A CNN panel painted a grim picture Tuesday for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party headed into the 2026 midterm elections as evidence mounts against the president regarding his past ties with Jeffrey Epstein, new details of which were revealed Monday by a House Committee.
“This is the story that will not go away and it is driving them nuts!” said Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha, a former union organizer and campaign advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT).
“Every day that we're not talking about immigration, law enforcement and all the things that Trump wants to talk about, is losing. And it's his own fault because, as a political consultant, we all remembered we covered this: how the right is just rampant over this issue because they fed this machine, and now this machine wants something in return, and they're like 'not our Donald!'”
New details of Trump and Epstein’s relationship were revealed Monday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee after having issued a subpoena to the Justice Department, compelling the agency to release more files that it holds on Epstein, who died in 2019 awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges and is alleged to have run a blackmail operation targeting powerful figures.
Such details include a copy of the letter Trump allegedly sent Epstein for his 50th birthday, in which the president supposedly writes to the disgraced financier “may every day be another wonderful secret.” Another new revelation is that Epstein once joked about selling a “fully depreciated” woman to Trump for $22,500.
Trump has called the birthday letter a hoax and denied any wrongdoing as it relates to his history with Epstein. Participants on the CNN panel Tuesday, however, noted that Trump’s persistent denials were only digging him a deeper whole.
“The more he denies it – if he really did do it – the longer the story is going to last,” said Ashley David, a former White House official under President George W. Bush.
Susan Page, political commentator, journalist and author, came to the same conclusion that Trump and the White House were only making things worse with their outright denials.
“The White House has been, I think, stunned by the inability to put the Epstein issue behind them, and it just keeps getting bigger,” Page said. “[It’s adding] more fuel to the fire.”
Trump’s ties to Epstein go much further than the details revealed Monday. Trump once called Epstein a “terrific guy” who “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
It’s the trove of evidence that suggests the two enjoyed more than a passing relationship, Rocha argued, that could even create a major liability for Trump and the GOP in the upcoming midterm elections.
“Midterm elections are not presidential elections, not everybody votes, and it's motivation; he needs his base to show up in a big way to win back Congress for the Republicans,” Rocha said.
“There's people on the right – I'm not saying they'll vote Democrat, I'm just saying that there's enough people that could be frustrated by this because they fed this machine that they could be aggravated enough to stay home.”
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