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After years of Republicans leading the push for government transparency on Jeffrey Epstein, the notoriously well-connected sex offender who died in jail in 2019, Democrats are now leading the charge to release the so-called “Epstein files.”
“I’m glad they’re joining the party, but they should have been a little more transparent a year ago,” Rep. Mark Messmer, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital.
Seizing on the Republicans’ demand for transparency about Epstein during former President Joe Biden’s administration, President Donald Trump campaigned in 2024 on releasing the “Epstein files” and his allegedly incriminating “client list.”
But Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI released a memo this week concluding that Epstein died by suicide in his cell, there is no “client list,” and the supposed “Epstein files” are thousands of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography subject to court-ordered sealing.
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Composite image of President Donald Trump and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. . (Getty Images)
The Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files has created a rift among the “MAGA” wing of the Republican Party, who are demanding more transparency.
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“We should expect transparency, no matter what administration is involved, if there was or wasn’t a client list, if there was or wasn’t video. I mean, we should expect transparency and full disclosure of whatever they are covering up,” Messmer told Fox News Digital.
Democrats have been quick to seize on the intraparty conflict.
“It’s pretty rich on their part,” Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital. “But again, if there is no new information, then that’s fine. Just have the Department of Justice come out and explain that and answer questions. And if there is something, but it’s not relevant, well, explain that also.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, right, accompanied by President Donald Trump, speaks to members of the media as they depart a House Republican meeting at the U.S. Capitol on May 20, 2025, in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has reiterated that “all credible evidence should come out” regarding Epstein and criticized Democrats who he said are politicizing the issue.
California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna tied a procedural vote on releasing all Epstein files to an unrelated crypto bill earlier this week, and Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, announced he would be filing a resolution on Monday to demand the Trump administration release all files related to the late pedophile’s case.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, including Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and progressives like Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas., are also seizing on Republican fractures over the Epstein case, demanding a public hearing on the issue.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., arrives for a meeting of House Republicans in the Capitol Visitor Center on the budget reconciliation bill on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“The Democrats will never give Donald Trump credit for anything,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital. “Where were the questions when Biden was in office?”
And Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, said Democrats’ newfound investment in transparency on Epstein “proves that all along it was just political.”
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“I respect a call for transparency,” Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, added. “If it’s from a Democrat or a Republican, I totally respect that. I have no idea of anything on this front. And I hope to just know that people are being transparent and that things aren’t being done in any nefarious way or for any nefarious reason. I think a lot of it’s overblown.”
“I put the Epstein matter in my don’t know, don’t care file,” Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., told Fox News Digital.
