The Democratic National Committee, starting Friday, is launching a new digital ad campaign targeting online right-wing audiences with the demand that Congress release the Epstein files.
Two ads will run before videos on right-wing YouTube and Meta accounts such as those belonging to Fox News and conservative commentators, Axios first reported. The ads will run for five days in several districts held by House Republicans up for reelection next year.
One of the ads, confirmed by the Washington Examiner, features Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) saying her office has received many phone calls about the late Jeffrey Epstein. “Call your representative. Demand they release the Epstein files,” that ad reads.
The other ad shows President Donald Trump conversing with Epstein at a party in 1992. The pair were once friends, but they had a falling out over a real estate dispute in 2004. There is no credible evidence implicating Trump in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. The president is currently suing the Wall Street Journal over what he claims is a “fake” letter between himself and Epstein that the newspaper printed.
The Democratic Party hopes to capitalize on the frustration that Trump supporters may be feeling after the House left for its summer recess before lawmakers could hold a vote on releasing more files concerning Epstein and his clientele.
“Democrats are going to continue to hold the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress accountable for their failure to release the Epstein files and the cover-up that we are witnessing in real time,” DNC Senior Advisor for Messaging, Mobilization, and Strategy Tim Hogan said in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner.
“The American people deserve full transparency, and Donald Trump and his sycophantic enablers are twisting themselves in knots trying to distort the truth.”
The five-figure ad campaign targets a dozen House Republicans running in the 2026 midterm elections: Reps. Tom Barrett (MI), Gabe Evans (CO), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Ashley Hinson (IA), Young Kim (CA), Mike Lawler (NY), Zach Nunn (IA), Andy Ogles (TN), Chip Roy (TX), Bryan Steil (WI), Derrick Van Orden (WI), and Virginia Foxx (NC). Most of the lawmakers are considered vulnerable.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sent members of the House back home early after votes on Wednesday. Recess was initially supposed to start on Friday. Lawmakers won’t return until Sept. 2.
Johnson’s move delayed a vote on legislation requiring the Trump administration to release more Epstein files. There are two different resolutions to achieve that end, but only one of them is legally binding. The binding resolution is led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA).
Earlier this month, the Trump administration drew outrage from both its supporters and opponents when the Department of Justice concluded there was no evidence that Epstein possessed a “client list” and ruled the financier’s death a suicide instead of a homicide.
Attempting to remediate the situation, the DOJ asked federal judges to unseal the grand jury transcripts from the prosecutions of Epstein and his right-hand woman, Ghislaine Maxwell. That request has so far been rejected by the courts.
GHISLAINE MAXWELL HAD ‘PRODUCTIVE DAY’ IN DOJ MEETING ON EPSTEIN CASE, LAWYER SAYS
Maxwell is set to testify next month after the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena. She met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, answering questions for six hours on Thursday. A second meeting is expected on Friday.
Maxwell is currently imprisoned in Florida after a Manhattan grand jury in 2021 found her guilty of sexually exploiting and abusing female minors. Epstein died in a Manhattan prison, where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.