Sen. Ron Wyden says "Black is doing everything in his power to dodge questions from Congress"
Ron WydenU.S. Senator, in a post on X
In a post on X on September 17, 2026 that quoted an Associated Press post reporting the House action, Sen. Ron Wyden wrote "No surprise Black is doing everything in his power to dodge questions from Congress".
“No surprise Black is doing everything in his power to dodge questions from Congress.”
Original post
Original text
Original text
Official statement
Where this statement fits
Was the House justified in holding Leon Black in contempt of Congress over the Epstein inquiry?
On June 26, 2026, Leon Black appeared voluntarily for a transcribed interview in the House Oversight Committee's Epstein investigation. The committee said he declined to answer questions about nondisclosure agreements, and Chairman James Comer issued two subpoenas that day, one for a deposition and one for nondisclosure agreements. Black did not appear for the September 3 deposition and sued the committee that day; his attorneys said he had produced the only confidentiality agreement within the committee's stated purpose and that the subpoenas exceed its authority. The committee voted 41-0 on September 15 to recommend contempt, and the House agreed to the resolution by unanimous consent on September 16 with no recorded vote. Comer and Ranking Member Robert Garcia said Black defied the subpoenas, while Black's attorneys called the action retaliatory. The CourtListener copy of the lawsuit docket, last updated September 18, listed no ruling on Black's claims, and as of September 25, 2026 we could not locate a public Justice Department decision on the referral.
Source and context
Original post
About this source
Post by a U.S. senator that quotes an Associated Press post reporting that the House held Black in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas in the Epstein investigation.
Original text
About this source
Letter signed by Wyden as Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, sent to the Oversight Committee's chairman and ranking member before Black's planned deposition.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Original text
About this source
Official record of the House floor action on H. Res. 1543: Comer's request for unanimous consent, the absence of objection, and agreement to the resolution.
Official statement
About this source
Paid press release from Black's attorneys, distributed through Business Wire, responding to the committee's markup and contempt resolution. It says the attorneys submitted letters to the committee and filed a confidential complaint with the Office of Congressional Conduct.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
The House agreed to the contempt resolution by unanimous consent on September 16, 2026, without a recorded vote.
After the quotation
In a June 4, 2026 letter to Comer and Garcia, Wyden wrote that his Senate Finance Committee staff had been investigating the financing of Epstein's sex trafficking operation. Black's attorneys said in a September 15, 2026 statement that Black "never abused a woman" and had "no knowledge of any of Epstein's heinous conduct".
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to the decision to hold Black in contempt, Wyden answers a report of the House action by saying Black is doing everything in his power to dodge questions from Congress. He does not say in so many words that the vote was warranted, but the post frames Black's conduct as unsurprising grounds for it, so the label is a defense rather than a challenge to the action.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Leon Black
More from this case
Read the full caseFormer House counsel Michael Stern writes that Black's lawsuit "must fail" and that the committee "is entitled to question Black under oath"
“Black’s lawsuit must fail because it is well-settled that courts lack power to restrain congressional committees from issuing or enforcing a subpoena, regardless of the recipient’s claim that the subpoena violates constitutional privilege, was improperly motivated, or is otherwise unlawful. ... COGR is entitled to question Black under oath in a formal deposition even if Black had answered every pertinent question in a voluntary interview.”Read statement
Rep. Yassamin Ansari says "Congressional subpoenas are binding, not suggestions"
“The House just unanimously approved our Oversight contempt resolution for Leon Black ... Congressional subpoenas are binding, not suggestions.”Read statement
Black's attorneys call the House contempt action "politically motivated and completely retaliatory"
“an outrageous action that ignores the facts and the truth about Mr. Black ... The House of Representatives has rushed through every stage of this inquiry. ... The full House is holding him in contempt without any regard to the active litigation challenging the lawfulness of the Committee’s actions and the ethics complaint against Chairman Comer ... politically motivated and completely retaliatory by a Chairman who is focused solely on himself and his own political ambitions without any regard for the truth and the law. ... To think, he is being held in contempt over invalid subpoenas is ridiculous.”Read statement
Share or embed this statement
The embed keeps its attribution link to The Dispute Index. Credit the image to The Dispute Index and link to the statement page.
Cite this record
- Publisher
- The Dispute Index
- Title
- Sen. Ron Wyden says "Black is doing everything in his power to dodge questions from Congress"
- First published
- Last updated
- Permalink
- https://disputeindex.com/events/2735-in-a-post-on-x-on-september-17
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "Sen. Ron Wyden says "Black is doing everything in his power to dodge questions from Congress"". First published: 2026-09-26. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/2735-in-a-post-on-x-on-september-17