Overview
- On Tuesday Chairman James Comer set a videotaped transcribed interview for Sept. 2 and warned the committee will pursue compulsory tools, including subpoenas, if Alan Dershowitz does not appear.
- Dershowitz's lawyers told the committee on July 15 that he "cannot now testify in Congress" about the matters under review, even though he has publicly said at times he was willing to testify.
- Dershowitz served as Jeffrey Epstein's defense lawyer during the disputed 2008 plea deal that is central to the panel's yearlong inquiry into how the case was handled.
- Comer's Oversight Committee has mixed voluntary interviews and formal subpoenas for several high-profile figures and has already interviewed people such as Bill Gates and Kathryn Ruemmler.
- If the committee issues a subpoena to Dershowitz it could trigger legal fights and a public hearing that would further probe the 2008 deal and affect survivors and public trust in how the case was managed.