The Victors

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers has argued that people whose names appear in the Jeffrey Epstein files should be protected from public exposure if there’s no evidence they committed a crime.

Some of the wealthy donors who have helped finance Rogers’ Senate campaigns are among those named in the records.

A Metro Times review of federal campaign finance filings and records in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Epstein Library found that at least seven donors whose names appear in the released files have given nearly $4.7 million since 2023 to Rogers’ campaign, committees raising money for him, his leadership PAC, or GLCF, an outside super PAC that has spent millions supporting his Senate bids. More than $4.5 million went to GLCF alone.

During a July 2025 appearance on the Brian Kilmeade Show, Rogers said some Epstein records should be released but warned that innocent people could have their reputations destroyed merely because their names appeared in the files.

“You also have to protect somebody who got on an airplane and rode with him,” Rogers said, adding that someone could have had a “legitimate business reason” for interacting with Epstein.

Rogers said information about what happened around Epstein’s island “ought to be released,” but argued against what he called a “big, big, ugly vote on the House floor.” He also dismissed some of the pressure for disclosure as politically motivated, saying “people who just want to be after Trump are just going to beat this drum all day long.”

In a separate podcast appearance that month, Rogers again said records should be released but argued that names should be redacted if there was no evidence the person knew about or participated in Epstein’s crimes.

The largest donor identified in Metro Times’ review was Blackstone co-founder and CEO Stephen Schwarzman.

Schwarzman gave $4.5 million to GLCF during Rogers’ 2024 Senate campaign, along with $25,600 to Rogers’ campaign, joint fundraising committee, and leadership PAC between 2023 and 2025, federal records show. The $4.5 million contribution to GLCF was one of Schwarzman’s largest political donations of the 2024 election.

GLCF has remained a major force behind Rogers. Federal filings show the super PAC has spent more than $7.8 million independently supporting Rogers in the 2026 election through late August. By law, that spending can’t be coordinated with his campaign.

Schwarzman’s name appears repeatedly in the released Epstein records, including a 2010 email in which Epstein described him as “terrific.” But the files contain no evidence that Schwarzman and Epstein directly corresponded or interacted, according to previous reviews of the records, and Schwarzman has not been accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein.

Another Rogers donor, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, gave $39,000 in 2025, including $25,000 to GLCF and $14,000 to Rogers’ campaign and fundraising committee.

Rowan’s connection to Epstein was more substantial. His name appears hundreds of times in the files, and released records show the two communicated years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction, including discussions involving financial and accounting matters and Epstein’s consideration of buying Rowan’s private jet.

Cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder, who gave $3,300 to Rogers in 2024, also appears extensively in the records. Documents describe meetings and planned visits with Epstein in 2017, including a meeting by Epstein’s pool and arrangements for Lauder to visit his home. Other records reported by Bloomberg showed Epstein set up an LLC involving Lauder and Black to hold a $25 million artwork.

The review also found Rogers contributions from billionaire businessman John Catsimatidis, Blackstone executive Joseph Baratta, real estate executive Howard Lorber, and private equity investor John W. Childs, all of whom appear in the Epstein records to varying degrees. In some cases, the connection is little more than being discussed in communications between other people. In others, there was documented contact with Epstein.

Catsimatidis, for example, appeared in Epstein’s address book and has said he once offered Epstein a ride on his plane to Florida after meeting him in the early 1990s. Epstein later sent him a three-foot bottle of champagne as thanks.

In a statement to Metro Times, Rogers’ campaign responded with ire.

“How dare you [sic]. Mike Rogers is a former FBI agent who busted human traffickers,” campaign spokeswoman Alyssa Brouillet said. “The insinuation that he would take money from anyone engaged in that activity is disgusting.”

Rogers’ campaign then repeated unsupported claims linking El-Sayed to “recognized terrorist organizations,” extending a pattern of rhetoric that is stoking Islamophobia.

The findings come as Rogers, a former House Intelligence Committee chairman, has repeatedly invoked national security and 9/11 in his campaign against Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed.

Last week, a separate Metro Times review of congressional records found nine votes or legislative actions between 2003 and 2010 in which Rogers opposed, tried to block, or sought to restrict federal health care funding for people sickened after responding to the Sept. 11 attacks. Rogers had falsely claimed that El-Sayed’s accusation that he twice voted against the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act a “lie.” The records showed the two votes were only part of a much longer history of opposition.



https://www.metrotimes.com/news/donors-named-in-epstein-files-gave-nearly-4-7-million-to-mike-rogers-and-groups-backing-him/