Democrats allege 'desperate efforts to cover up' Trump's involvement in Jeffrey Epstein sex crimes, release 50-page report

House Judiciary Committee Democrats on Monday (Oct 26) released an unsigned staff report laying out what they call "the case against Donald Trump emerging in the Epstein Files and DOJ's desperate efforts to cover it up," and are now calling for an independent special counsel to investigate the president, Attorney General Todd Blanche's alleged conflicts of interest, and the Justice Department's reluctance to share evidence with state and foreign law enforcement.

"The women who survived Epstein deserve to be heard," the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in a statement. "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."

The more than 50-page report alleges that Trump was "an active participant in Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of young women in the mid-to-late 1990s." It also contains at least one entirely new allegation against the president, though it provides no direct evidence other than the woman's own conversations with Judiciary Committee staff.

Notably, for years, Trump has denied that he engaged in any sexual misconduct with any woman connected to Epstein and has said he knew nothing about Epstein's crimes. He even claimed to have kicked out "creep" Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago resort in 2203.

What the report claims

Talking to MS Now, a Democratic Judiciary Committee member said that the report draws on publicly available accounts as well as conversations with survivors.

The report repeats several other longstanding allegations against Trump. It also compares Trump's statements about Epstein in recent years to documentary evidence, including emails, deposition transcripts, Trump's prior public statements, and Trump's drawings and signatures. Among the discrepancies highlighted are inconsistencies with what Trump has said about his awareness of Epstein's crimes.

The report suggests DOJ officials, including the attorney general, are "doing everything they can to keep the American people in the dark" about Trump's alleged participation in Epstein's abuse of young women.

"Attorney General Blanche may have engaged in criminal obstruction of justice while acting on a mission to protect Trump," the report alleges.

It lays out how Blanche's meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell "potentially constituted witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding."

"Blanche's apparent instructions not to discuss a specific Epstein victim, and how that victim could implicate Donald Trump, could easily run afoul of 18 U.S.C. § 1512, which forbids hindering or delaying the communication of information relating to the potential commission of a federal offense to a law enforcement officer, as well as corruptly influencing the testimony of any person in an official proceeding — such as a congressional interview and investigation," Democrats write in the report.

The DOJ response

A Justice Department spokesperson said the report was "nothing more than a last-ditch effort by House Judiciary Democrats to mislead the public."

The spokesperson said the DOJ complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act and made nearly 3 million documents related to Epstein available to the public. "The Department also freely offered members of Congress the opportunity to view the files unredacted. All these files were part of FBI investigations that spanned decades and these claims were investigated by agents at the time," the spokesperson said.

"While we cannot talk about the existence of any ongoing investigations, the Trump Administration is the only administration to prosecute Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and make any of these documents available to the public," the spokesperson added.