Democrats seek independent prosecutor to investigate Trump's ties to Epstein

Democratic members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee are pushing for the appointment of an independent special counsel to investigate President Donald Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, as well as how the Department of Justice handled the allegations raised in the case. The 53-page report, released eight days before the November 3 midterm elections, was met with outright rejection from the White House, which called the initiative an election-season smear campaign.

The document compiled by the committee's Democratic staff cites accounts from eleven women that, according to its authors, warrant further investigation into Trump's role in the Epstein case. Five of them directly accuse the president of raping or sexually assaulting them in Epstein's company or presence. According to a report by Time, one of the women told congressional staff about an incident from 1993, which she described as rape. No court has made findings regarding the allegations described in the report, and Trump denies committing any crime.

Jamie Raskin, the committee's ranking Democrat, said the Department of Justice's handling of the matter raises suspicions that the agency is trying to cover up the case to protect the president. In a statement, he stressed that survivors of abuse committed by Epstein must be heard, and that Congress must gain access to all documents whose disclosure is required by law. Democrats are therefore demanding the appointment of a special counsel who would examine not only Epstein's possible accomplices but also the department's role, including whether authorities properly handled allegations concerning the president. White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis, responding to The Hill, rejected all the claims in the report, saying Trump has been cleared in every matter related to Epstein. She also noted that the president had banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida at the time. According to the spokeswoman, Democrats are using this in the final stretch of the campaign to try to divert attention from Republicans' rising momentum.

The decision on appointing a special counsel would rest with Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously worked as Trump's personal lawyer. The president dismissed his predecessor, Pam Bondi, in April, partly over his dissatisfaction with how the Epstein files were being handled, and the Senate confirmed Blanche's appointment in August by a vote of 50–49. The Democratic report specifically highlights this personal connection, stating that Blanche went from being the president's personal lawyer to becoming his personal attorney general. Democrats themselves do not expect the administration to willingly comply with their request, so going forward they would rely on the tools of congressional oversight. If they win a House majority in the November election, they could hold further hearings, subpoena witnesses and documents, and support investigations by state and foreign authorities. Depending on the balance of power after the election, the Epstein case could thus become the focus of further congressional inquiries.

In the 1990s, Trump and Epstein moved in the same social circles in New York and Florida, but the president maintains that he cut ties with Epstein well before his criminal cases began and that he had no knowledge of the crimes Epstein committed. Epstein's longtime confidante, Ghislaine Maxwell, was later convicted for her role in a network that sexually exploited minors, while Epstein himself died in a New York jail in 2019 before his trial. His death was officially ruled a suicide, but the circumstances surrounding it have since fueled numerous conspiracy theories, including among followers of Trump's MAGA movement, making the release of the files a sensitive issue even within the president's own camp. In November 2025, Congress passed a law requiring the administration to release the Epstein documents, and the Department of Justice has since made more than three million pages available online. However, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have complained that many documents remain inaccessible, and that numerous sections of the released materials have been redacted.

The dispute has also played a significant role in the election campaign, with Democrats spending more than $35 million on ads about the Epstein case. With the new report, in the final week before the election, the question of the president's connections and the Department of Justice's handling of the matter has once again been brought to the forefront, while the White House continues to dismiss the demand for an investigation as a political attack.

Ugar