The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is under renewed fire after revelations that it never returned donations from Jeffrey Epstein.
Evidence has emerged showing that the DNC failed to return the money even as the late financier’s sex-trafficking case files continue to rock Washington.
Epstein had funneled donations to the DNC for decades before he died.
However, the DNC refused to send back the cash, even after Epstein was jailed for child sex crimes.
Campaign finance records show the DNC accepted $32,000 from Epstein in the mid-1990s.
Unlike other Democrats and political groups who later moved to donate or return their Epstein-linked money, the committee kept the funds.
The renewed scrutiny comes as the DNC has leaned heavily into Epstein-related attacks against President Donald Trump.
The DNC has launched a social media account seeking to connect Trump to Epstein and has even been driving a mobile billboard past the White House.
DNC Chairman Ken Martin accused Trump of covering for Epstein, whom the Democrat leader called a “notorious sexual predator.”
The revelation has led to increased pressure for the party to reconsider keeping Epstein’s donations.
In a statement, however, a DNC spokesperson dismissed the concerns and attempted to shift the narrative back to Trump, saying:
“Instead of trying to blow the cobwebs off of decades-old contributions and defunct campaign accounts, Donald Trump should release the Epstein files.”
Republicans quickly pointed to the hypocrisy.
Scrutiny over donations tied to controversial figures is standard practice in politics.
The Republican National Committee (RNC), for example, faced calls to return $1.4 million linked to its former finance chair Steve Wynn after he stepped down in 2018 amid multiple sexual misconduct allegations.
The DNC also accepted more than $90,000 from billionaire hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, a longtime associate of Epstein who faced accusations from Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
Giuffre accused Prince Andrew of raping her on three separate occasions while she was a teenager and became one of Epstein’s most prominent victims.
She was found dead early this year.
Dubin was never charged, but Epstein invested millions in his hedge fund.
Epstein’s money reached across party lines, including to President George H.W. Bush.
However, the overwhelming majority of his political giving favored Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
Schumer received thousands in Epstein donations during the 1990s.
In 2019, after Epstein’s federal indictment, Schumer announced he would donate an equal amount to anti-trafficking and women’s advocacy organizations.
Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI), who initially resisted, ultimately disavowed Epstein’s contributions by redirecting them to women’s groups in her district.
The DCCC, meanwhile, received a $10,000 check from Epstein in 2018 but quickly refunded the money, saying the donation was unsolicited.
The DNC, however, never acted.
Former DNC Chair Don Fowler brushed off concerns in 2019, telling CNBC:
“Go back and give money that he gave 20 years ago? Are you nuts?”
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution.
He was later arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019.
Epstein died in jail that year in what authorities ruled a suicide.
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