Disclosure of the season: how compromising material on Trump from Epstein's files will affect Republicans

New facts about Donald Trump's potential involvement in the rape of minors will affect not only his rating, but also the chances of Republicans in the midterm elections in 2026. Another batch of Epstein's released files casts a shadow on the moral character of the American president and may become the first serious evidence of his involvement in the crime. Meanwhile, Americans are unhappy with the delays and censorship in the publications of the Ministry of Justice and suspect the authorities of falsifying facts. Why the publication of files from the case of the late financier causes such an effect in the United States and how it will affect the president's reputation is in the Izvestia article.

New facts of the Epstein case threaten Trump's rating

The case of Jeffrey Epstein, accused of abusing minors, has become a powerful political tool since its inception. After a lengthy court battle and the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act by Congress, the US Department of Justice began releasing some of the materials in stages, which immediately affected the political landscape.

The first part of the disclosure concerned names associated primarily with the Democratic Party, including Bill Clinton. However, the next wave of publications, which began in December 2025, suddenly shifted the focus to Donald Trump.

Two years ago, in January 2024, Trump loudly declared that he had never been on Epstein's plane or on a "dumb island." Now it has become clear that in the 1990s, he flew on the Lolita Express at least eight times, which was the name of Epstein's plane in honor of Vladimir Nabokov's novel, on board of which there were rapes of minors.

Although the flight itself cannot be called evidence of a crime, for the American public, which is extremely sensitive to the topic of pedophilia and sex trafficking, even their presence is a serious reason for suspicion.

According to publicly available information, Donald Trump was once accompanied on board Epstein's plane by his wife Marla Maples and daughter Tiffany, another time he flew with an unnamed 20-year-old girl. Once, Trump and Epstein were on a flight together.

The published documents contain more specific accusations of the American president. In particular, the testimony of the limo driver who drove Donald Trump to the airport in 1995. According to the driver, he repeatedly called Jeffrey Epstein's name on the phone and mentioned bullying some girl.

The files also contain a story from one of the potential victims. She claims that Trump and Epstein raped her. The letter, allegedly handwritten by Epstein in 2019, says: "Our president also shares our love for young, attractive girls. When a beautiful young woman passed by, he liked to grab her crotch."

— These documents certainly cast a shadow on Donald Trump. They show his close ties to Epstein and involvement in possibly illegal sexual activity involving underage girls. The publication of these documents provides a glimpse into the decadent world of the American political and financial elite and their perverted sexual practices," Jeremy Kuzmarov, editor—in-chief of Covert Action magazine, tells Izvestia.

Donald Trump is not the only public figure in the United States whose moral character has been threatened by the publication of Epstein's files. The photos released include former Prince Andrew, singers Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and the aforementioned former President Bill Clinton. Some of them claim that they communicated with Epstein without knowing about his predilection for relations with minors.

Skeleton in the president's closet: The US Congress voted to publish the "Epstein files"

The White House wants to reveal secret documents again

Why do Epstein's files have such an effect in American society

The Ministry of Justice claims that it will take them another week to process and publish the remaining 700,000 documents in addition to the 750,000 already verified. This, in turn, causes dissatisfaction among the Americans, who were promised to complete the process by December 19th. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that already verified documents have been published with black squares covering the faces of potential victims of violence.

In Trump's case, provocative information appears at a very inappropriate time for the president. Midterm congressional elections will be held next year, and for Republicans, the leader's reputational difficulties may threaten to lose the majority. Moreover, the Democrats, having gained control of the House of Representatives, are initiating another impeachment of Trump. At least, the speaker of the lower house, Republican Mike Johnson, is sure of this.

Trump's entry into the center of a new scandal not only distracts attention from his positive agenda, including peacekeeping initiatives in conflicts around the world, but also mobilizes opponents against him. Against the background of many other legal and political problems, Epstein's "archives" add an element of moral degradation to his electoral image. The scandal has already led to public criticism of Trump from conservative journalists who had previously been his ardent supporters.

— This may affect the Republican Party. The Democrats will, of course, try to use these files, but they are connected not only with Republicans, but also with Democrats, in particular with Bill Clinton. Publishing it will have a negative impact on everyone. The elites discredit themselves," says Konstantin Blokhin, a leading researcher at the Center for Security Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The unexpected turn of the Epstein case and its impact on Trump's political positions before the 2026 congressional elections are explained by a number of factors that have turned this scandal into one of the most powerful tools of political struggle. The results of polls in the United States show the deepest crisis of Americans' trust in the government, regardless of their party affiliation. In particular, the Pew Research Center stated in early December that this level is now one of the lowest in the last 70 years. Only 17% of the respondents trust the American authorities. In one of the latest studies, Gallup claims that only 29% of Americans approve of the actions of Republicans in Congress, while 24% approve of Democrats. At the same time, Republicans enjoy 69% support within their own party, while Democrats enjoy only 49% support.

In these circumstances, any partial disclosure of documents further undermines faith in the correctness of the Government's actions.

The new information has shaken Trump's credibility even among his supporters from the MAGA movement, who have been waiting for the release of Epstein's files for a long time in the hope of exposing the Democrats. They perceived the delays and incompleteness of the materials as a betrayal on the part of the administration, which they themselves brought to power. This factor provoked an internal split among Republicans, which had not been observed before.

— The scandal surrounding the Trump administration's actions regarding Epstein's files will damage the president's reputation, even if new publications do not contain more compromising information. This is due to the fact that a significant part of the American public thinks that the administration is hiding evidence. The most devastating effect is on the morale of Trump's most ardent supporters, many of whom believe that the administration has misled them, Richard Bensel, a professor at Cornell University in New York, tells Izvestia.

One of the features of American policy is that concealing or denying illegal actions is often punished more severely than the illegal act itself, the expert concluded.