House Judiciary Democrats are calling for a public hearing on the Jeffrey Epstein files, saying top officials in both the Justice Department and the FBI should account for their handling of information surrounding the deceased financier.
The Justice Department last week released a new memo concluding that Epstein did not commit suicide and said the high-powered figure did not keep a list of clients for others involved in his sex trafficking scheme.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said the administration’s top brass – Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy Todd Blanche, as well as FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino – should all testify on the matter, adding the panel should also subpoena them “if necessary.”
“President Trump and his top appointees at the DOJ and FBI have spent years advancing theories that ‘the Deep State’ has been suppressing the true magnitude of the child sex trafficking and abuse ring created by Jeffrey Epstein and his associates,” Raskin wrote in a letter to Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), saying conspiracy theories about the matter were used to “energize President Trump’s supporters.”
“The Trump DOJ and FBI’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein matter, and President Trump’s suddenly shifting positions, have not restored anyone’s trust in the government but have rather raised profound new questions about their own conduct while increasing public paranoia related to the investigation. Only a bipartisan public hearing at which administration officials answer direct questions from elected representatives before the eyes of the American people can restore public trust on the matter,” Raskin wrote in a letter joined by other Democratic members of the committee.
Jordan’s office did not respond to request for comment, but the lawmaker told The Hill Tuesday that he had “confidence” in the four leaders.
DOJ and the FBI did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The matter has caused internal division within the Trump administration, with Bongino, who previously told his followers to stay focused on Epstein, believing the FBI and Justice Department fumbled its response. Trump, however, has defended Bondi’s supervision of the matter saying she “has handled it very well.”
Democrats have been increasingly making calls for more information about the episode, saying the Justice Department could be shielding information that could be damaging to Trump.
Raskin wrote the fallout from the memo raises “new questions as to whether President Trump himself has something to hide, whether he is keeping damaging information secret to protect other individuals or to maintain future blackmail leverage over public and private actors or, perhaps the simplest explanation, whether President Trump and his Administration magnified and disseminated groundless Epstein conspiracy theories for purposes of political gain which they are now desperately trying to disavow and dispel.”
Democratic intrigue in the Epstein files has only grown since Elon Musk, during a fallout with Trump, said the president was among those included in Epstein’s files.
The president has denied ever being close with Epstein and has expressed exasperation at public fixation about the case. The two were captured in numerous photos together over the years, as Epstein ran in high-powered circles with figures that included Trump, former President Clinton, Britain’s Prince Andrew and a number of other celebrities and ultra-wealthy individuals. His associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, has been convicted of sex trafficking.
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