Democratic staff on the US House Judiciary Committee have called for an independent investigation into Donald Trump’s links to Jeffrey Epstein after publishing a 53-page report examining accounts involving 11 women, including five who accuse Trump of rape or sexual assault.
The report was released on 26 October 2026 by the committee’s senior Democrat, Jamie Raskin. It brings together witness accounts, FBI records, interviews conducted by Democratic committee staff and previously released Epstein-related documents. The White House denies the allegations and says the report is politically motivated.
Its findings and claims are those of Democratic committee staff. The document is not a bipartisan committee finding, a criminal charge or a court ruling, and the allegations against Trump have not been established in criminal proceedings.
What the congressional report says
The report, titled “We Have Certain Things in Common, Jeffrey”, argues that accounts from 11 women warrant further examination of Trump’s association with Epstein and people in their shared social and modelling circles during the 1990s.
It identifies five women as having directly accused Trump of rape or sexual assault in circumstances the authors connect to Epstein. Other women described encounters with Trump or situations in which they say Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell appeared to make women available to him. These are different categories of claims: the report does not say that all 11 women accuse Trump of rape, or that all were children.
The report’s central argument is that the combined material is sufficient to justify a formal criminal investigation. Whether any particular accusation is substantiated remains a separate question for investigators and the courts.
The accounts involving Trump
Among the accounts is that of Beatrice Keul, a former Miss Switzerland finalist, who told Democratic committee staff that Trump raped her in a suite at New York’s Plaza Hotel during a November 1993 beauty pageant. Keul, then an adult, had previously spoken publicly about unwanted contact. The newly published report sets out a more serious allegation. It has not been proved in court. Fish 4 News has separately examined Keul’s account, her earlier statements and the White House response.
The report also revisits allegations made by former model Stacey Williams, who says Trump groped her at Trump Tower while Epstein was present, and Jill Harth, who alleged unwanted sexual contact involving Trump in the 1990s. It includes claims made under pseudonyms by women who say they were minors at the time of alleged abuse. Trump has denied wrongdoing. The individual accounts differ in their dates, circumstances and available supporting material.
Some records and testimony discussed by the authors concern Trump’s association with Epstein rather than a direct allegation of sexual assault. The fact that a person is named in an Epstein-related document does not, by itself, establish criminal conduct.
Claims about the Justice Department
Raskin and his colleagues also accuse the US Department of Justice and FBI of withholding relevant evidence and failing to pursue possible Epstein associates. They question the handling of Ghislaine Maxwell’s July 2025 interview by Todd Blanche, alleging that his interventions prevented discussion of one survivor whose account implicated Trump.
Those claims of concealment and possible interference are accusations made by the report’s authors, not established findings of obstruction or witness tampering. The Democrats want a special counsel appointed to examine them, alongside the underlying Epstein-related allegations.
How the White House has responded
The White House rejected the claims. A spokeswoman, Lauren Bis, told reporters that none of the allegations were true and described the report as a Democratic attempt to distract from Republican political momentum. The administration maintains that Trump removed Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club and denies that he engaged in wrongdoing connected to Epstein.
The release comes shortly before the 3 November US midterm elections. That political timing is relevant to assessing the report’s presentation, but it does not by itself establish whether the underlying accounts are true or false.
What is established and what remains unresolved?
- Confirmed: Democratic staff published the 53-page report on 26 October and called for an independent special counsel.
- Confirmed: The report brings together material concerning 11 women, including five direct sexual assault or rape allegations against Trump, and cites various existing records and interviews.
- Confirmed: The White House rejects the allegations.
- Not established: The truth of the individual assault accusations, the report’s wider allegations of criminal coordination and its claims of a Justice Department cover-up.
- Unclear: Whether a special counsel will be appointed or whether the report will lead to new criminal proceedings.
The report adds a significant political and investigative demand to the long-running Epstein case. It does not, by itself, determine anyone’s guilt. The outstanding question is whether independent investigators will be given access to the evidence needed to test its claims.
