Democrats are calling for an independent investigation into the ties between President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, who were known friends in the 1990s in south Florida before having a falling out.
The lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee made the recommendation in a 53-page report that ties together previously public documents of Trump and Epstein's relationship and includes a new allegation that Trump raped a beauty pageant contestant in 1993.
Led by Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the Democrats said the Department of Justice should appoint a special counsel because the department and the FBI have been covering for Trump and are too conflicted to investigate Trump or Epstein associates.
Empowering a special counsel would put significant
heft behind Epstein survivors' attempt at justice. Under the law, a special counsel has the same powers to investigate and bring charges as other federal prosecutors and is not subject to day-to-day supervision of the attorney general.
The report comes days before voters head to the polls to decide who will decide control of Congress, and Democratic candidates on the campaign trail have been attacking Republican candidates who voted against the release of the Epstein files or took money from Epstein's associates.
Epstein's survivors have also been traversing the country on a bus tour in which they show a more than six-foot-tall graphic timeline of the two men's relationship and the history of sexual misconduct allegations that women have made against each of them.
Epstein registered as a sex offender in the 2000s after pleading guilty to minor charges and was charged with sex trafficking in 2019. He died in jail before being tried on those charges. Trump has never been criminally charged with a sex crime. He was found liable for the sexual abuse of writer E. Jean Carroll in a civil trial in New York City, a case unrelated to Epstein.
“None of these allegations are true," White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement. "This ‘report’ is nothing more than a desperate attempt by crazed Democrats to distract Americans from the surging Republican momentum driven by President Trump’s historic achievements.
What the new report reveals
The Democrats' report, which is not endorsed by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, is the most comprehensive document to date that describes the relationship between Trump and Epstein and goes beyond their well-known social ties.
Five women, the report says, "have directly accused Trump of raping or sexually assaulting them in Epstein's company or direct physical presence." One of those is Beatrice Keul, a former Miss Switzerland who told the committee that Trump violently raped her, the report says.
The alleged incident took place in 1993 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, when Keul was 24 years old, according to the report. Trump owned the Plaza Hotel in 1993 and was 47. Epstein attended Trump's wedding that same year.
Trump approached Keul at a press luncheon and had a more than 15-minute conversation when he told Keul he could arrange a visa for her, get her into New York University, and arrange her travel, according to the report, which says the committee's staff interviewed Keul.
When they finished talking, the report says, Epstein approached Keul and said, "I'm Jeffrey, Don's best friend." Epstein then "spent at least 10 minutes talking to Keul, all the time looking over and grinning at Trump" on the other side of the room.
The report says Trump invited Keul upstairs at the Plaza Hotel, where he "grabbed Keul from behind and forcibly raped her; in the process tearing her dress and causing bleeding and bruising on multiple parts of her body."
Bis, the White House spokesperson, also said in her statement: "The President kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club at Mar-a-Lago because he was a creep, and he has been fully exonerated of anything related to Epstein."
The Department of Justice made public about 3.5 million files in response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress passed and Trump signed, but withheld about 40% of what the government has in its possession.
Why Democrats want a special counsel
Democrats on the Judiciary Committee argue in their report that the Department of Justice and the FBI have protected Trump and stonewalled attempts to investigate Epstein's associates.
"There is more than enough evidence that many individuals other than Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell may have committed a crime," the report says. "This includes Donald Trump."
Maxwell, a longtime associate of Epstein who women have told USA TODAY participated in their abuse, is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for sex trafficking, among other convictions. She met with now-Attorney General Todd Blanche shortly before the federal government moved her to a minimum security prison.
The report says the Department of Justice "has actively obstructed the Epstein investigation into any co-conspirators, attempted to prevent the release of the Epstein files, and then released an incomplete and heavily redacted set to the public—all while withholding key information about Trump in the process," the report says.
The report cites Department of Justice policy that prohibits prosecuting a sitting president, and federal law requiring the Department of Justice to appoint an independent special counsel if performing the investigation itself "would present a conflict of interest for the department or other extraordinary circumstances."
Under federal law, the attorney general can appoint a special counsel and decide the person's jurisdiction. The law gives the special counsel the same prosecutorial power as a U.S. attorney, but the attorney general retains some disciplinary power.
During Trump's first term, the Department of Justice appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate potential coordination between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.
The House Oversight Committee, led by Republicans, is also conducting an investigation into Epstein's network, and the full House held Leon Black in contempt.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democrats want special counsel to investigate Trump ties to Epstein
