Department of Justice¶
EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT CONTROL SHEET¶
| DATE OF DOCUMENT | 8/29/2019 |
| DATE RECEIVED | 9/4/2019 |
| WORKFLOW ID: | 4325153 |
| DUE DATE: | 9/19/2019 |
| FROM: | The Honorable Debbie Wasserman Schultz*U.S. House of RepresentativesWashington, DC 20515-0001 |
TO:¶
AG (cc indicated for OIG)¶
MAIL TYPE: Congressional Priority¶
SUBJECT: (Rec’d from OLA via email) Urging DOJ to allow the Inspector General to conduct an independent and comprehensive investigation into the nonprosecution agreement that DOJ provided Mr. Epstein, as well as the circumstances surrounding his death. Advises the investigation should not only cover Mr. Epstein’s death, but also investigate the conduct of any officials who approved, reviewed and defended his egregious and unprecedented plea deal. Ltr also signed by 5 other MCs.¶
INFO COMPONENT: OAG, ODAG, CRM, EOUSA, FBI, OIG, OPR¶
COMMENTS: 09/05/2019: Per OLA, assign to OLA¶
FILE CODE:¶
EXECSEC POC:¶
EFTA00175131¶
Congress of the United States¶
Washington, DC 20515¶
August 29, 2019¶
The Honorable William Barr¶
U.S. Attorney General¶
U.S. Department of Justice¶
950 Pennsylvania Ave N.W.¶
Washington, DC 20530¶
Dear Attorney General Barr:¶
It has been announced that the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Inspector General (OIG) will investigate the questionable circumstances surrounding the recent death of Jeffrey Epstein.1 While that certainly merits OIG attention, limiting the scope of an independent inquiry solely into his death is grossly inadequate, and would ignore the various DOJ officials who have allowed this serial pedophile to elude true justice for more than a decade.2¶
We respectfully request that the Department permit the OIG to conduct a broad, independent investigation of this entire case. It should be one that not only covers his death, but also investigates the conduct of any officials who approved, reviewed, and defended Mr. Epstein’s egregious and unprecedented plea deal. That agreement was not only intolerably lenient, but it was recently deemed illegal by a federal judge. $ ^{3} $¶
Members of Congress made a similar request for an independent investigation of this potentially illegal plea deal last year (see attached item 1, dated Nov. 30, 2018). Regrettably, we were denied. The subsequent response from Inspector General Michael Horowitz (see attached item 2, dated Jan. 29, 2019) stated that his Office lacked the authority to conduct such an investigation, and that Congress in Sec 8E(b)(3) of the Inspector General Act had delegated exclusive jurisdiction into such matters to the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). The Inspector General has requested authority from the Department on several other occasions to investigate issues related to attorney misconduct and every time that authority has been denied.¶
While we understand his concerns regarding the limitations on the statutory independence of the OIG, there are no legitimate legal barriers to an independent investigation of the circumstances surrounding this plea deal. More importantly, these concerns should not be used to starve Mr. Epstein’s victims of the justice they so desperately still seek¶
¹ Department of Justice, “Statement from Attorney General William P. Barr on the Death of Jeffrey Epstein,”¶
August 10, 2019, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/statement-attorney-general-william-p-barr-death-jefrey-epstein.¶
2 The Washington Post, “‘He was inappropriate with me’: Epstein face to face with accusers at bail hearing,” Renae Merle and Matt Zapotosky, July 15, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/he-was-inappropriate-with-me-epstein-comes-face-to-face-with-acusers-at-bail-hearing/2019/07/15/0e067664-a706-11e9-a3a6-ab670962db05 story.html.¶
³ Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States, 359 F.Supp.3d 1201 (S.D. Fla. 2019).¶
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