Susan Estrich on U.S. Politics

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Susan Estrich

Role at the time: Attorney for Leon Black (Estrich Goldin LLP), in a statement issued jointly with Aaron Cutler of Hogan Lovells Cadwalader

September 15, 2026Condemned

Response to this claim

In a federal complaint, Leon Black alleged that the House Oversight Committee's two subpoenas are invalid to the extent they exceed its delegated authority by seeking private information that has no legitimate connection to its legislative purpose.

“This Committee mark-up and contempt resolution is a complete abomination. The Committee under the leadership of Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Robert Garcia has lost sight of its legislative purpose and is abusing its power. ... This is retaliation - plain and simple. We have the constitutional right to sue Chairman Comer and the Committee because the subpoenas issued were illegitimate, illegal, and a textbook abuse of power designed to bully and destroy legal protections of private citizens. ... He provided to the Committee the only NDA that was within the scope of the Committee's authority. ... This entire charade is about politics and ambition. ... there were more than enough reasons to postpone this mark-up and contempt resolution.”

Read the official statementStatement from Leon Black’s Attorneys on Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Mark-up and Contempt ResolutionBusiness Wire release dated Sept. 15, 2026, as republished by Yahoo Finance

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

Why we used this label

Relative to the decision to hold Black in contempt, the attorneys denounce the contempt resolution and the committee's process and say the subpoenas were illegitimate. That rejects the action itself, which is stronger than disputing how it is described.

Read statement Was the House justified in holding Leon Black in contempt of Congress over the Epstein inquiry?

Susan Estrich on U.S. Politics

Statement history