House Democrats want an independent special counsel to investigate President Donald Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

The call came Monday, October 26, 2026, in a 53-page staff report from Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee. It landed eight days before the November 3 midterm elections, and it pulled no punches about what the authors think the Justice Department has done with the Epstein files.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the committee’s top Democrat, released the report under a long title: “‘We Have Certain Things in Common, Jeffrey’: The Case Against Donald Trump Emerging in the Epstein Files and DOJ’s Desperate Efforts to Cover it Up.” According to the committee’s own summary, the report draws on accounts involving 11 women. Five of them directly accuse Trump of rape or sexual assault in Epstein’s company or presence.

Trump denies any wrongdoing. He has not been charged with any crime connected to Epstein. That distinction matters, and it runs through everything that follows: this is a Democratic staff report and a request for an investigation, not a court finding.

What the Epstein special counsel report actually says

The report argues that the available evidence warrants a criminal investigation. It says Trump and Paolo Zampolli, who until recently served as a senior Trump administration official and diplomat, may have been co-conspirators in Epstein’s conspiracy to traffic and abuse young women in the 1990s. The word “may” does a lot of work there. Committee staff stopped short of claiming proof, and they framed the special counsel request as the way to test the claims properly.

Democrats also accused the Justice Department and the FBI of shutting down investigations and withholding evidence while claiming there was no basis to prosecute or even investigate additional Epstein co-conspirators. According to the report, Attorney General Todd Blanche instructed Ghislaine Maxwell in a two-day interview not to discuss a specific survivor whose account implicated Trump. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of supplying underage girls to Epstein, and she is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Raskin put it bluntly in the committee’s release. “The women who survived Epstein deserve to be heard,” he said. “Congress must have the complete files required by law, and an independent special counsel must investigate Epstein’s co-conspirators and DOJ’s cover-up.”

The White House response

The White House rejected the allegations. A White House spokesperson, Lauren Bis, said: “None of these allegations are true,” according to news coverage of the report’s release. The administration has also defended the Justice Department’s handling of the files in the past, and Democrats’ critics will read the timing — eight days out from an election — as political.

That’s a fair tension to name. A report released by one party’s committee staff, days before voters go to the polls, will always face questions about motive. It also doesn’t settle the underlying facts either way. Only an investigation with subpoena power, access to the full files, and independence from the people it would examine could do that. Which is, in essence, the Democrats’ argument.

Epstein died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges involving minors, in what was determined to be a suicide. Trump fought for months to prevent the Justice Department from releasing the so-called Epstein files, according to AFP reporting, but eventually signed a law passed by Congress requiring their publication. His name appears repeatedly in the documents, the same reporting noted, though appearance in a file is not evidence of a crime.

Why Democrats want a special counsel now

The special counsel request rests on a conflict-of-interest argument. Blanche previously served as Trump’s personal attorney, Democrats noted, and they said that history makes it hard for the department he now leads to investigate the president impartially. They asked Blanche himself to appoint the special counsel — an awkward ask, since the request effectively says the department can’t be trusted to police itself.

Democrats also asked for full cooperation with state and foreign prosecutors requesting evidence, plus congressional action to end what they called a cover-up. The report’s authors said the Justice Department had declined to assist state and foreign investigations sparked by the Epstein files. Whether those prosecutors get the material they want will be a separate fight, and one worth watching after the election regardless of who wins the House.

One more detail deserves care. The report discusses 11 women, but that does not mean 11 newly discovered victims of Trump. According to a summary of the report, five are direct assault accusers, three are additional survivors whose encounters staff interpret as relevant, and three more are discussed through records or other people’s accounts. Conflating those groups would misstate what the report claims.

What happens next

Don’t expect a special counsel appointment this week. Blanche has given no public sign he intends to appoint one, and the White House has dismissed the report outright. If Democrats win the House on November 3, their clout grows: committee subpoenas, hearings, and a louder platform for the files fight. If they don’t, the report likely becomes a campaign document that fades, at least as an institutional matter.

Either way, the files themselves aren’t going away. Congress passed a law requiring their publication, survivors keep speaking publicly, and state and foreign prosecutors keep asking for evidence. The question the report raises — who, if anyone, investigates a sitting president’s decades-old ties to a convicted trafficker — doesn’t have a clean answer in American law. That’s why the special counsel mechanism exists. It’s also why fights over who picks the counsel, and what they can look at, get so bitter.

For now, voters get the report, the denial, and eight days to decide how much either one matters.

Frequently asked questions

What did House Democrats ask for in the Epstein report?

They asked Attorney General Todd Blanche to appoint an independent special counsel to investigate Trump’s ties to Epstein and the Justice Department’s handling of the files, including Epstein’s potential accomplices and co-conspirators.

Has Trump been charged in connection with Epstein?

No. Trump denies wrongdoing and has not been charged with any criminal offense connected to Epstein. The report is a Democratic staff document, not an indictment or court judgment.

Who are the 11 women mentioned in the report?

Five directly accuse Trump of rape or sexual assault in Epstein’s company or presence, according to the committee. The other six are survivors whose encounters staff consider relevant or women discussed through records or other accounts.

What did the White House say about the report?

A White House spokesperson said none of the allegations are true, and the administration has rejected the report as politically motivated.

Sources: House Judiciary Committee Democrats press release, October 26, 2026; AFP via Malay Mail, October 27, 2026; Korea Times / AFP, October 27, 2026

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