House Judiciary Democrats demand DOJ release Epstein files referencing Trump

House Judiciary Democrats, led by Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, on Tuesday demanded the Justice Department release the files of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that are related to President Trump.

The request was made to Attorney General Pam Bondi one day after the department announced it had closed its Epstein investigation, saying the highly-sought-after Epstein "client list," on which Trump was allegedly included, did not exist. 

"This Administration has repeatedly claimed that President Trump is 'the most transparent and accessible president in American history,'" the Democrats wrote in the letter. "So far, your DOJ has not only failed to live up to this promise, but you have also consistently hidden from the American public materials and information that may be damaging to President Trump."

The Trump administration had vowed to release more information on Epstein, a wealthy New York financier and socialite. After his conviction in 2005 in Florida on charges related to sex trafficking, he was arrested in 2019 on federal charges for the sex-trafficking of minors in Florida and New York. Epstein died by suicide in his jail cell that same year.

House Democrats pointed out that Elon Musk last month posted on X that Trump "is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public." 

Musk posted the comment during his initial feud with Trump over the "One Big Beautiful Bill," and later deleted the post.

The Democrats said that the post "was clearly referring to records related to the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender, in the possession of the FBI and DOJ."

They added that FBI Director Kash Patel had promised during his Senate confirmation hearing that he would release the Epstein files and that, in February, Bondi had come "under intense public criticism after releasing the 'first phase' of roughly 200 pages of the Epstein files that consisted largely of information that was already public."

Bondi had also "reportedly ordered hundreds of FBI agents, many of whom were usually focusing on national security matters, to review the Epstein files," the Congress members also said.

"Despite this immense effort, no additional Epstein records have been released, and just this week, the FBI stated that it has determined 'no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted,'" Democrats wrote.

The House Democrats also requested that Bondi release the entirety of special prosecutor Jack Smith's report on "Trump's refusal to return classified documents after he left office." While the first volume of the report has been released, the second volume of the report was not initially because of a criminal case that has since been dismissed by the DOJ.

"We call on you to stop protecting your boss and former client, release the Smith report in full without redactions immediately, and publicly release all documents in the Epstein files that mention or reference Donald Trump," the Democrats concluded their letter.

The Justice Department in a joint memo Monday with the FBI stated Epstein had no client list, died by suicide, and did not blackmail prominent individuals, contrary to ongoing conspiracy theories that Epstein was murdered in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.