A group of House Democrats called Monday for an independent special counsel to investigate President Donald Trump’s ties with disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, thrusting the issue back into the news in the final week of their party’s push to win control of Congress.
A new report written by Democratic staff aides on the Judiciary Committee accuses Trump of being “an active participant in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of young women,” though it largely cites allegations that have already been public.
Trump has repeatedly denied any involvement in or knowledge of Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation. He has acknowledged having once been friendly with Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, but has said that they had a significant falling out.
The report — which is separate from the House investigation into Epstein being conducted by the Oversight Committee — landed just eight days before Election Day, as candidates across the country were making their closing pitches. In the final weeks of the campaign, Democrats have sought to make the case that Republican corruption in Washington is costing Americans money and vowed to use their power to investigate the president should they win control of Congress.
On the campaign trail and in television ads, Democrats have been trying to tie congressional Republicans to Epstein, noting that party leaders initially opposed the release of investigative material in his case compiled by the FBI and federal prosecutors. They have seized on the fallout over the government’s handling of the Epstein inquiry and the Trump administration’s decision to relocate Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of Epstein serving a 20-year prison sentence, to a minimum-security prison.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that the Justice Department had “deliberately withheld evidence” and “appears to be covering up these crimes to protect the president.”
This article originally appeared inthe New York Times.
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