Epstein affair: A parliamentary committee of the American Congress denounces “institutional failures”

The 2007 legal agreement that spared Jeffrey Epstein from federal prosecution is at the heart of a 137-page report released Tuesday to the US Congress. Led by Republican James Comer, the commission of inquiry believes that this arrangement, concluded in Florida against a minimal conviction for acts of prostitution, allowed the financier to continue his crimes for years.

After more than a year of investigations, the commission calls into question the protection that Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell would have benefited from. They were able to “largely escape justice and accountability for so long thanks to their powerful networks and institutional failures,” the report states.

Democrats want new hearings

The conclusions are contested by Robert Garcia, the main Democratic representative of the commission, who denounces a partisan document, “based on an incomplete investigation and no public hearing”. He plans hearings after Democrats return to the majority in Congress in January, including to question powerful men linked to Epstein, including Donald Trump. The Republican report, for its part, accuses the Democrats of leading a “witch hunt” against the president.

This confrontation continues the controversy sparked by the administration's announcement, in July 2025, that no new elements justified the publication of additional documents. Donald Trump promised revelations during his 2024 campaign. A law has since forced his administration to publish more than three million pages. Formerly close to Jeffrey Epstein, the president claims to have broken up with him before his legal troubles and ignored his crimes.

Not enough evidence to study Epstein's death

The report also recommends further investigations into the accusations of Sarah Kellen, former assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, against Philip Levine and Frédéric Fekkai. She claims to have been sexually assaulted by the former mayor of Miami Beach in Saint-Tropez and by the French hairdresser in Hawaii. The commission recommended prosecution in June. Philip Levine claimed the relationship was consensual; a representative of Frédéric Fekkai denied any illegal act in September.

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