punishment. Four states — California, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Oregon — have a hold on executions, per orders from their respective governors.

Trump’s push to revitalize the death penalty could push those states to eradicate it at the state level, Cavedon said.

‘Something like the president calling for lots and lots of executions might be enough to tip things over and get places like California to just do away with the death penalty on the state side,’ Cavedon said. 

Meanwhile, Trump’s effort is unnecessary since crime is on the decline in Washington and studies consistently show that the murder rate is lower in states without the death penalty, according to Cliff Sloan, who teaches constitutional law and death penalty litigation at Georgetown Law. 

‘It’s unnecessary because the D.C. homicide rate has been declining and, even more fundamentally, because there is absolutely no correlation between the death penalty and a reduction in homicides,’ Sloan said in an email to Fox News Digital. ‘States that have done away with the death penalty have not seen any increase in homicides. States that actively impose the death penalty, in contrast, have very high homicide rates.’

Although a majority of Americans – 53% – still back the death penalty, public support is declining and has reached a five-decade low, according to a Gallup poll released in November.

A small group of Republican lawmakers who did not feel their leaders were pushing a conservative enough agenda first began meeting in secret a decade ago, huddling in small rooms both inside and outside the U.S. Capitol, while closely guarding their membership for fear of punishment by top House GOP leaders.

Fast-forward to Thursday morning, and the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) was welcoming its members, top GOP donors, Trump administration officials and even Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to an ornate room inside Washington, D.C.’s Willard Hotel to mark its decade anniversary and its first annual policy summit.

‘It’s a big celebration and an anniversary for them, and I want to be a part of it,’ Johnson told Fox News Digital just before addressing the group. ‘Some of my closest friends are in this room.’

The caucus that former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, once called ‘legislative terrorists’ are now at the center of key Republican policy fights in Washington. And while they’re still a source of frustration for many GOP lawmakers – who find the group to be disruptive to Republicans’ agenda – HFC is hiding no more and has the ear of some of the most powerful people in D.C.

‘This was never our goal, you know, but we wanted to have an impact,’ Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., a founding member of HFC who left Congress and returned in 2025, told Fox News Digital of the event at the Willard. ‘There’s always a lot of agreement in the conference, like, ‘Oh yeah, we would like to get there,’ but…sometimes you kind of need the difficult people to help move it a little bit further to the right than what you thought you might be able to.’

And rather than being a thorn in the side of Republican leaders, HFC is trying to work hand-in-hand with President Donald Trump to push for conservative policies.

They are not going against the grain any longer, House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital.

‘We’re driving the grain,’ he said. ‘We work with the president to advance his agenda in the most conservative way possible, and we’ve been successful.’

Border czar Tom Homan, who also addressed the event along with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought, told Fox News Digital that HFC was key to advancing Trump’s border agenda.

‘They’re on the right side,’ Homan said. ‘They want to secure the border because they know a secure border, a strong border, gives us strong national security…they want us to enforce the laws.’

In late 2023, a group of HFC members were key to successfully pushing out a House speaker mid-congressional term for the first time in U.S. history.

They’ve also played significant roles in pushing Republican spending bills and the recent One Big, Beautiful Bill Act to the right – at least in the House.

Even in the middle of their two-day event on Thursday, some HFC members threatened to sink a GOP-led spending bill as a warning shot to House leaders to keep on a conservative path.

The approach has been seen as divisive for years, and this year is no different.

‘They act as if they are the only principled conservatives in the conference. It’s almost as if they would rather be in the minority,’ one House Republican, granted anonymity to speak freely, told Fox News Digital. ‘They love the attention they get when they hold out, only to fold in the end. It’s why no one respects them.’

Another GOP lawmaker said, in the context of current talks to avert a government shutdown, ‘The Freedom Caucus is not what it was two years ago or even four years ago. I don’t know what you call them, but Andy Harris speaks for himself.’

‘What is the goal of the Freedom Caucus? Is it to win? Is it to fold?’ they asked. ‘I mean, have they lost their teeth? From an outside perspective, no, I still think they get heard.’

Current HFC members brushed off the criticism.

‘We’re willing to negotiate with Donald Trump and the Senate to beat Democrats with the most conservative bill possible, so please keep assuming that we’re dead, and please keep writing that obituary, because we’re winning,’ HFC Policy Chair Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital.

Harris said of the critics, ‘If winning is folding, then I’ll fold every time.’

Indeed, the group does have the ear of the White House.

Former HFC Chair Scott Perry, R-Pa., who gave opening remarks during a portion of the summit exclusively viewed by Fox News Digital, revealed that White House aides attended the group’s recent meeting with conservative senators.

‘Last night, with representatives from the White House, we were asked, ‘What is the plan?’ I’m not exaggerating, this is your Freedom Caucus, the ‘legislative terrorists’ in the room where it happened,’ Perry told the audience.

But the group is expected to see some high-profile departures in the next congressional term: Roy is running for Texas Attorney General, and Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Byron Donalds, R-Fla., are both running for governor, among others.

Roy told Fox News Digital of the turnover, ‘We’ve had a conversation. We have things we want to do to help kind of make sure and ensure the longevity. Right now, we’ve got to make sure the good people are running. We have to make sure we continue to grow the ranks of the Freedom Caucus.’

And newer members have signaled they’re ready to fill the ranks of those left behind.

‘Now that I’ve been here, and it’s my third year, and I get comfortable with this, it gives me a lot more confidence to know what is the right path or what’s the wrong path,’ said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., whose profile in HFC has risen in his short time in Congress. ‘And I think there’s other members like me that are – as these guys step away, there’s plenty of really talented members to step in their shoes.’