Congress
House Judiciary Democrats want a special counsel to investigate Trump’s ties to Epstein
House Democrats are making increasingly clear they have no plans to abandon their line of inquiry into whether President Donald Trump was involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring, should they retake the majority in the midterms.
A new report from the minority staff for the House Judiciary Committee, released Monday, calls for a special counsel to investigate Trump’s ties to the late convicted sex offender, alleging he was “an active participant in Jeffery Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women during the mid-to-late 1990s.”
While Congress does not have the power to appoint a special counsel, the report also makes the case for increased federal support to assist with state and foreign prosecutions of Epstein’s co-conspirators, along with further congressional action to uncover Epstein’s expansive sex trafficking scheme — both actions lawmakers could undertake through legislation.
“The women who survived Epstein deserve to be heard, Congress must have the complete files required by law, and an independent special counsel must investigate Epstein’s co-conspirators and DOJ’s cover-up and ensure that state and foreign prosecutors have the evidence they need to pursue justice,” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the panel’s top Democrat said in a statement.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein’s actions and has repeatedly said he and Epstein had a falling out years ago and that he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago “for being a creep.”
But Democrats think the House Republican-led Epstein investigation has allowed accusations against Trump to go unchecked. They also want to put more pressure on the Justice Department to account for the agency’s slow-walking and haphazard release of all the Epstein files, despite the law Congress passed last year compelling all the materials be made available.
Their new report, titled “The Case Against Donald Trump Emerging in the Epstein Files and DOJ’s Desperate Efforts to Cover It Up,” lists five women who have accused Trump “of raping or sexually assaulting them” in the company of Epstein.
Lauren Bis, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that Trump has been “totally exonerated on anything related to Epstein,” adding that the president “has done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone before him” by “releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and calling for more investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends.”
As spokesperson for House Judiciary Republicans did not immediately respond to a request for comment.