Democrats are hoping to capitalize on the pressure President Donald Trump is facing across the political spectrum over the Epstein files.
At town halls, interviews and other events, Democrats are finding openings to push Trump and Republicans, as polls point to disapproval with how the president has handled the issue. Democrats are hoping it can be a part of a broader storyline leading to the 2026 elections that helps convince voters Republicans are not on the side of most Americans.
“What Speaker Mike Johnson did by dismissing the House and sending them off on their summer break earlier than planned to protect Donald Trump’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein shows that Republicans will always stand with the wealthy, powerful and well-connected, and not with ordinary Americans,” said Ian Russell, a Democratic strategist.
Trump has distanced himself from Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier who died while facing sex trafficking charges, and the president has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein. Still, their past friendship has become a political headache: Trump faces pressure from his base to make good on his promise to release all of the Epstein-related files.
And Democrats have been pleased to pile on.
At a town hall hosted by Rep. John Garamendi last Monday, a constituent asked if he’s seen an increase in “integrity and backbone” among Republicans to “oppose Trump’s repeated defiance of the law and Constitution” ever since the Epstein issue began dominating the political discourse.
“It began with Don Bacon, a retired Air Force general out of [Nebraska] who simply couldn’t stand it anymore. His moral and political compass couldn’t take it,” Garamendi said. “There are a couple of others that have broken ranks. [Thomas] Massie out of Kentucky, he just simply won’t put up with it. A little different rationale for it, but he just said, ‘I’m not there.’ And when Trump says, ‘I’m going to come and get you,’ he says, ‘Come. You’ll love Kentucky.’”
At a roundtable with reporters last week, Sen. Amy Klobuchar argued that Trump refusing to release the Epstein files was another promise made and not kept.
“He has thrown people off of Medicaid when he said he wouldn’t. He’s broken these promises about costs,” Klobuchar said. “In this case, this has become so kind of radioactive and huge that to not release these files, after saying he would, just breaks down trust in the whole system.” (In an NPR interview on Monday, she ribbed House Republicans for recessing early by referring to them being on “Epstein recess,” while arguing that Congress needs to assert its power to implement tariffs.)
Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, reiterated calls for Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s associate who is currently serving prison time for child sex trafficking, to testify before Congress.
“Everyday more information comes out, and the real question is, what is Donald Trump hiding and what is this cover-up happening, clearly, at the White House,” Garcia said in an interview on MSNBC.
How pressing of an issue the Epstein files are for most voters is very much an open question. Some Democrats would rather not discuss it.
CNN reported that Rep. Mark Pocan said at a town hall last week that he’d avoided talking about Epstein because he wanted to focus on how Medicaid cuts would gut his state’s public health insurance programs.
“I keep it to economics,” Pocan said. “I’m an economic, progressive populist. I think that’s how most people make decisions when they go to elections. That’s how Donald Trump won the election. That’s why Donald Trump’s doing poor in the polls.”
On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena for the Justice Department to turn over its information on Epstein.
“I introduced a motion to subpoena the Epstein files. We got the votes. Today, we got the subpoena,” Rep. Summer Lee, a member of the committee, wrote on X shortly after the subpoena was issued. “The DOJ has 2 weeks to release the Epstein files to the Oversight Committee. Justice must apply to everyone, no matter how rich, powerful, or well-connected they are.”