In a stunning political reversal, President Donald Trump signaled openness Wednesday to congressional public hearings with Jeffrey Epstein survivors, even as First Lady Melania Trump defended her statements denying ties to Epstein and Democrats pushed for both Trumps to testify under oath in an expanding House Oversight probe.
The developments mark a dramatic shift in the White House’s approach to the Epstein scandal, coming months after the Senate unanimously passed House-backed legislation forcing the Justice Department to release Epstein case files. The Epstein Files Transparency Act reached the floor after a discharge petition secured 218 signatures in the 435-member House, overcoming fierce Republican leadership resistance.
The political firestorm reignited in February when Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, revealed that the Justice Department had withheld notes and memos from FBI interviews with survivors, including a woman who accused President Trump of sexual assault when she was a minor.
“Oversight Democrats can confirm that the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes,” Garcia said in a statement. “Oversight Democrats will open a parallel investigation into this.”
The allegations have created unprecedented pressure on the Trump administration, with Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries accusing the White House of attempting to suppress damaging documents. An NPR investigation found that more than 50 pages of notes reflecting FBI interviews with the unnamed accuser were excluded from the Justice Department’s public database.
The missing documents represent just a fraction of millions of pages still under review. According to NPR, handwritten notes from at least four FBI interviews with the survivor were completely omitted from the online disclosures. The FBI interviewed the accuser four times, but only the first interview—which did not mention Trump—was released publicly.
While President Trump has repeatedly claimed the released Epstein files have “totally exonerated” him, the absence of key Trump-related documents has drawn fierce criticism from legal experts and Democrats alike. Trump’s name appears in the files over a thousand times, though supporters argue frequency alone proves nothing.
The political calculus shifted dramatically last year when Representatives Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, and Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act in July 2025. The bipartisan effort gained momentum in September when Massie filed a discharge petition. All House Democrats and four Republicans—Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace, and Massie—eventually signed.
When Democrat Adelita Grijalva of Arizona was sworn into office on November 12, 2025, after a contentious 50-day delay, she immediately signed the petition, providing the critical 218th signature. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana then expedited the vote, which passed 427-1 on November 18. The Senate passed the bill via unanimous consent, and Trump signed it into law the next day.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, has shown mixed signals about the investigation. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority. When asked about the Epstein bill before passage, Thune expressed confidence in the process, saying he trusted officials “in terms of having the confidence that they’ll get as much information out there as possible in a way that protects the rights of the victims.”
First Lady Melania Trump entered the fray last week, delivering a surprise statement from the White House denying ties to Epstein. “I have never been friends with Epstein,” she declared, calling on Congress to provide survivors a public hearing to testify under oath. Released files had shown a friendly email exchange between Melania Trump and Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, which the First Lady dismissed as “casual correspondence.”
President Trump said Wednesday he supports his wife’s call for survivor hearings. “I’m OK with it,” he told reporters. House Oversight Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, committed on Fox News to holding the hearings, saying, “I agree with the first lady. We will have hearings.”
The controversy has created unusual political dynamics on Capitol Hill. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who did not sign the original discharge petition, announced he would support the bill on the floor—becoming one of the first Republicans to confirm he would side with Democrats. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer had downplayed the significance before the vote, but it passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.
Democrats continue pressing to expand the investigation beyond document releases. Garcia and his Oversight Committee colleagues seek answers about why the Justice Department allegedly withheld critical FBI interview materials, though their minority status limits their subpoena power.
The legislation mandates that the Justice Department release all files and communications related to Epstein and the investigation into his death in federal prison. While information about victims and ongoing investigations can be redacted, the bill specifically prohibits redactions based on “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity” to government officials, public figures, or foreign dignitaries.
Trump’s willingness to allow public survivor hearings—after months of calling the scandal a “hoax”—represents either a calculated political move or genuine support for transparency. Survivors remain divided on testifying, with some calling the proposal meaningful and others questioning whether Congress will actually act.