A 52-page House Judiciary Democratic staff report says five women accuse Trump of rape or assault in Epstein's company, puts four alleged incidents at Mar-a-Lago, and surfaces a 2009 record in which Trump said Epstein "was never asked to leave." Here is what was said, what the record shows, and the gap.
October 31, 2026 | PALM BEACH | Florida Man News Network
In November 1993, a former Miss Switzerland named Beatrice Keul was a contestant at a pageant Donald Trump hosted at New York's Plaza Hotel. She says Jeffrey Epstein approached her there. She says Trump raped her in a hotel suite. She told that account, for the first time on any record, to Democratic staff of the House Judiciary Committee. It appears in a 52-page staff report released Monday, October 26, eight days before the midterm elections that will decide who controls Congress and who holds the subpoena pen.
The report is not a court finding. It is a minority-staff document built on FBI interview notes, old lawsuits, records released under the 2025 Epstein Files Transparency Act, and the staff's own interviews. But much of it happens in Florida: Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, a Trump property where one woman says she was housed, and a federal prison in Tallahassee where the Deputy Attorney General sat down with Ghislaine Maxwell. That makes it a Florida story.
The Ledger
SAID. Trump, July 9, 2019: "Well, I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him…. I had a falling out with him a long time ago." Asked about Epstein's crimes: "No, I had no idea." Trump, June 2025, on Epstein at Mar-a-Lago: "And I said, 'Out of here.'" Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, November 2025: "Jeffrey Epstein was a member at Mar-a-Lago until President Trump kicked him out." (Report pp. 36–38, footnotes 109–110, 118. Documented, Tier 1.)
KNEW. An October 14, 2009 email from Epstein lawyer Jack Goldberger, released under the 2025 Act, summarizes a 20-minute phone interview Trump gave survivors' counsel in place of a deposition, arranged by Trump attorney Alan Garten. In it Trump said Epstein "was never asked to leave" Mar-a-Lago; club manager Burt Lemke confirmed it. Goldberger wrote that "Trump specifically asked Garten" to tell Epstein's team about the interview. DOJ's released copy is redacted; Attorney General Todd Blanche called it "privileged communication between counsel." (Report pp. 38–40, footnotes 119–121; EFTA00740636–37. Documented, Tier 1.)
DID. January 2025: Southern District of New York prosecutors ordered to send Epstein files to DOJ headquarters. 2025: DOJ closes investigations of Epstein associates. July 24, 2025: then-Deputy Attorney General Blanche interviews Maxwell in Tallahassee; when she raises the survivor "Jane," he says "Yeah," then "I don't want to get into… he said, she said," then "Let's not talk about individuals." Maxwell is later moved to a minimum-security camp. (Report, "The Cover-Up," footnotes 72–73; DOJ Maxwell transcript, Day 2, pp. 292–300. Documented, Tier 2.)
RESULT. Five women directly accuse Trump of rape or sexual assault in Epstein's company or presence: Keul, Stacey Williams, Jill Harth, Katie Johnson and a Jane Doe. Six more are described as offered to him or approached. The report says Maria Farmer's FBI reports "appear to be unlawfully omitted" from the release and Jane Doe 4's handwritten FBI notes were withheld as "duplicative." No federal investigation of Trump's Epstein ties exists as of October 31, 2026. (Report, "Witness Accounts" and "The Cover-Up," footnote 86. Reported; the withholding claims are the staff's reading of the release.)
GAP. Trump said he knew Epstein like any Palm Beach neighbor and threw him out of the club. The report counts 14 phone numbers for Trump in Epstein's address books (per BBC, 2019), four Mar-a-Lago parties, and a 2009 record in Trump's own account that Epstein was never asked to leave. DOJ said "no further disclosure" was "appropriate or warranted"; the staff name two sets of FBI records they say are missing. (Facts documented; the credibility of the assault allegations is disputed.)
SAID AFTER. White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis: a "desperate attempt by crazed Democrats to distract Americans"; Trump "fully exonerated." Communications director Steven Cheung on X: Democrats peddle lies before every election. (The Hill; IBTimes; October 26–27, 2026. Documented, Tier 1.)
The 2009 Goldberger email is Tier 1: Trump's own account, relayed by his own lawyer's counterpart, that Epstein was never asked to leave Mar-a-Lago.
What you need to know
Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges in Palm Beach County in 2008 and died in federal custody in 2019. Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a 20-year federal sentence. Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in 2025, ordering DOJ to release its Epstein records. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland is the Judiciary Committee's ranking Democrat; if Democrats win the House on November 3, he is in line to chair it with subpoena power.
The Palm Beach parties, 1993–1994
The report puts four alleged incidents at Mar-a-Lago. Jill Harth's 1997 federal complaint describes a 1993 party where, according to her former husband, Trump and Epstein were the only men present. A survivor identified as "Jane" describes a 1994 party. Lauren Petrella's account is dated 1994. Tina Davis, then 14, told staff she attended a 1994 Mar-a-Lago party where girls were served alcohol. A woman identified as "Kate" says she flew to Florida with Trump and Maxwell, was given a Mar-a-Lago tour, and was put up in a Trump property in Florida.
Harth's complaint is a public court record. The Davis, Jane, Petrella and Kate accounts rest on FBI interview notes and staff interviews.
The Plaza, November 1993
Keul's account is the report's one new allegation. She says Epstein approached her at Trump's American Dream pageant and that Trump raped her in a suite. The report acknowledges no corroboration beyond her interviews with committee staff. Katie Johnson's dropped 2016 suit, alleging rape at 13 in 1994, is revived; Trump's campaign disputed it at the time.
The $22,500 check
Epstein's 2003 birthday book, released by the House Oversight Committee, includes a Trump note ending "a pal is a wonderful thing" and a reproduced check for $22,500 with a caption about selling a "fully depreciated" woman to Trump. Trump has denied writing the note. The staff speculate the figure may track a woman's age; the report labels that a guess.
The 2009 phone call
In October 2009, lawyers for Epstein's Palm Beach victims wanted to depose Trump. Instead, Trump attorney Alan Garten arranged a 20-minute phone interview. Epstein's lawyer Jack Goldberger then emailed Epstein and attorney Robert Critton a summary: Trump said Epstein "was never asked to leave" Mar-a-Lago, Mar-a-Lago manager Burt Lemke said the same, and Trump had specifically asked that Epstein's team be told about the call. Epstein forwarded the email to Maxwell.
DOJ released the email with the Trump passage redacted. Raskin read the unredacted version in February 2026. At a public hearing, Attorney General Blanche called it a "privileged communication between counsel." The report answers that there is no counsel-to-counsel privilege and that forwarding it to Maxwell would waive one anyway.
The report draws the box tight: either Trump told the truth in 2009 and has lied about the eviction since, or he lied to victims' lawyers in 2009 to protect Epstein.
Tallahassee, July 2025
Then-Deputy Attorney General Blanche, Trump's former defense lawyer, interviewed Maxwell at the federal prison in Tallahassee on July 24, 2025. The transcript DOJ released shows Maxwell saying "I believe you're talking about Jane," Blanche answering "Yeah," then: "I don't want to get into… he said, she said," and "Let's not talk about individuals." The report argues the exchange may fall under the federal witness-tampering and obstruction statutes (18 U.S.C. §§ 1512, 1505). Maxwell was afterward moved to a minimum-security camp. The legal conclusion is the staff's; no charge or referral exists.
The bottom line
The report's closing section states: "There is more than sufficient evidence to launch a criminal investigation." It calls for an independent special counsel, arguing Blanche, as Trump's former personal lawyer, cannot run one. It then concedes the point: "Given DOJ and FBI's abdication of their law enforcement duties and prosecutorial ethics, there is little reason to believe this administration will take even this minimal step." The fallback is Congress, which the report says "must continue to use its legislative and oversight powers to pursue justice for survivors."
Their side
The White House says the allegations are false, the report is election-week politics, and Trump has been "fully exonerated." Trump has denied flying on Epstein's jet, denied the birthday note, and said he cut Epstein off years before the 2006 Palm Beach investigation. On the 2009 email, Blanche's position is that it is privileged and should not have been read into the record. The strongest version of the defense: nearly every allegation was public before Monday, several accusers are anonymous or speak through FBI summaries, the one new account has no corroboration, and minority staff chose to release it eight days before an election. The Boston Globe and MS NOW made the first two points on day one.
FMNN has asked the White House press office and the DOJ Office of Public Affairs for comment and will add any response.
The dispute
Raskin says the evidence meets the FBI's own threshold for opening a full investigation and that DOJ "deliberately withheld evidence." The White House says the files exonerate Trump. FMNN's answer: whether the assault accusations are true, the record does not settle. Whether Trump told the truth about kicking Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago, the 2009 email in his own lawyer's hands says he did not.
Voices of resistance
Beatrice Keul put her name on an allegation against a sitting president, with no lawsuit, no book, and no corroborating record, in a week when the White House was calling accusers "crazed." Whatever a court would make of her account, that is the cost she chose.
Reading the pattern
The official story: the Mar-a-Lago eviction held as the public account for years after Trump's own 2009 statement said otherwise. Accountability delayed and partial: a 2025 transparency law produced a redacted email, a July memo closing the file, and a Maxwell interview the minority now calls tampering.
Who carried the story
NBC News (Ryan Nobles) had the report first Monday morning; The Hill, the Boston Globe (owned by John Henry), the New Republic and Straight Arrow News followed within hours. Axios (Cox Enterprises) had the unredacted-email story in February. The Washington Post and New York Times framed Monday's report as largely recycled allegations. Fox News coverage centered on the White House response. In Florida, the Palm Beach angle has run mostly as national wire pickup rather than local reporting.
Keul's story starts in a New York hotel, but the report keeps returning to a club on South Ocean Boulevard. Trump said he knew Epstein the way everybody in Palm Beach did, and that he threw him out. In 2009, with victims' lawyers on the phone, he said Epstein was never asked to leave. Both cannot be true. The report's own last word is that the Justice Department will not look. The question it leaves for Florida is who gets to reopen the file after Tuesday.
Sources
House Judiciary Committee Democrats staff report, October 2026 (52 pp., PDF)
NBC News / Ryan Nobles: House Democrats call on DOJ to name special counsel in Epstein case
Axios: What Jamie Raskin saw in the unredacted Epstein files
Boston Globe: Democrats call for special counsel on Trump and Epstein
Straight Arrow News: Democrats' report links Trump to Epstein abuse