Democrats' Epstein Report Says Justice Department Withheld Trump Evidence, DOJ Calls It a 'Last-Ditch' Ploy

Democrats in the US House say the Justice Department (DOJ) withheld evidence of Donald Trump's alleged role in the late Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse of girls and young women. The DOJ called their report, released on 26 October, a 'last-ditch' bid to mislead the public.

The 53-page report covers 11 women and calls for a special counsel. Five of them say Trump sexually assaulted or raped them while Epstein was present or nearby. Trump has long denied any wrongdoing linked to Epstein. The allegations remain unproven, eight days before the US midterm vote.

What the Report Says

Jamie Raskin, the Judiciary Committee's senior Democrat, put out the report. His staff drew on FBI files, accounts from women, papers made public under a 2025 law, and their own interviews. 'Evidence involving 11 women tells a completely different and far more damning story,' Raskin said. MS NOW noted that the report repeats several old, unproven claims and that one new account rests solely on the woman's interviews with committee staff.

One account comes from Beatrice Keul, a former Miss Switzerland. She says Trump raped her at New York's Plaza Hotel in November 1993, when she was 24. She had previously said she talked him down from an attempted rape. Two of the five say they were 13 or 14. Of six more women in the report, two told the FBI that Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell seemed to offer them to Trump.

Why Democrats Blame the Justice Department

The report says the DOJ held back records and shut down probes into Epstein's circle to protect Trump. It also says Attorney General Todd Blanche, once Trump's defence lawyer, may have tampered with a witness. In July 2025, while still deputy attorney general, he met Maxwell in prison. The report says he apparently steered her away from talking about one survivor. The timeline below traces the fight since July 2025.

A DOJ spokesperson said it had obeyed the 2025 law and made nearly 3 million Epstein papers public. The DOJ also said it offered lawmakers a chance to view the files unredacted, and agents looked into the claims at the time. A judge ruled in June that the DOJ had, in effect, admitted to breaking that law over some records. The DOJ is appealing the ruling. Blanche has said his team met its duties quickly.

Responses and Next Steps

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said, 'None of these allegations are true.' She called the report a desperate bid to distract the public and said Trump had banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club. Yet the report cites a 2009 record of a conversation with lawyers in which Trump said no one had asked Epstein to leave.

As the minority in the House, Democrats cannot force witnesses to talk or demand papers without Republican votes. That could change if they win the House on 3 November, when every House seat is up for election. On 22 October, Raskin also said the DOJ was reportedly blocking British investigators. He says that puts a probe into Peter Mandelson, Britain's former ambassador to Washington, at risk.