{"id":11348,"date":"2025-07-16T10:03:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T10:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/the-powerful-protecting-the-powerful-democrats-see-an-opening-on-epstein\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T10:03:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T10:03:09","slug":"the-powerful-protecting-the-powerful-democrats-see-an-opening-on-epstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/the-powerful-protecting-the-powerful-democrats-see-an-opening-on-epstein\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The powerful protecting the powerful’: Democrats see an opening on Epstein"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Democrats are stoking the online flames of the Jeffrey Epstein controversy. Internal memos and polling suggest the issue is breaking through to voters.<\/p>\n

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) accused President Donald Trump of \u201chiding the Epstein list\u201d in a post on X<\/u><\/a>. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries insisted at a press conference Americans \u201cdeserve to know the truth.\u201d The Democratic National Committee last week launched an X bot <\/u><\/a>that posts daily, \u201cHas Trump released the Epstein files? No,” and House Majority PAC rolled out a \u201csimp target list\u201d <\/u><\/a>of \u201ccomplicit\u201d GOP members. And on Tuesday, Democrats attempted to cast a procedural vote<\/u><\/a> as a referendum to compel the release of more Epstein-related material.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a trollish<\/u><\/a>, conspiratorial-minded response to Republican infighting that Democrats haven\u2019t traditionally engaged in, particularly around Epstein, the accused sex trafficker whose 2019 death in prison was ruled a suicide. Just six years ago, the DNC lambasted \u201cbaseless conspiracy theories.\u201d<\/u><\/a> But now, as the Trump administration has tied itself in knots over the Epstein case, Democratic leaders have stopped holding back as they work to capitalize on fissures threatening Trump\u2019s relationship to his MAGA base.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to remind the American people that in February of this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi acknowledged the existence of Jeffrey Epstein’s client list. In fact, she said that Jeffrey Epstein’s client list is ‘sitting on my desk right now.’ Where is that client list? What is Attorney General Bondi hiding?\u201d Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) told reporters on Tuesday. \u201cThis is the case of the powerful protecting the powerful. We need to have those files released.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interviews with a dozen Democratic elected officials, strategists and aides cast the controversy as helpful not only in dividing Trump\u2019s base but also illustrating the president\u2019s flip-flopping tendencies, even on his core campaign issues. Democrats argued they can tie the episode into a larger narrative about Trump\u2019s other broken campaign promises, said Pat Dennis, president of American Bridge, a Democratic super PAC that specializes in opposition research.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting foot in the door to the overall case that he doesn’t have your back on Medicare, on health care, on veterans,\u201d Dennis said. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to get into, \u2018maybe this guy doesn\u2019t have your back,\u2019 and that\u2019s been one of the hardest things for Democrats to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump told Fox News in a June 2024 interview<\/u><\/a> \u201cI guess I would\u201d release the Epstein files.<\/p>\n

But the opening may be short-lived. Democratic strategists said they do not expect Epstein-related conspiracies to show up in their TV ads or dominate the party\u2019s midterm messaging, with the GOP megabill likely to take center stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m focused on the damage that the one big bad bill is doing, and I’m going to stay focused on that,\u201d said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition. \u201cAnd if the president’s covering up something, I’ll let him deal with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s internal evidence that the very online dustup may still have legs for now.<\/p>\n

Internal Democratic polling, obtained first by Blue Light News, found that 70 percent of voters said law enforcement is withholding information about powerful people connected to Epstein, including 61 percent of Trump voters, according to an online survey of more than 10,000 people conducted by Blue Rose Research from July 8 to 11. A majority believe that the \u201cauthorities are keeping secret\u201d Epstein\u2019s client list to \u201cprotect powerful people like Donald Trump,\u201d including a third of Trump voters.<\/p>\n

Two-thirds of voters said the case is important because it\u2019s about \u201cgovernment transparency and holding powerful people accountable.\u201d When asked if Trump was or may be involved in the cover up, 58 percent of voters said he maybe was or definitely was.<\/p>\n

Another memo from Future Forward, the biggest Democratic super PAC in 2024, outlined the Epstein case\u2019s broad, if shallow, reach among voters. The memo, shared on Thursday with party insiders and obtained by Blue Light News, highlighted several viral videos on the scandal, including a Jon Stewart segment that attracted 1.4 million views on TikTok and creator Philip DeFranco\u2019s video calling Trump \u201cnot a happy boy\u201d when being questioned about Epstein, racking up 1.6 million views on TikTok.<\/p>\n

Even so, the memo warned that it\u2019s \u201ctoo early to say whether this will be of meaningful political consequence to Trump.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThis subject is not as effective at moving Trump disapproval (or 2026 vote choice) as some of the more direct criticisms of\u201d Trump\u2019s megabill, the memo continued. \u201cHowever, a moderately persuasive message that gets lots of views because it is timely and addresses the conversation people are having anyway is impactful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican operatives insist they\u2019re not sweating it and believe the Epstein story will quiet within weeks. Like Democrats, they don\u2019t think it will resonate much in next year\u2019s midterms.<\/p>\n

A Republican campaign strategist, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly, echoed it \u201cwill not be a driving issue for voters the way the economy, taxes and immigration will be.\u201d But they advised that the \u201cadministration can address these concerns by putting out more information, explaining it more, providing more answers \u2014 all of those are very fixable solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the short term, Democrats might score points for hitting it, but Democrats don\u2019t have any credibility on this issue,\u201d this person added.<\/p>\n

There are signs the fury among Republicans has quieted, though the issue is still simmering below the surface. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) backed an ultimately doomed Democratic-led amendment in the Rules Committee to compel the release of more Epstein-related files. Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk said he was<\/u><\/a> \u201cdone talking about Epstein\u201d and he is going \u201cto trust my friends in [the] Trump administration to handle Epstein files.\u201d Other Republicans derided it as a distraction.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Trump reiterated his support<\/u><\/a> for Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has come under the greatest scrutiny for her handling of the case, and suggested the controversy was manufactured by Democrats.<\/p>\n

Democrats have their own vulnerabilities on this subject. Former President Bill Clinton has acknowledged associating with Epstein<\/u><\/a>, though he has vigorously denied any knowledge of his crimes.<\/p>\n

But on Capitol Hill, Democrats made clear they\u2019re going to try to yolk their GOP rivals to Epstein.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said they were going to do something after stoking up all of this conspiracy themselves \u2026 [now], they’re in the position where they can be transparent and share with all the inquiring minds, and they won’t do it,\u201d said Lori Trahan (D-Mass.). \u201cAnd so it just begs the question, you know what, why not?\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats are looking to pump that narrative back into the digital ecosystem. Dennis confirmed that American Bridge is working with influencers \u201cto make sure that everybody in our ecosystem has the background info they need to hit these folks as hard as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, not all of the hits might land. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) attracted some eye rolls on social media for posting a song<\/u><\/a> about releasing the \u201cEpstein files.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia McCarthy and Brakkton Booker contributed to this report<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats are stoking the online flames of the Jeffrey Epstein controversy. Internal memos and polling suggest the issue is breaking through to voters. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) accused President Donald Trump of \u201chiding the Epstein list\u201d in a post on X. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries insisted at a press conference Americans \u201cdeserve to know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}