Democrats reflect criticism from their rights to how President Donald Trump and his administration handled case files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
After a administration memo knocked down Epstein’s past activities and conspiracy theories related to his suicide in 2019, the party had been locating the bear. In Congress, the Democratic committee and lawmakers are calling for the Trump administration to release more documents related to the Epstein investigation and accusing the president and his allies of promoting cynical courtesy in order to work together to promote political acclaim.
And in the campaign trajectory, Democratic National Committee and Democratic candidates, including those running where Trump won in 2024, are incited the flames as some of Trump’s most prominent right-wing supporters threaten a rebellion against the issue.
With Maga-World Sueings, key members of his administration at odds and winning defense, Democrats are embracing the raw politics of the situation despite their previous scribbles.
“What is Trump hiding? We’re releasing the Epstein Files,” the official DNC X account was posted last month.
Last week, DNC launched a new account on X and posted a message every day reminding his followers that Trump “is not releasing Epstein files.” The account also reposted Epstein-related criticisms from leading social media influencers that focused on Trump. It also contains a header image for the comment. Billionaire Elon Musk, after his spitting with the White House and without providing evidence, Musk “accuses Trump of being in Epstein’s files. That’s the real reason they’re not publicly disclosed. (Trump says he had a warm social relationship with Epstein, but he had distanced himself from Epstein long ago. There was no evidence linking Trump to Epstein’s criminal behavior.)
Over the years, the court sealed and released a tranch of documents related to the Epstein case.
Last week, the Department of Justice and the FBI issued a memo outlining that the “exhaustive review” had not found a client list of sex trafficking or a client list of evidence leading to additional accusations, reaffirming the finding that Epstein committed suicide in prison. The memo also added that it would be difficult to make more information public as “sensitive information related to these victims is intertwined throughout the material.”
Asked to discuss how the strategy and party’s message and tone have changed since Trump’s first term, the Democratic National Committee provided a statement from Tim Hogan, senior adviser of messaging, mobilization and strategy, who was accountable for previous comments from Trump and the executive branch of Epstein.
“Trump administration officials either lie about the file and continue to hide it to protect themselves, or they’re lying about their existence with shameless political tricks to be elected. Either way, they don’t like it and they have to take responsibility,” he said.
White House spokesman Harrison Fields was called to respond to democratic criticism, saying, “President Trump has brought together a highly qualified, experienced legal and order team dedicated to protecting Americans, holding criminals accountable and serving justice to the victims. The work is done seamlessly in line.”
“The attempt to sow the division within this team is unfounded and distracts us from substantial progress by restoring public safety and pursuing justice for all,” he added.
Congressional Democrats Latch
Texas Democrat Rep. Mark Vessy announced over the weekend that he would introduce a resolution that “requires the Trump administration to release all files related to the Epstein incident.”
“Which one [Trump] And his acolite burned rumors of the importance of these Epstein files to help his campaign, or something is there! ” he posted to X, adding, “be patient or shut up.”
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif) announced a legislative push aimed at enforcing the administration to release more Epstein information, saying, “Who is rich and strong protected?”
Rep. Jimmy Gomez, another Democrat from California, intertwine with the White House about his criticism of his recent federal immigration attacks in his state, responding to his criticism of him by releasing the White House’s “Epstein Files.” I want to know about your base.” Eric Swalwell and Ted Liu, a fellow California member, posted a similar message along with other Democrats on Friday.
House Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries gave similar points at a press conference on Monday in Washington, D.C.
“The Democrats didn’t put Jeffrey Epstein’s in the public domain. This was a plot that Donald Trump, Pam Bondy and these Maga militants had been instigating the flames of the past few years, and now the chickens are back on the roost,” he said.
The attack hit the campaign trail. And it’s not just the blue blue area. Rebecca Cook, a Wisconsin Democrat, used a similar language to guide Republican Rep. Derrick Van Olden. She is taking on the challenge in the district that voted for Trump in 2024. On past social relations between the president and Epstein. (Trump denied allegations of sexual misconduct and denies any fraud related to Epstein’s crimes).
“President Trump has promised to end the war. He has promised to release the Epstein Files. Did you really think that the president of the sexual predator who was partying with Jeffrey Epstein was planning to release the Epstein Files,” Ossoff said at a rally in Savannah, Georgia.
The attack from Democrats took Trump to his true social platform over the weekend, stopping his followers from attacking his administration, saying, “What’s going on with my ‘boy’ and sometimes ‘gal’?” ”
He went on to accuse Democrats of writing documents about Epstein, calling the focus on Epstein a distraction from his success. (Neither Trump nor his administration have presented evidence that Democrats have turned to doctors with files related to Epstein.)
At the Cabinet meeting, President Trump was suspended after Attorney General Pam Bondy was asked about Jeffrey Epstein and criticised the ongoing media focus.
Big change
The message from the Democrats is a change in how they responded to Epstein-related conspiracy theories and to Trump’s Epstein-related meditation.
After Trump shared unfounded conspiracy theories about social media in 2019, a parade of Democratic presidential hopefuls denounced the president for potential involvement in Epstein’s death. Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke criticized Trump for CNN for “using this position of public trust to attack his political opponents with unfounded conspiracy theory,” but Sen. Corey Booker of New Jersey has blew the life of “not just conspiracy theory, but actually blowing people into anger.”
Democrats are now defending messaging. Brian Butler, author of the influential newsletter and liberal journalist, wrote in Friday’s edition of Friday’s message newsletter, that Democrats need to confront the “tension” between the party’s “desire to challenge elections in a safe position like healthcare policy” and the new consensus that “reach margin voters” should take away the figure of online influence and pop culture.
“Politicians love to warn each other to ‘see who they are’, but what if ‘where are they’re at the intersection of Venn diagrams in the Pop Wellness/Epstein Files? ” he wrote. He added: “Until this week, it took me until this week for the bug in the ‘Epstein File’ to realise that not only right-wing nonsense, but also a lot of people (even those who aren’t particularly committed to Donald Trump) actually care. ”
The topic returned to the news for a memo from the Department of Justice and the FBI released last week.
In addition to Trump’s comments about Epstein during his first term, FBI director Kash Patel and deputy director Dan Bongino fanned similar Epstein-related theories during their own pre-government media appearances. And Attorney General Pam Bondy challenged the administration’s hype about the file both in the media’s appearance, playing it by taking conservative influencers to the White House and receiving a binder labelled “Epstein Files: Phase 1.”
The discussion about the “Epstein File” has been a major topic in conversations about the far right for many years, particularly after the arrest in 2019 and subsequent suicides in federal prisons.
In 2023, a general report from the Department of Justice inspector highlighted the misconduct, negligence and errors by employees of the Prison Bureau surrounding Epstein’s suicide, but there was no evidence to undermine the discovery he had killed. Also, recent memos from the FBI and the Department of Justice found no evidence of any “guilty ‘client list'” or other evidence that could lead to additional prosecutions in line with years of public reports of Epstein’s sexual abuse of minor girls.
But while the official accounting of the lawsuit against Epstein remains the same, conservative commentators like Bongino have been questioning the official story for many years. Now, the administration’s memo attempts to put a saga of Trump administration officials repeatedly slamming conspiracies (and subsequent criticisms).
Sahil Kapur and Scott Wong contributed.
Source link
