The House Oversight Committee's closed-door interview with Sarah Kellen on Thursday produced the names of three previously unknown individuals allegedly involved in abuse tied to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking ring, Chairman James Comer told reporters afterward.
Comer called the transcribed session the most "substantive and productive interview that we've had" in the committee's ongoing Epstein investigation. He said the committee plans to release the transcript as soon as possible, with redactions to protect victims' identities.
The three names Kellen provided have not been made public. But Comer made clear they were new to the committee, and that the full transcript will eventually let "the whole world see" what she disclosed.
Kellen occupies an unusual position in the Epstein saga. Court documents have referred to her as Epstein's "lieutenant." She has been tied to the late convicted sex offender for years.
But Kellen has also claimed she was herself a victim, of both Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, before being turned into a recruiter for the pair. She has described enduring sexual and psychological abuse at their hands.
That duality made Thursday's interview significant. Comer, speaking to reporters after the session, praised her willingness to testify, as Just The News reported:
"She was very brave coming forward. I can't imagine how difficult it was for her to go into detail about the abuse that she endured at the hands of Epstein and Maxwell."
The chairman then pointed to the concrete results of the interview:
"One very positive thing today is she gave us three names of people that were involved in the abuse. These were new names for us."
The interview also exposed a sharp partisan divide over the committee's purpose. Comer said Democrats used their time with Kellen to press questions about President Donald Trump, and that the witness repeatedly denied any connection between the president and Epstein's trafficking operation.
Comer did not mince words about what he saw as the opposition's real motive:
"The Democrats have one goal, it appears to me... verify this narrative that Trump's involved. [That's] just not the case and I think that this is going to be a good day for us moving forward."
Comer said Kellen "dispelled any notion" that President Trump was involved in the sex trafficking ring. The chairman framed the Democrats' fixation on Trump as a distraction from the investigation's actual work, identifying the people who participated in abuse and holding them accountable.
Thursday's session with Kellen is the latest in a series of high-profile interviews the committee has conducted as part of its Epstein probe. The committee has also interviewed former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about their ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
None of those three individuals has been accused of wrongdoing.
The breadth of the witness list, spanning both parties and reaching into the current administration, signals that the committee is casting a wide net. But until Thursday, Comer had not publicly described any single session as yielding new names of alleged abusers.
That distinction matters. The Epstein investigation has drawn criticism from skeptics who question whether Congress can uncover anything that prior law enforcement efforts and civil litigation did not. The fact that Kellen provided names the committee had not previously encountered suggests the probe is generating leads beyond the existing public record.
Comer said the committee intends to release the transcript with redactions limited to the names of victims. He offered no firm date but indicated the release would come soon.
"As far as these alleged abusers, then you know, we'll let the whole world see that and we'll be able to move forward."
Several questions remain unanswered. The identities of the three alleged abusers Kellen named are still under wraps. It is unclear what investigative steps the committee will take next, whether it will refer the names to law enforcement, seek additional interviews, or pursue subpoenas. The scope of any additional redactions beyond victim names has not been specified.
The committee's GOP account on X posted about the interview Thursday, though the full content of those posts was not detailed.
For years, the Epstein case has symbolized a two-tiered justice system, one set of rules for the wealthy and connected, another for everyone else. Epstein's 2019 death in federal custody left a trail of unanswered questions that neither prosecutors nor prior congressional inquiries fully resolved. Maxwell was convicted in 2021, but the broader network of people who allegedly enabled or participated in the abuse has remained largely shielded from public accountability.
Comer's committee now claims to have new names. The chairman has promised transparency. The transcript, once released, will show whether Thursday's interview lives up to his billing, or whether the probe remains stuck in the same frustrating pattern of partial disclosure that has defined this case from the start.
What matters now is not the chairman's press conference. It is whether those three names lead somewhere, and whether anyone in Washington has the will to follow them there.
