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Rogers has directly received campaign donations from people who appeared in the Epstein files.
Contrary to the claim's implication, Rogers received much of these funds during his 2024 Senate campaign, not his 2026 campaign. Furthermore, these donors sent most of the funds to independent PACs supporting Rogers, not directly to Rogers' campaign.
Being named in the Epstein files is not necessarily evidence of wrongdoing. It's unclear whether any of these donors knew of or were complicit in Epstein's crimes, and there's no evidence they were.
In September 2026, a claim spread online that Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate for a U.S. Senate seat to represent Michigan, had received nearly $4.7 million from donors who appeared in files related to the federal investigation of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The rumor spreadon X,ThreadsandFacebook(screenshot). Some posts also claimed at least seven of Rogers' donors had ties to Epstein. Rogers' Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, alsoshared the rumor.
This claim is mostly true at face value, but it needs significant context.
It originated with a report in theDetroit Metro Times, a progressive news outlet, titled, accurately, "Donors named in Epstein files gave nearly $4.7 million to Mike Rogers and groups backing him."
The story explains that Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder and CEO of investment management company Blackstone, donated $4.5 million in 2024 to a super PAC that supported Rogers.By law, super PACs, which are allowed to raise unlimited money, can't coordinate their spending with the actual campaign. Schwarzman also donated a much-smaller amount directly to Rogers' Senate campaigns from 2023 to 2025.
Snopes independently verified the amount Schwarzman donated and that he appears in the Epstein files. However, as the Metro Times story states, there's no evidence Schwarzman and Epstein directly interacted. No one, including federal prosecutors, has publicly accused Schwarzman of wrongdoing connected to Epstein.
The other six donors who donated the remaining money had varying degrees of closeness to Epstein — but there's no evidence any of them knew of or assisted in his criminal activities.
As for El-Sayed, we found no evidence any people named in the Epstein files donated directly to his campaign. Two people withpassingmentionsin the Epstein filessentmoneyto a super PAC supporting El-Sayed.
Rogers' campaign spokeswoman, Alyssa Brouillet, pointed to Rogers' time in the FBI "busting human traffickers" and said in an emailed statement that "any attempt at associating him with criminals is insulting and patently false."
Federal Election Commission dataindicates Schwarzman sent "GLCF, INC" three donations totaling $4.5 million: $2 million in June 2024, $1 million in August 2024 and $1.5 million in September 2024.
