Rep. Ted Lieu says the Epstein files contain "allegations" of Trump raping and threatening to kill children (news conference, Feb. 3, 2026) Case At a news conference, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) said Donald Trump appears in the Epstein files "thousands and thousands" of times and that the files contain "highly disturbing allegations" of Trump raping children and threatening to kill children, urging the press to examine them. He framed these as allegations, not proven facts. CNN reported in January 2026 that Trump is mentioned more than 1,000 times in the roughly 3 million pages DOJ released, with some references benign and others including unverified sexual assault claims. What Lieu said (Feb. 3, 2026) Asked why Republicans are so interested in Bill and Hillary Clinton, Rep. Ted Lieu said it is because they are trying to distract from the fact that Donald Trump is in the Epstein files 'thousands and thousands of times.' Lieu said: 'In those files, there's highly disturbing allegations of Donald Trump raping children, of Donald Trump threatening to kill children,' and encouraged the press to 'go look at these allegations.' Lieu used the word 'allegations' and did not say they were proven; C-SPAN's headline for the clip says Trump 'is accused' of raping children. Lieu said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche 'got the law wrong' in saying it is not a crime to party with Epstein, arguing that anyone who patronized an establishment where Epstein was trafficking minors for sex parties could be guilty under the federal sex trafficking law, and said Blanche should resign. Lieu also said DOJ's release included unredacted pictures of minors, which he called 'the biggest privacy violation in history.' What the files contain: documented vs. unverified CNN reported on Jan. 31, 2026 that Trump is mentioned more than 1,000 times in the roughly 3 million pages DOJ had just released, with some references benign and others including newly disclosed unverified sexual assault claims against him. Lieu's 'thousands and thousands of times' is higher than CNN's count of more than 1,000 mentions; the difference has not been resolved. Follow-up Feb. 13, 2026: Lieu called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to have DOJ interview a caller who reported a rape allegation against Trump to the FBI, per Yahoo News. Research notes Open leads and cautions: (1) The Feb. 3, 2026 date was supplied by the editor; confirm against the C-SPAN page. It was recorded while Todd Blanche was still Deputy Attorney General, and Lieu says Blanche's "not a crime to party" remark was made "yesterday". (2) The quotes come from the YouTube auto-transcript pasted by the editor, not a transcript GREED could fetch; auto-captions can mis-transcribe (e.g. it renders Ghislaine Maxwell as "Glenn Maxwell"), so check key quotes against the audio. (3) Lieu's closing lines, that Blanche met with Maxwell, that she was moved to a minimum-security prison and was given a puppy, are garbled in the auto-transcript and unverified here; not included as facts. (4) Lieu's "thousands and thousands of times" exceeds CNN's "more than 1,000"; unresolved. (5) Fact-checkers (Snopes, Yahoo/Lead Stories) have addressed viral versions of a Lieu claim, headlined as saying he referenced "allegations" and did not say the unreleased files show Trump raping children; not yet read, and it is not confirmed they concern this exact statement. (6) Find the White House/Trump response to Lieu's statement. (7) The published entry on DOJ/FBI handling of the files covers the court fight over FBI notes from a woman who accused Trump; do not duplicate it here. (8) Verify the Feb. 13 Yahoo item against the full article before relying on it. Note The claims Lieu cites are allegations within the files that have been reported as unverified; Trump's and the White House's response to Lieu's statement has not yet been sourced for this entry. Sources [1] C-SPAN — Rep. Ted Lieu Claims President Trump is Accused of Raping Children in the Epstein Files (https://www.c-span.org/clip/news-conference/rep-ted-lieu-claims-president-trump-is-accused-of-raping-children-in-the-epstein-files/5191713) · 2026-02-03 [2] YouTube — video of Lieu's remarks (youtu.be/f13HINY_6RY) (https://youtu.be/f13HINY_6RY) · 2026-02-03 [3] CNN (via Yahoo News) — What 3 million new documents tell us about Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein (https://sg.news.yahoo.com/news/articles/3-million-documents-tell-us-150738520.html) · 2026-01-31 [4] The Hill — Deputy AG Todd Blanche: 'It's not a crime to party' with Jeffrey Epstein (https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5719992-doj-todd-blanche-epstein-files-parties/) [5] Yahoo News — Dem Demands DOJ Interview FBI Caller Who Made Rape Allegation Against Trump (https://sg.news.yahoo.com/dem-demands-doj-interview-fbi-121721914.html) · 2026-02-13 Connections Related — Allegations against Trump in the Epstein files, and the White House and DOJ responses (Dec. 2025-Feb. 2026) Lieu's Feb. 3 statement refers to the allegations catalogued here; his later Feb. 2026 letter with Rep. Goldman is covered in this entry. Same context — DOJ/FBI handling of the Epstein files Lieu's statement criticizes Blanche's handling of the Epstein release; the DOJ entry covers the redaction failures and the court fight over FBI notes from a woman who accused Trump. Related — Trump and Epstein: what the record documents about their relationship, and what remains unverified (1990s-2026) Lieu's statement describes allegations in the files; this entry separates what the record documents from what is unverified.