House Democrats Release Epstein Report on Trump and Call for a Special Counsel

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee released a 53-page staff report on Monday accusing President Donald Trump of taking part in Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse of young women in the 1990s and the Justice Department of covering up evidence. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the committee's ranking Democrat, released the report on October 26, eight days before the November 3 midterms that decide control of Congress.

The report is titled "We Have Certain Things in Common, Jeffrey": The Case Against Donald Trump Emerging in the Epstein Files and DOJ's Desperate Efforts to Cover it Up. It draws on committee interviews, survivor accounts and FBI records.

Accounts from 11 women

The report sets out accounts involving 11 women. Five of them directly accuse Trump of rape or sexual assault in Epstein's close company or presence, the committee said. Others describe what the report calls apparent attempts by Epstein or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell to traffic them to Trump.

The report concludes that Trump and Paolo Zampolli, a recent senior Trump administration official and diplomat, may have been co-conspirators in Epstein's conspiracy to traffic and abuse young women in the 1990s. It traces ties among Trump, Epstein, Zampolli and modeling agent John Casablancas in New York's beauty pageant world.

"The full extent of the President of the United States' involvement with a criminal sex trafficking ring is, inescapably, of the utmost concern to Congress and the American people," the report says.

The allegations are accusations set out in a Democratic staff document and have not produced criminal findings against Trump. Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing involving Epstein, says the two fell out years ago, and says he barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago for inappropriate behavior.

Accusations against the Justice Department

A second part of the report targets the Justice Department and the FBI, saying they shut down investigations and withheld evidence while claiming no basis to prosecute or even investigate other possible Epstein co-conspirators.

The report also says Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump's former personal attorney, instructed Maxwell during a two-day interview in 2025 not to discuss a survivor whose account implicated Trump. Maxwell was convicted of helping Epstein abuse underage girls. Democrats also argue the department has failed to release all records required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Trump signed into law in 2025.

The release follows two October demands from Raskin: on October 7, with Rep. Madeleine Dean, for an investigation of former Bard College president Leon Botstein, and on October 22 for answers on the department's refusal to share evidence with investigators in New Mexico and the United Kingdom.

What Democrats are asking for

The report calls for an independent special counsel to investigate Epstein's co-conspirators, cooperation with state and foreign prosecutors requesting evidence, and congressional action. "The women who survived Epstein deserve to be heard, 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," Raskin said in a statement.

Congress cannot appoint a special counsel. That appointment sits with the attorney general, whose department the report accuses of a cover-up. If Democrats win back the House on November 3, they could hold hearings and issue subpoenas.

The White House rejected the report. Spokesperson Lauren Bis said the allegations were false and called the document a political attack. She told Politico that Trump has been "totally exonerated on anything related to Epstein," and pointed to the thousands of documents released under his administration.