Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Epstein, the Midterms and the Politics of Accountability (Part 1) (10/20/26)

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Epstein, the Midterms and the Politics of Accountability (Part 1) (10/20/26) · The Epstein Chronicles

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. We are now in the home stretch of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the 2026 midterm elections, and Jeffrey Epstein is no longer
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: hovering at the edge of the political conversation like some
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: ghost Washington can pretend not to see. His name is
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: in the ads, in the debates, in the donor attacks,
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  Speaker 1: in the arguments over congressional votes, and in the larger
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  Speaker 1: accusation that powerful people still live under a different set
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: of rules and This is no longer merely an argument
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  Speaker 1: about a dead predator or a criminal case whose ugliest
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  Speaker 1: chapters stretch back decades. It's become an argument about who
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  Speaker 1: protected the system, who resisted transparency, who suddenly discovered courage
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  Speaker 1: when the polling changed, and who's willing to use survivors
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: as campaign ammunition while promising accountability later. CNN has found,
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  Speaker 1: More than 160 distinct Epstein-related midterm advertisements, backed by more
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: than $ 35 million in airtime by early October. A staggering
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  Speaker 1: leap from the handful that appeared during the 2024 election.
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  Speaker 1: That money is not being burned for charity, and campaign
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: professionals are not flooding battleground states with Epstein messaging because
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  Speaker 1: they believe voters do not care. And that's because that
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  Speaker 1: name has become political shorthand for elite, Impunity, secret deals,
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  Speaker 1: institutional cowardice, and the suspicion that ordinary Americans are routinely
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: told to shut up while the connected are ushered through
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  Speaker 1: the side door. The scandal is especially dangerous in close
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  Speaker 1: races because it does not need to become the number
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  Speaker 1: one issue to become the issue that breaks a tie
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  Speaker 1: in the mind of undecided voters. Candidates who already have
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  Speaker 1: problems with trust, donors, party obedience, or establishment baggage are
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: finding that Epstein can act like gasoline poured onto a
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  Speaker 1: fire that was already burning. And when the talking is
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  Speaker 1: finally over and the votes are counted, every politician who
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  Speaker 1: wrote into office on the backs of survivors is going
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  Speaker 1: to discover that the bill for all this rhetoric has
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: come due. The political force of the Epstein issue comes
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: from the fact that it can be attached to almost
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: every grievance voters already carry about Washington. People who are
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: furious about corruption See Epstein and remember how many institutions
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  Speaker 1: failed before and after his 2019 arrest. People who distrust
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  Speaker 1: the Justice Department see years of secrecy, selective disclosure, redactions,
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  Speaker 1: legal maneuvering, and explanations that never seem to settle anything.
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  Speaker 1: People that hate billionaire politics see a man who moved
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  Speaker 1: through the worlds of finance, academia, royalty, philanthropy, and government
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  Speaker 1: while surrounding himself with powerful people. People who care about
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  Speaker 1: sexual abuse see survivors who spent years trying to force
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  Speaker 1: institutions to acknowledge what happened while the powerful argued over jurisdiction, reputation,
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  Speaker 1: and liability. And let us not forget that Republicans helped
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  Speaker 1: build enormous expectations around disclosure during the 2024 campaign, and
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Democrats have spent 2026 weaponizing the frustration that followed when
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  Speaker 1: transparency became slower and messier than many voters expected. CNN's
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  Speaker 1: October analysis found that Democrats or Democratic-aligned groups were responsible
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  Speaker 1: for the overwhelming majority of Epstein-related midterm advertising. But Republican
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  Speaker 1: candidates have shown that they are perfectly willing to throw
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  Speaker 1: the same grenade when an opponent's donors or associates provide
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  Speaker 1: an opening. Epstein's social and financial world crossed ideological lines,
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  Speaker 1: and the institutional failures surrounding them accumulated under officials and
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  Speaker 1: institutions of both parties. The politicians, who pretend otherwise, may
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  Speaker 1: win an applause line, but anybody who's actually followed the
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  Speaker 1: case knows the truth, is far uglier and way more bipartisan. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Ohio may be the clearest battlefield where the Epstein story
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  Speaker 1: has become part of a sustained Senate war rather than
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  Speaker 1: a passing campaign gimmick. Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Senator
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  Speaker 1: John Husted have both tried to tie the other side
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  Speaker 1: to people whose names appear in the Epstein record, while
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  Speaker 1: Brown has placed particular emphasis on Husted's long political relationship
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  Speaker 1: with Leslie Wexner, and Wexner's own history with Epstein is
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  Speaker 1: not some invented campaign connection, because Epstein managed Wexner's money,
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  Speaker 1: possessed sweeping authority over his affairs, and rose socially in
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  Speaker 1: part through that relationship before the two men split. Brown's
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  Speaker 1: campaign has used Wexner-related political contributions and Husted's earlier votes
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  Speaker 1: on disclosure to argue that Ohio voters are looking at
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  Speaker 1: the same old architecture of money, access, and political protection.
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  Speaker 1: Husted is fired back by pointing to donors around Brown,
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  Speaker 1: whose name also appear in the Epstein-related records, and by
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  Speaker 1: emphasizing that he ultimately supported the legislation requiring release of
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  Speaker 1: the files. And Ohio remains combustible because the race is close.
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  Speaker 1: The advertising war is enormous, and the Wexner connection gives
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  Speaker 1: the Epstein argument a distinctly Ohio dimension that does not
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  Speaker 1: have to be imported from somewhere else. Every time one
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  Speaker 1: side screams about the other's donors, the public is reminded
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  Speaker 1: that this network was not populated by drifters and nobodies,
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  Speaker 1: but by people with extraordinary wealth and access. Whoever wins
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  Speaker 1: this race will not be allowed to claim afterward that
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  Speaker 1: Epstein was only campaign chatter. Because both sides have helped
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  Speaker 1: make accountability part of the contract they are asking the
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  Speaker 1: Ohio voters to sign. And Alaska offers another example of
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  Speaker 1: how quickly the Epstein issue can move from procedural dispute
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  Speaker 1: into a full-scale attack on a candidate's integrity. Democrat Mary
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  Speaker 1: Peltola has hammered Republican Senator Dan Sullivan over his vote
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  Speaker 1: against considering an earlier amendment that would have forced the
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  Speaker 1: release of Epstein records. Her campaign has betrayed Sullivan as
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  Speaker 1: a man who helped keep the files hidden, while fact-checkers
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  Speaker 1: have noted that he later supported the standalone disclosure bill
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  Speaker 1: along with the rest of the Senate. Peltola's advertising has
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  Speaker 1: also highlighted donors to Sullivan, whose name surfaced, in the
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  Speaker 1: Epstein-related material, again inviting voters to connect campaign money with
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  Speaker 1: a much larger story about elite networks. Sullivan has responded
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  Speaker 1: by pointing to people connected to Peltola's own fundraising universe,
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  Speaker 1: proving once again that once the Epstein door opens, nobody
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  Speaker 1: gets to control who walks through it. The accusations have
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  Speaker 1: reached the debate stage, which tells us the campaigns believe
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  Speaker 1: the subject has enough resonance to deserve precious time in
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  Speaker 1: front of undecided voters. Alaska's especially important because outside money
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  Speaker 1: is poured into the race, and the contest is close
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  Speaker 1: enough that a relatively small movement in public opinion could matter.
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  Speaker 1: The real question for voters is not whether every ad
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  Speaker 1: is perfectly phrased, because some plainly are not. The question
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  Speaker 1: is whether Sullivan and Peltola are prepared to apply the
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  Speaker 1: same standard of transparency to allies, donors, and institutions on
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  Speaker 1: their own side that they apply to the opponent. If
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  Speaker 1: either one wins after spending months invoking Epstein and then
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  Speaker 1: suddenly loses interest in disclosure, Alaska voters will have every
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  Speaker 1: right to call the entire performance what it was. And
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  Speaker 1: that brings us to the race in Iowa. Because it's
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  Speaker 1: produced perhaps the most revealing evidence of how radioactive an
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  Speaker 1: Epstein accusation can become in the final weeks of a
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  Speaker 1: Senate campaign. Democratic State Representative Josh Turek and Democratic-aligned groups
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  Speaker 1: have targeted Republican Representative Ashley Hinson over procedural votes connected
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  Speaker 1: to the release of the files, and over donations from
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  Speaker 1: people whose names appear in the public record. PolitiFact found
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  Speaker 1: that some of the advertising went too far, because Hinson
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  Speaker 1: opposed earlier procedural votes, but later voted for the bipartisan
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  Speaker 1: Epstein-Files Transparency Act when it reached the House floor. She
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  Speaker 1: answered in a campaign advertisement by saying she had to
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  Speaker 1: explain to her children that she did not protect pedophiles.
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  Speaker 1: Think about how far this story has traveled when a
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  Speaker 1: United States Senate candidate believes the necessary response to an
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  Speaker 1: opponent's ad is to look into a camera and say that.
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  Speaker 1: It's not evidence that the accusation was fair, but it's
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  Speaker 1: overwhelming evidence that the accusation was politically dangerous. Iowa is
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  Speaker 1: a knife fight of a race, and no campaign gives
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  Speaker 1: away late-stage airtime to an issue it believes voters have
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  Speaker 1: already dismissed. Turek now owns the responsibility that comes with
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  Speaker 1: making Epstein transparency part of his case against Hinson. just
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  Speaker 1: as Hinson owns a responsibility that comes with defending her
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  Speaker 1: eventual vote for release. Whichever candidate goes to Washington will
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  Speaker 1: have no excuse for treating the files, the survivors, or
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  Speaker 1: future oversights as yesterday's news once the election is safely
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  Speaker 1: behind them. And that brings us to Maine. And Maine
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  Speaker 1: may be where the difference between a technically misleading advertisement
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  Speaker 1: and a politically devastating impression is easiest to see. Democratic-aligned
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  Speaker 1: groups have accused Republican Senator Susan Collins of voting to
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  Speaker 1: cover up the Epstein files and have tried to connect
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  Speaker 1: money supporting her to a wealthy donor portrayed as Epstein's
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  Speaker 1: business partner. However, FactCheck.org found serious problems with those claims,
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  Speaker 1: noting that Collins opposed attaching an Epstein amendment to an
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  Speaker 1: unrelated defense measure, but later supported the stand-alone disclosure legislation.
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  Speaker 1: The supposed business partner description was also stretched beyond what
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  Speaker 1: the available evidence supported because the donor had reportedly belonged
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  Speaker 1: to a private club Epstein also helped found but denied
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  Speaker 1: having a relationship with him. Yet the reason the attack
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  Speaker 1: can still wound Collins is that her entire political brand
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  Speaker 1: rests on the idea that she's independent, careful, and willing
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  Speaker 1: to resist her party when principles demand it. Her opponent,
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  Speaker 1: Troy Jackson, does not need voters to believe Collins personally
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  Speaker 1: protected Epstein in order to make the larger charge hurt.
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  Speaker 1: He only needs enough swing votes to wonder why another
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  Speaker 1: supposedly independent senator was not out in the front demanding
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  Speaker 1: maximum transparency from the beginning. Now Collins, well, she'll probably
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  Speaker 1: answer that she supported preservation, disclosure, and the final bill.
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  Speaker 1: And it's up to the voters who are entitled to
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  Speaker 1: weigh that defense fairly. But if she survives the race,
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  Speaker 1: after Epstein has been used against her for months, she
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  Speaker 1: too will emerge, owing the public something more substantial than
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  Speaker 1: another statement about how much she cares about transparency. Another
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  Speaker 1: race worth watching is in Nebraska, where the words Epstein
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  Speaker 1: class most clearly capture the deeper anger underneath all of this.
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  Speaker 1: Independent Dan Osborne has built his campaign around a broad
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  Speaker 1: attack on billionaire power, entrenched political interest, and a system
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  Speaker 1: he says is rigged for people at the top. Republican
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  Speaker 1: Senator Pete Ricketts himself, a member of one of the
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  Speaker 1: wealthiest political families in the country, has answered by attacking
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  Speaker 1: Osborne over fundraising ties to Democratic operative Dana Chasen, whose
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  Speaker 1: name appeared in released Epstein-related material. According to the New
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: York Times, multiple Ricketts advertisements built around that connection, while
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  Speaker 1: Osborne has attacked Ricketts over an earlier vote against an
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  Speaker 1: effort to release the files. The beauty and the ugliness
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  Speaker 1: of this issue are sitting right there in the same race.
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  Speaker 1: Osborne can invoke Epstein as the ultimate symbol of elite
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  Speaker 1: protection racket, and Ricketts can turn around and argue that
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  Speaker 1: the supposed outsider has taken money from the same connected
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  Speaker 1: world he condemns. Nebraska voters are therefore being asked to
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  Speaker 1: decide not merely which allegation sounds worse, but which candidate's
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  Speaker 1: entire political identity survives contact with the evidence. The race
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  Speaker 1: has become competitive enough that Republican groups are pouring millions
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  Speaker 1: of dollars into a state they would normally expect to
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  Speaker 1: hold comfortably. That makes every hypocrisy argument more dangerous, because
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: the margin for political error is suddenly very small. Whoever
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  Speaker 1: wins Nebraska should remember every syllable uttered about Epstein. because
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  Speaker 1: the public will have a perfect right to demand that
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  Speaker 1: the winner bring the same fury and oversight that he
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  Speaker 1: brought to the campaign trail. The race in Georgia shows
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: how the Epstein story can become part of a larger
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  Speaker 1: corruption argument, even when it's not the dominant subject of
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  Speaker 1: the race. Democratic Senator John Ossoff has attacked Republican Representative
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  Speaker 1: Mike Collins over earlier votes connected to disclosure and has
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  Speaker 1: used campaign advertising to portray Collins as part of the
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  Speaker 1: political resistance to transparency. Collins later supported the final disclosure legislation,
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  Speaker 1: which complicates any simplistic claim that he opposed releasing the
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  Speaker 1: files outright. Collins has also gone after Ossoff through the
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  Speaker 1: donor route, pointing to Reid Hoffman and other wealthy Democratic
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  Speaker 1: figures whose relationship with Epstein have drawn scrutiny. If he's
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  Speaker 1: going to use Epstein as evidence against Collins, he has
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  Speaker 1: to accept equally rigorous scrutiny of the money and powerful
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  Speaker 1: people around his own coalition. Collins faces the same standard
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  Speaker 1: because voting for transparency after earlier resistance does not magically
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  Speaker 1: erase legitimate questions about why the pressure had to become
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  Speaker 1: so intense before Congress acted. The Georgia race is not
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  Speaker 1: being decided on Epstein alone, and current reporting shows that
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  Speaker 1: other issues such as healthcare, war, prices, abortion, and Trump
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  Speaker 1: are consuming enormous attention. But an election does not require
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  Speaker 1: one issue to monopolize the ballot in order for the
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  Speaker 1: issue to alter the verdict on a candidate's character. Whoever
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  Speaker 1: takes Georgia's Senate seat will inherit every promise about transparency
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  Speaker 1: that was made while trying to win it. Another neck-and-neck
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  Speaker 1: battle is down in Colorado's 5th Congressional District, and that
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  Speaker 1: gives the Epstein story something most campaign ads can't manufacture,
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  Speaker 1: which is a direct connection to Virginia Roberts' own family.
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  Speaker 1: Democrat Jessica Killen released an advertisement featuring Roberts' brother, Sky Roberts,
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  Speaker 1: and his wife, Amanda Roberts, both residents of the district.
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  Speaker 1: criticizing Republican Representative Jeff Crank. They attacked Crank over earlier
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  Speaker 1: votes connected to the files and over his failure to
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  Speaker 1: personally meet with them after they sought a conversation about
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  Speaker 1: the issue. Crank has argued that the account is unfair,
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  Speaker 1: that his staff did meet with the family, and he
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  Speaker 1: ultimately voted for the transparency legislation. There's no consultant voiceover
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  Speaker 1: that can replicate the moral force of relatives speaking about
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  Speaker 1: a woman whose allegations helped tear open the Epstein scandal
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  Speaker 1: and expose Prince Andrew to the public accountability. Colorado's fifth
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  Speaker 1: has historically leaned Republican, but the 2026 contest has become
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  Speaker 1: competitive enough that Democrats believe a real upset is possible.
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  Speaker 1: If Killen wins after putting Robert's family at the center
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  Speaker 1: of her closing case, she'll carry an extraordinary obligation into Congress.
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  Speaker 1: She won't be able to salute the family on election
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  Speaker 1: night and then tell them six months later that subpoenas
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  Speaker 1: are inconvenient, hearings are difficult, or leadership has other priorities.
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  Speaker 1: The moment a campaign places survivors and their families in
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  Speaker 1: front of the camera, the moral debt stops being theoretical.
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  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania is where the Epstein message becomes less about one
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  Speaker 1: race and more about a coordinated attempt to crack several
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Republican-held House districts at once. Democratic groups have used the
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  Speaker 1: issue against Republicans, including Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan McKenzie, and Scott Perry,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: while tying it to a wider argument about billionaires' special
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: interests and congressional accountability. In the 7th District, outside Democratic
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: advertising explicitly urged McKenzie to protect Epstein's victims rather than
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  Speaker 1: the people who preyed on him. Survivor Charlene Rochard has
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: also appeared in Pennsylvania swing districts pressing candidates on disclosure
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  Speaker 1: and accountability. Those appearances matter because Pennsylvania could help determine
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: control of the House. And several of these contests are
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: close enough that a comparatively small block of voters could
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: swing the chamber. Republicans could point out, fairly, that the
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: final transparency legislation received overwhelming support and that some Democratic
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: attacks ignored the difference between earlier procedural votes and final passage.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: The Democrats answer that leadership is measured by what politicians
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: do before the outcome becomes inevitable, not by who races
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: to the parade after the band has already started playing.
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  Speaker 1: And I think that argument's going to resonate with voters
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  Speaker 1: who watched Washington resist transparency until public anger became impossible
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  Speaker 1: to ignore. It's also a dangerous argument for Democrats if
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  Speaker 1: they win the House and then begin making excuses for
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: why the next round of oversight can't happen. Pennsylvania's candidates
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  Speaker 1: are not merely campaigning on the Epstein record now because
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  Speaker 1: they're writing the standard by which their own conduct will
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  Speaker 1: be judged in the next Congress. All right, folks, we're
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: going to wrap up episode one right here. And in
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: the next episode, we're going to pick up where we
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: left off. All the information that goes with this episode
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: can be found in the description box.