Have Democrats always been interested in Epstein case transparency? We looked back.

After House Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers home early for recess in July, he said if they were so concerned about releasing records related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, they could have sought them during Joe Biden’s presidency. 

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. — along with 30 Democratic and 11 Republican cosponsors — filed legislation to try to force the government’s release of federal Epstein investigation files.

During the last presidency, "neither of those guys said a word about it," Johnson said of Massie and Khanna on July 24 on CBS.

Trump made a similar argument that Democrats could have acted before he took office in January.

Democrats controlled the files for four years, Trump said, "So if they had something, they would've released it before the election." 

Khanna said July 27 on NBC’s "Meet the Press" that the Trump administration’s conflicting statements about its plans to release the Epstein files prompted the legislation.

We decided to explore Johnson’s larger point about what lawmakers said before this year about releasing Epstein records or investigating the case. We focused on Democrats; Massie is a conservative maverick who has clashed with Trump.

Democratic lawmakers began to seek records about Epstein after the Miami Herald’s late 2018 investigation into the case.

Before then, political coverage of the Epstein case was typically framed around the financier’s ties with former President Bill Clinton. His wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, lost the presidential election to Trump in 2016, and her role as a Trump rival kept the Epstein topic alive, especially in conservative media outlets.

Given this framing, Democrats often weren’t asked to comment on the topic, declined to comment, or didn’t raise Epstein as an issue. 

Starting in 2019, but before Epstein’s arrest that year on federal sex trafficking charges, some Democratic lawmakers including Rep. Lois Frankel and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, both of south Florida, launched a yearslong quest to release Epstein records.

The Democrats called for former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, who served as labor secretary during Trump’s first term, to testify about Epstein’s plea deal. They asked the Justice Department to investigate and release records. Democrats later pursued other strategies, including asking a Palm Beach, Florida, judge to release records.

"A full accounting for these heinous crimes is lacking," Wasserman Schultz told PolitiFact in an Aug. 1 written statement. "Those prospects changed when Republicans momentarily joined the call for full disclosure."

RELATED: Trump said Obama and Biden ‘made up’ Epstein files, but neither were in office when FBI investigated

In 2019, some Democrats called for a plea deal investigation

Acosta signed off in 2007 on Epstein’s secret plea deal in which he agreed to plead guilty to state prostitution charges, serve 18 months in county jail and pay monetary damages to his victims. In exchange, the U.S. attorney’s office agreed to forgo federal prosecution. Epstein entered his guilty plea in 2008.

The Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility investigated Acotsta’s role and in November 2020 released a summary that said he showed "poor judgment."

Spring 2019: Focus on Acosta’s role 

Before Epstein’s July 2019 arrest on federal charges, Frankel and Wasserman Schultz called on the Justice Department to make public Acosta’s role in the plea deal. 

Frankel submitted a list of questions for Acosta, including whether any politicians lobbied prosecutors on Epstein’s behalf.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., joined the effort, sending a separate letter to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility asking to make its records public.

Summer 2019: Focus on how past investigations were handled 

U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., invited Acosta to testify before the House oversight committee, which Cummings chaired. A few days later, on July 12, Acosta announced he resigned as labor secretary, after Democratic leaders and presidential candidates called for him to do so.

On the day Acosta resigned, Khanna said Acosta should testify before the House oversight committee, and later that month Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was among the Democrats who called on the Justice Department to make public the results of its review of Acosta’s handling of the Epstein case.

Also in July, the congressional Democratic Women's Caucus requested that the House Oversight and Reform Committee open an investigation into how the Palm Beach, Florida, Sheriff’s Office handled the Epstein investigation. 

Days after Epstein’s August 2019 death in a Manhattan jail cell, Khanna posted his support for an investigation into the death, writing, "There are too many unanswered questions, and far too many who deserve closure, to leave this case unexamined." Khanna attached to his post a link to a Daily Beast article that said bipartisan lawmakers sent a letter to the FBI demanding answers about Epstein’s suicide.

Democrats continued their push for a plea deal investigation, writing multiple letters, including one to Trump’s then-Attorney General Bill Barr and another to the House judiciary and oversight committees.

Democrats, along with some Republicans, proposed legislation to prevent prosecutors from striking secret plea deals, and Democrats also sought records about the Epstein case from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

2020 to 2024: Focus on records 

Democrats tried other tactics to obtain records, such as requesting them from a Palm Beach judge — a strategy spearheaded by the Palm Beach Post that can take years to succeed. 

Some records emerged from civil lawsuits and the federal prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted for her role in a scheme with Epstein to sexually exploit and abuse multiple minor girls.

When Maxwell was charged in 2020, Democrats continued to push for transparency. 

Frankel told PolitiFact in an Aug. 1 interview that the House oversight committee wanted to hold a hearing at which they would hear from Epstein victims, their lawyers and prosecutors. They wanted to subpoena the prosecutors to ask them under oath "why they gave this guy a slap on the wrist, who pressured them?" Frankel said.

However, "We were told by the Justice Department to cut it off" because it could compromise the Maxwell investigation, Frankel told PolitiFact.

After Biden took office in 2021, Democrats appeared to dial back their public calls for Epstein records’ release.

"Pushes for oversight and record releases were at times tempered by a need to respect both the victims’ pursuit of justice in courts and their fears of reprisals," Wasserman Schultz told PolitiFact. "As disclosures were denied or delayed, we did what lawmakers do and legislated to protect future victims."

In February 2024, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed a bill to allow the release of Epstein 2006 grand jury testimony after a similar effort failed in previous state legislative sessions. Frankel praised the legislation.

A Palm Beach judge released records in July 2024, which showed prosecutors had heard testimony about how Epstein sexually assaulted two teenage girls before they gave Epstein a plea deal. Frankel again repeated her push for an explanation.

In September 2024, Wasserman Schultz along with Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah., introduced a bill, similar to earlier proposals, to require prosecutors to inform victims of such plea deals. The bill did not receive a vote.

News Researcher Caryn Baird and Chief Correspondent Louis Jacobson contributed to this report.

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