'Outright corruption': Dem whip Katherine Clark accuses Trump of bid to keep Epstein files sealed
WASHINGTON, DC: House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark accused President Donald Trump of “outright corruption” and personally working to block the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The Massachusetts Democrat let loose during an interview with MSNBC’s Simone Sanders-Townsend, alleging Trump is trying to bury the truth about Epstein’s network and protect himself from the fallout.
“What we are seeing is outright corruption,” Clark said. “We are seeing a president who is doing everything, including today calling Republican members of Congress who signed on to the discharge petition, trying to get them to either vote no or get their names off…”
Katherine Clark says Trump is pulling strings to keep Epstein files hidden
According to Clark, Trump allegedly picked up the phone himself. The Democratic Whip claimed he was personally intervening to pressure Republicans into backing off a petition that would force the files’ release.
Clark claimed the documents should’ve been made public long ago, but House Speaker Mike Johnson only relented after being cornered. “[Speaker Johnson] has now said that we will do it, because we forced him to with the discharge petition, next week…” she said.
Clark claimed Trump’s political survival may depend on keeping certain details under wraps. “It just all begs the question of when you make a campaign promise, what is in those files that is so dangerous to this president that he is going to these lengths to try and cover it up?” she asked.
Clark pledged that her party won’t let the matter die quietly if they regain control of the House. “We are going to use when we win the majority next year those gavels, our chairmanship and our majority on the oversight committee, on the judiciary committee, to get accountability and to be a check on the corruption that we are seeing in broad daylight,” she said.
Clark promised to "do whatever it takes to get justice for the survivors and victims of Jeffrey Epstein and to get to the bottom of what are in those files.”
The Epstein emails that set Washington ablaze
Clark’s remarks come on the heels of a limited document dump by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. Among the 23,000 Epstein-related documents turned over by his estate, Democrats selectively unveiled a few key emails that seem to tie Trump closer to Epstein than he’s ever admitted.
One 2011 email from Epstein to his longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell saw the former describing Trump as the “dog that hasn’t barked” and claimed that one of his victims “spent hours at my house with him.”
In a 2019 email from Epstein to author Michael Wolff, the late offender wrote, “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop."
Democrats say these communications directly contradict Trump’s repeated claims that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activities.
White House fires back at Democratic smear campaign
The backlash was instant. Republicans and Trump allies slammed Clark and her fellow Democrats for what they called a smear campaign.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Democrats of "selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump." She also pointed out that the woman mentioned in the 2011 email was Virginia Giuffre, who has “repeatedly stated that Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing.”
Meanwhile, Republicans on the Oversight Committee countered by dropping over 20,000 documents from Epstein’s estate in one go. Their statement accused Democrats of “cherry picking" emails “to generate clickbait” and stir up a scandal ahead of election season.
