By Gabe Whisnant

Copyright newsweek

Former Attorney General William Barr told a House committee he spoke twice with Donald Trump about Jeffrey Epstein during Trump’s first term, including after the financier died by suicide in a New York jail cell.Barr said in a deposition released Tuesday by the House Oversight Committee that he called Trump immediately after learning of Epstein’s death. “You better brace for this,” Barr recalled telling him.Trump, Barr said, reacted with the same shock he felt: “How the hell did that happen, he’s in federal custody?”Why It MattersLast week, Epstein’s name came back to the fore with the release of a birthday note allegedly sent by Trump to the disgraced financier, published by The Wall Street Journal and circulated by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.Trump’s alleged authorship of the note — scrawled inside the sketched outline of a woman’s body — was immediately disputed by the White House. “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,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. Trump himself told NBC News on Tuesday that the matter was a “dead issue.”What to KnowOn Tuesday, The House Oversight Committee, led by Republicans, released new documents in the Epstein investigation, including a transcript of Barr’s August deposition. In it, Barr explained why some materials remain unpublished under legal principles. Oversight Chair James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, also released unredacted estate materials—cash ledgers, message logs, calendars, flight logs—and released portions of Epstein’s “birthday book,” naming contributors like Bill Clinton and Alan Dershowitz.Barr testified that he also discussed Epstein’s sex trafficking charges with Trump on another occasion. He said Trump told him he had cut ties with Epstein years earlier.Democrats on the committee said Barr’s testimony did not clear Trump of possible wrongdoing.Also Tuesday, FBI Director Kash Patel told U.S. senators on Tuesday morning that there is “no credible information” in case files that Epstein trafficked young women to anyone other than himself.The remarks came during a heated hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which Republican Louisiana Senator John Kennedy asked Patel about his knowledge of the Epstein files.What People Are SayingBarr testified in August that he acknowledged why some Epstein records remain sealed, the transcript shows, “The general principle is, if you have enough evidence to charge someone, you put that evidence out through the process, but you don’t just open your files. “So, I understand why there is reluctance to do it. And, as I say, the Attorney General has to make a balance.”Patel told senators Tuesday, “There is no credible information, none [that Epstein trafficked women to anyone other than himself.] If there were I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals. And the information we have, again, is limited.”Senator Kennedy told FBI Director Patel Tuesday that his explanation was unlikely to satisfy calls for greater transparency: “This issue is not going to go away. The central question for the American people is this: They know Epstein trafficked young women for sex with himself. What they want to know is whether he trafficked them to anyone else.”What Happens NextThe Oversight Committee said it will continue pressing the Justice Department and Epstein’s estate for additional records. Comer said the panel intends to review those materials as they are turned over in the coming weeks. The Justice Department has signaled that more documents will be produced, though victim identities and sensitive evidence will remain redacted.Update: 9/16/25, 7:39 p.m. ET: This article was updated with new information and remarks.This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.