Democrats are attacking Republicans’ handling of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and are hatching a strategy around the saga to hurt the GOP‘s re-election chances.

As Republican lawmakers toil over how to handle the late sex offender’s files, which are expected to include mention of high-profile American figures, possibly including President Donald Trump, Democrats see the scandal as a chink in the right’s armor.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries leaned into Republicans’ reluctance to release the files as emblematic of their instinct to ‘protect the lifestyles of the rich and shameless, even if that includes pedophiles.’  

A more challenging piece of Democrats’ strategy is to tie the Epstein controversy to the recent ‘Big, Beautiful Bill,’ a sweeping, $3.4 trillion piece of legislation that Republicans passed earlier this month. 

Democrats argue that the tax breaks and reforms to Medicaid and food stamps will strip cash from the lower and middle classes and transfer it to the richest Americans. They say the law will make tens of millions pay more for healthcare and that veterans, kids and seniors will go hungry.

Epstein, a former New York billionaire financier, is the type of person Trump and Republicans are hellbent on protecting, the Democrats claimed. 

They hope it will be a winning message to turn voters against Republicans in the midterms because they’re choosing to protect the powerful. 

‘The reality is that it’s all connected,’ Jeffries said of the Epstein scandal and Trump’s domestic policy agenda. ‘And what billionaires, what well connected donors, what elite people are they trying to protect?’

‘Republicans are focused on their billionaire donors,’ the Democrat continued. ‘That was the centerpiece of the one big, ugly bill, and it’s what explains Republican refusal to release the Epstein trials.’

The second most powerful House Democrat, Whip Katherine Clark, similarly said Wednesday morning that the Republican base’s concerns over the Epstein files could lead them away from the party.

‘The Epstein case has helped their own base see what’s going on, that this is a con job that they were never the center of the work that they are going to do here,’ she said. ‘If you don’t already have a lot of wealth and power, you are not getting any attention from this Republican Party.’

The House will break for August recess on Wednesday afternoon to head back to their districts for over a month.

While on the road, Republicans will tout the Trump-backed bill. So will Democrats, but they are going to focus how the bill benefits billionaires like the late Epstein. 

If the scandal is not handled properly, and the files are not released, the GOP will faces consequences in the 2026 midterms, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina warned this week. 

‘So I think the files should be released. Let the light of day, let the sun shine through. And that’s the best way to get past it,’ Tillis, who is not running for re-election, said.

‘This is going to be an issue all the way through next year’s election,’ he added. 

Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, the third most powerful House Democrat, cut against others in his party, downplaying the need for a strategy on the Epstein files because ‘everybody knows that it’s real.’ 

‘We don’t need a strategic vision for it, because the American people can just turn the TV on and see how the White House and Republicans continue to protect the rich and powerful,’ he told the Daily Mail. 

‘I think it would surprise people like, how much folks are paying attention,’ Aguilar added. 

Aguilar’s comments demonstrate that some rank-and-file Democrats may not take Jeffries’ marching orders on linking Epstein to the Big Beautiful Bill. 

Republicans, meanwhile, have also been calling for transparency on the files, though their push to release all the Epstein-linked files contrasts with the White House calling for a selective release. 

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., called the push to force release of the files a ‘non-issue’ during an Axios event Wednesday

‘If it was so important, then why weren’t Democrats clamoring for this for the four years under Biden?,’ Emmer asked.

But that view is out of step with a fleet of Republican House members who are pushing for more transparency about who participated in Epstein’s trafficking of underage girls.

The difference has caused friction in the House. Speaker Mike Johnson shortened the workweek to shield some GOP members from having to vote against the release of the financier’s files.

Democrats had repeatedly pushed amendments to pending legislation that would force the Department of Justice to release all Epstein files within 30 days. 

Breaking for recess early gives Trump, Johnson and Republicans more time to plan their own Epstein strategy. 

But come September, a bipartisan bill on forcing the DOJ to release the files will likely be ready for a vote – so the clock is ticking.