In this Nov. 25, 2019 file photo, Tovah Noel, center in yellow blouse, a federal prison guard who was responsible for monitoring Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself, leaves federal court in New York.
Craig Ruttle | AP
The House committee investigating disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein announced Friday that it is seeking testimony from the prison guard on duty the night the New York financier died.
In a letter posted to the House Oversight Committee x accountSpeaker James Comer, R-Ky., called Tova Noel, who Epstein was reportedly searched on Google To testify on March 26, minutes before her body was found.
“Because of public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, and documents obtained by the Committee, the Committee believes you have information that will assist its investigation,” the letter to Noel said.
Epstein was arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges in July 2019 and died by suicide in a federal prison in New York City a few weeks later. Noel was on duty that night and allegedly failed to routinely check on Epstein. He and another guard were accused of falsifying records to hide missed checks, although criminal charges were pending. eventually dropped.
Noel’s deposition is part of a broader investigation into Epstein, his partner Ghislaine Maxwell and possible co-conspirators, as well as the circumstances of his death.
Noel did not immediately respond to a request for comment placed through his attorney or a voicemail left at his publicly listed phone number.
The committee recently ousted Bill and Hillary Clinton and Les Wexner, the billionaire founder of L Brands, the former parent company of Victoria’s Secret. All have denied any involvement in Epstein’s illegal activities. Last week, the committee subpoenaed Attorney General Pam Bondi.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) Ranking Member speaks as Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA) testifies in the panel’s investigation of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein at the Capitol in Washington, DC, U.S. on January 21, 2026 to hold former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress and former State Watching during a meeting to vote to impeach Secretary Hillary Clinton.
Kevin Lamarck | reuters
The Epstein files have rocked Washington in recent years. Epstein’s former friend, President Donald Trump, fought for months to suppress the files, then changed his tune as a bill mandating their release was on the verge of passing Congress.
The House Oversight Committee has not sought testimony from Trump about Epstein.
Since the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the Justice Department has released millions of documents related to Epstein. But the department missed a December deadline set in the 2025 law to release the files in full and faced criticism over how the files were redacted.
A bipartisan group of senators this week called on the Government Accountability Office to investigate the DOJ’s operations, particularly its process for deciding what to revise.
“Contrary to Congress’s clear direction to protect victims, these records included email addresses and nude photos in which the names and faces of publicly identified and non-publicly identified victims could be identified,” wrote Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
“But when it came to information identifying powerful business and political figures who are alleged conspirators or material witnesses, DOJ appears to have heavily redacted those records.”