U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed on Friday that having a “rapist” president in office has muddied the Justice Department’s handling of matters involving deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Wow who would have thought that electing a rapist would have complicated the release of the Epstein Files?” the New York representative asked on X.
In 2023, Trump was found liable for sexually abusing columnist E. Jean Carroll, but was not found liable for rape and wasn’t charged with a criminal offense. As many Trump supporters noted on the congresswoman’s post, ABC News was sued last year when anchor George Stephanopoulos used similar verbiage to characterize the president’s alleged actions.
Ocasio-Cortez has summarized Trump as a “rapist and criminal” at rallies as well. While the president was convicted in a cover-up conspiracy to defraud the voting public, those crimes were not sexual in nature.
Trump has come under fire from his own supporters this week after Justice Department officials he appointed stated that Epstein kept no “client list” linking celebrities and public officials to his alleged sex trafficking activities.
Many of Trump’s followers insist otherwise. Some have questioned whether Trump — once an Epstein party pal — might have been one of the disgraced financier’s alleged customers. No evidence has been offered to support that conspiracy theory.
MAGA loyalists also expressed disappointment in FBI leaders Kash Patel and Dan Bongino for confirming in May that Epstein committed suicide in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in 2019 rather than being assassinated by a “deep state” protecting powerful pedophiles, as many internet sleuths have suggested.
Reports on Friday signaled that Bongino is ready to leave the FBI if Attorney General Pam Bondi keeps her job at the DOJ after refusing to release any more information about the Epstein case.
The president added fuel to that fire when he became upset with a reporter who mentioned Epstein at a Tuesday Cabinet meeting.
“Are people still talking about this guy?” Trump fumed. “That is unbelievable.”
Originally Published: July 11, 2025 at 5:42 PM EDT
