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House Judiciary Committee Democrats are demanding an independent investigation after identifying 11 women whose accounts allegedly connect the president to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.
Five women have accused President Donald Trump of rape or sexual assault in the presence or company of Jeffrey Epstein, according to a report released Monday, October 26, by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee. The report identifies allegations involving 11 women that Democrats say raise questions about Trump’s relationship with the convicted sex offender. Committee Democrats are calling for a special counsel to investigate the president and other alleged participants in Epstein’s criminal activities.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the committee’s ranking Democrat, argues that the accounts contradict Trump’s characterization of Epstein as someone he knew through Palm Beach social circles. The report also accuses Attorney General Todd Blanche and his predecessor, Pam Bondi, of protecting Trump by obstructing disclosure of Epstein-related evidence. Blanche previously served as Trump’s personal attorney, a relationship Democrats cite in questioning the Justice Department’s independence.
Among the allegations is an account from former Swiss beauty pageant contestant Beatrice Keul, who told congressional investigators that Trump raped her at his Atlantic City hotel in 1993. Keul had previously described unwanted sexual contact in a 2024 interview but did not then allege rape. The committee’s report has not publicly established the truth of the allegations, and Trump has denied involvement in Epstein’s crimes.
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis dismissed the report as a partisan attack and said Trump had expelled Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because of his behavior. The president denies visiting Epstein’s private island or traveling aboard his aircraft. Democrats are seeking further disclosure of Justice Department records and an independent inquiry into allegations against Epstein’s associates.
Hot Take: Eleven women feature in the report. Five allege sexual assault involving Trump and Epstein, and the White House says it’s all false. The accusations are on the record. Now Congress wants the evidence.
A federal judge has permanently removed the singer from a former escort’s civil lawsuit, while claims against Sean Combs continue.
Cassie Ventura has been dismissed from a $35 million civil lawsuit filed by former male escort Clayton Howard, who alleged that he participated in sexual encounters arranged by Ventura and Sean “Diddy” Combs. U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang granted Ventura’s motion October 21, dismissing the allegations against her with prejudice. The ruling prevents Howard from bringing the same claims against the singer again in that case.
Howard, who worked under the name “Dave,” alleged that the pair used drugs and coercion during paid encounters in New York, Miami and Los Angeles. He also alleged that Ventura became pregnant with his child and subsequently had an abortion. Ventura’s attorneys argued that his complaint failed to establish that she trafficked him through force, fraud or coercion, pointing to his repeated participation and payments.
The court allowed portions of the litigation against Bad Boy Entertainment and CeOpco to continue, giving Howard an opportunity to amend certain claims. Combs, who denies wrongdoing in the civil case, was ordered to respond by November 4. He is serving a separate 50-month federal prison sentence following his conviction on prostitution-related transportation charges.
Hot Take: Howard wanted $35 million and named Cassie alongside Diddy. The judge threw out his claims against her for good. Combs still has another lawsuit waiting on his desk, wherever the prison keeps it.
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Prosecutors have brought new allegations involving a decade-old classified information leak, while a judge has ordered the former FBI director’s daughter returned to her federal job.
Former FBI Director James Comey faces another federal prosecution after the Justice Department filed two counts involving an alleged disclosure of national defense information. Court papers indicate the charges concern information allegedly leaked to The New York Times in October 2016, when Comey headed the FBI. The charges were filed through a criminal information rather than a grand jury indictment.
Comey denied wrongdoing Monday, describing the prosecution as an abuse of the Justice Department and maintaining that he remains innocent. His attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, said two previous investigations examined the alleged disclosure and resulted in decisions not to prosecute. The defense has moved to dismiss the case, with legal observers questioning whether the applicable statute of limitations has expired.
The latest filing marks the administration’s third attempt to prosecute Comey, following a dismissed 2025 case involving congressional testimony and a separate ongoing prosecution over a social media post. On the same day, a federal judge ruled that the Justice Department had unlawfully fired Comey’s daughter, former prosecutor Maurene Comey. The court ordered her reinstatement and back pay.
Hot Take: Three prosecutions for James Comey, and the latest one reaches back to 2016. His daughter won her job back on the same day. The Comey family has become a full-time occupation for the Justice Department.
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The convicted murderer is reportedly taking an active role in his legal challenge, despite harsh prison conditions and the possibility of facing the death penalty again.
Bryan Kohberger is holding frequent telephone consultations with his new defense team as he seeks to withdraw his guilty plea in the murders of four University of Idaho students. Attorney Jason Goldman says the 31-year-old former criminology student is deeply involved in the post-conviction proceedings and regularly discusses legal strategy from prison. Goldman described Kohberger as passionate about his case and familiar with the criminal justice system.
Kohberger pleaded guilty in July 2025 to murdering Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, receiving four consecutive life sentences without parole and an additional 10 years for burglary. He now alleges that his former attorneys pressured him into accepting the agreement to avoid execution and failed to adequately investigate evidence. His current legal team is examining whether the plea was entered knowingly and voluntarily.
Goldman acknowledged that Kohberger faces difficult prison conditions, including isolation and sleeping on a metal bed, while emphasizing that overturning the convictions will be a lengthy process. The victims’ families have criticized the renewed litigation after believing the guilty plea had resolved the case. If Kohberger succeeds in withdrawing it, prosecutors would regain the option of seeking the death penalty at trial.
Hot Take: Kohberger signed away his right to a trial, then decided he wanted one after all. Now he’s calling his lawyers from a prison cell and challenging the deal that saved him from execution. The death penalty is still waiting outside the courtroom.
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A judge has authorized independent testing of unidentified male DNA as Alex Murdaugh prepares to face a second jury over the murders of his wife and son.
Alex Murdaugh’s defense attorneys have received permission to independently test unidentified male DNA recovered from beneath his wife Maggie’s fingernails. The ruling follows the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision in May to overturn Murdaugh’s 2023 murder convictions because of improper influence on jurors by a court clerk. His retrial for the June 2021 killings of Maggie and their son Paul is scheduled to begin April 5, 2027.
Former prosecutor Nana Knight says the unidentified DNA presents an opportunity for the defense to challenge the original investigation, although its presence does not establish Murdaugh’s innocence. The material might reflect ordinary contact with another person or suggest an unidentified individual’s presence around the time of the killings. Further testing will help determine whether the evidence has any connection to the murders.
Knight expects defense attorneys to scrutinize why investigators did not identify the DNA during the first trial and to challenge other weaknesses in the state’s forensic evidence. The judge also considered requests involving ballistics and tool-mark comparisons, denying at least one additional defense testing motion. Murdaugh denies killing his wife and son, and prosecutors must prove the charges again before a new jury.
Hot Take: Maggie Murdaugh died with another man’s unidentified DNA beneath her fingernails. It might mean nothing, or it might give the defense something to work with. The first verdict is gone, and the evidence is getting another examination.
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