In elections across the country, Democratic candidates or groups supporting them have released ads accusing Republicans of protecting pedophiles by voting against legislation to release records related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The ads appear intended to elicit an emotional response by accusing candidates of “protecting” Epstein, a notorious pedophile accused of running a sex trafficking ring involving minors.
A CNN analysis found that candidates and outside groups spent more than $35 million on Epstein-related ads. Another Washington Post report found that Democrats spent more than $40 million on Epstein-related ads in six key Senate elections.
In Colorado, ads targeting Republican Jeff Crank say the lawmaker voted against releasing the Epstein files. In one, family members of Virginia Giuffre, a woman who survived abuse by Epstein and committed suicide last year, claim that Crank “covered up Epstein’s crimes to protect Donald Trump.”
Ashley Hinson, a Senate candidate in Iowa, was accused of voting to “protect her donors” by refusing to vote for the release of the Epstein files.
“This week I had to explain to my boys, ‘No, Mommy doesn’t protect pedophiles,'” Hinson said in a campaign ad responding to attacks over the Epstein files.
An ad targeting Mike Collins, the Republican running for a Georgia Senate seat, states that “Mike Collins voted against releasing the Epstein files even after knowing that Epstein’s sex trafficking operation exploited 14-year-old girls for sex.”
Florida Republican Jimmy Patronis was attacked by his Democratic opponent, saying he called the Epstein investigation a “waste of time.”
A Crank campaign spokesperson accused the Epstein-related publicity of being “intentionally vague,” in a statement to the Washington Post, because his position was that he would vote against releasing the dossier until he could be sure that victim information had been properly redacted. The campaign also said it was “unfortunate” that her opponent, Jessica Killin, was “attacking a grieving family with the help of Washington Democrats.”
Crank’s staff invited and met with Giuffre’s family, although Crank himself did not meet them in person, the New York Times reported. Crank’s campaign also said it offered to meet with Epstein’s victims before voting on the legislation.
Last year, House Democrats and some Republicans tried to force a vote on the Epstein files through a discharge petition — a procedure used in Congress to bypass traditional steps in legislation and force a vote in the House.
Donald Trump, who knew Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, opposed the request to release the records, walking back his campaign promise to increase government transparency. House Republicans largely aligned with him, angering prominent Trump voters.
Ultimately, under pressure from his allies, Trump supported the legislation, giving Republican lawmakers the green light to pass it. All but one House Republican voted for the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Many ads overlook the fact that almost every Republican in the House of Representatives voted to release the Epstein files when the Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed, even though by then Trump had agreed to sign the legislation and release the files. Instead, the ads refer to Republicans who opposed early attempts to push through the legislation.
Republicans highlighted this fact by challenging the attack ads.
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“Of course I voted to release the Epstein files,” Hinson said in a direct-to-camera ad, accusing his opponent, Josh Turek, of lying. Although Hinson voted for the final Epstein Files Transparency Act, she did not sign the release petition.
Patronis, meanwhile, never called the investigation a “waste of time” but told a local radio station that while he had “no problem disclosing everything,” the problem was “a huge waste of energy and time at the end of the day.”
Melissa Stone, a spokeswoman for Patronis’ campaign, highlighted her work with Trump to secure disaster funding after Hurricane Isaias and said her opponent, Gay Valimont, was “always talking about a dead pedophile in a sad web video rather than helping the people (of the First Congressional District) recover.”
Some Republicans and groups supporting the Republican Party have sought to turn the tables, accusing Democrats of taking money from donors linked to Epstein.
During a debate in the Georgia Senate, Collins accused his opponent, Jon Ossoff, of accepting campaign donations from Reid Hoffman, a tech billionaire with ties to Epstein. Hoffman said he only knew Epstein through fundraising connections and regretted it.
“You can claim to be fighting the Epstein class, but I’ll tell you, this call is coming from inside the house and the Epstein class is on stage right now and it’s you,” Collins said.
During the New Mexico gubernatorial race, an outside group released an ad accusing Democratic candidate Deb Haaland of agreeing to board Epstein’s private jet and take “tens of thousands of dollars from Epstein’s companies” and then “demand more.”
Haaland did not fly on Epstein’s jet, but took a flight booked by one of Epstein’s companies in 2014. Haaland said she was unaware the chartered flight was from a company owned by Epstein.
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