White House communications director Steven Cheung is rejecting a House Judiciary Committee Democrat report that revives allegations linking President Donald Trump to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, calling it a politically timed fabrication.
Cheung’s response came on X after media coverage of the report, which Democrats on the committee released Monday. The report includes an allegation from a woman who says Trump assaulted her in 1993.
“Complete bullshit. This is what the media and Democrats do right before every election cycle— peddle lies and ridiculous accusations against the President for political gain,” Cheung wrote. “The American people see right through this garbage. The media/Left needs a new playbook.”
The central allegation comes from Beatrice Keul, a former Miss Switzerland, who told committee staff that Trump assaulted her in a Plaza Hotel suite in Manhattan when she was in her 20s, according to TIME, which first reported the document’s contents. TIME said it could not independently verify Keul’s account. She has made the allegation publicly before.
The report also compiles claims from four other women who have accused Trump of rape or sexual assault in connection with the broader Epstein investigation. Those allegations date from the mid-1980s to the 1990s and had already surfaced through media interviews or FBI testimony released as part of the Epstein files.
Democrats Push for Special Counsel
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat, cited the report in calling on the Department of Justice to appoint an independent special counsel.
“An independent special counsel must investigate Epstein’s co-conspirators and DOJ’s cover-up and ensure that state and foreign prosecutors have the evidence they need to pursue justice,” Raskin said.
The White House firmly denies the allegations. According to TIME, the administration says Trump has been “fully exonerated of anything related to Epstein.” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis characterized the report as a desperate Democratic effort to distract from Republican momentum heading into the midterms.
Timing and Political Stakes
The report surfaced just over a week before Election Day. Democrats have signaled they intend to use subpoena power to pursue further Epstein-related inquiries if they win control of either chamber of Congress in the midterms.
This is not the first such clash this cycle. The House Oversight Committee, controlled by Democrats, previously released Epstein-related emails referencing Trump. The White House dismissed those disclosures at the time as a “fake narrative” built on selectively leaked documents.
