Late last month, state Rep. Ryan Gonzalez’s (R-Greeley) frustration about the alleged cover-up of the Jeffrey Epstein case apparently reached the boiling point, and he took to Facebook to let everyone know about it.
“Release the Epstein client list on the Jumbotron at a Coldplay concert,” posted Gonzalez, a Greeley Republican, referencing the recent news story of a concert “kiss cam” inadvertantly revealing a tech CEO’s affair.
Among those liking his “Jumbotron” post was his Statehouse colleague Rep. Larry Don Suckla (R-Cortez) and Eliseo Gonzalez, Field Representative for Congressman Gabe Evans.
Gonzalez has long been convinced that Jeffrey Epstein didn’t commit suicide, despite a dearth of evidence that he was murdered.
And Gonzalez has no qualms about saying so on social media.
“Also,” Gonzalez wrote in 2022 in response to an angry post about Epstein’s client list, “Epstein didn’t kill himself.”
Gonzalez, like other crusading — and frustrated — Epstein conspiracy theorists, didn’t let up in the ensuing years — or in the past few months, even as Trump has urged Republicans like Gonzalez to stop talking about Epstein, who was friends with Trump and other high-rollers, including Democrats.
In January, Gonzales asked Trump directly on X to “declassify the Epstein files and client list,” and in April, he implored Tulsi Gabbard to hand over the “un-redacted client list.”
Gonzalez is one of several Colorado Republicans who have let their feelings about Epstein fly over the past months, as major battles have erupted over whether Trump is holding back important information about Epstein and his friends, including Trump.
Reached via email, Gonzalez reiterated his desire to see the files made public.
“Despite the comments made by those who downplay the Epstein files, I believe the public has a right to see the full picture and client list,” said Gonzalez. “I respect the victims, and my heart goes out to them. However, their identities should be the only thing that is redacted. We were promised a look into the files, and that promise should be upheld. The public has consensus across party lines that the Epstein files should be released. We deserve accountability, and those responsible for these crimes must pay their price no matter their party, their roles, or their connections.”
State Rep. Rebecca Keltie (R-Colorado Springs) has also shown interest in Epstein. Several years ago, following his death in prison, she posted repeatedly, doubting the determination of suicide and calling for the release of files.
Sharing a Time Magazine article citing the 1,000 or more people named in sealed court documents, Keltie wrote, “LET THE CARDS FALL!!! Shit & get off the pot about it already!!!!” Like Gonzalez, she also raised the possibility that someone might kill Ghislane Maxwell and disguise the murder as an accident or suicide.
In February, Keltie posted a reel featuring video from FBI Director Kash Patel’s confirmation hearing. Patel promises U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) that he would release the Epstein files, saying, “I will do everything in my power, if confirmed as FBI Director, to make sure the American public knows the full weight of what happened in the past … .”
State Rep. Brandi Bradley (R-Highlands Ranch) has also brought up Epstein, though she hasn’t publicly called for the release of the files.
In an exchange on X with ProgressNow Colorado’s Alan Franklin, Bradley responded to his noting Trump’s multiple flights on Epstein’s planes not by disputing it, but by claiming that “so many Dems” also did the same thing.
She’s repeatedly stated that her primary motivation in running for office was and remains to “save our kids,” and she has introduced bills addressing child sex crimes, accusing those of her colleagues who did not vote for her legislation of supporting pedophiles. Judging from her social media activity, it appears at least some of her concerns stem from the internet’s best-known and most toxic conspiracy theory, one so damaging that President Trump’s FBI designated its followers as a domestic terror threat during his first administration: QAnon.
Last year, Bradley shared a post in which Charlie Kirk claims then-Vice President Kamala Harris was overseeing a Mexican cartel trafficking operation to sell children to other Democratic politicians for sex.
Back in 2020, she posted a link to a video from a QAnon Facebook page called “Go One Go All” of actor Isaac Kappy accusing more famous actors of pedophilia.
Bradley did not respond to an email request for comment, specifically whether she still believes that Democratic politicians, Hollywood actors, and other “liberal elites” are involved in child sex trafficking, whether she supports the congressional subpoena of the Dept. of Justice to release the Epstein case files, and whether she believes President Trump’s characterization of the child sex trafficking documents as a “hoax,” or whether she thinks he might have been involved. This article will be updated with any response received.
Anger over the DOJ’s stonewalling is so pervasive even local GOP officials are frustrated by it. Weld County Commissioner Scott James devoted a blog post to the topic. Titled “Trump, Epstein, and the Death Rattle of Public Trust,” James called out Trump’s defense of Pam Bondi, labeling it “cowardice cosplay.”
DeGette: Why is Trump “Resisting So Vociferously?”
Republicans aren’t the only elected officials in Colorado talking about the Epstein files. On a telephone town hall last week, Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-Denver) told constituents she supports releasing the files, including any client list.
“You gotta wonder what is in there if [President] Donald Trump and [Attorney General] Pam Bondi are resisting so vociferously,” said DeGette. “Speaker Mike Johnson adjourned Congress early so our bill demanding the DOJ release the files couldn’t get a vote. It needed to rest one more day on the calendar. But that bill matures the day after we get back [to D.C.], so I think that’s one of the first things you’re going to see.”
The last vote on the issue split Colorado’s delegation along party lines, when Evans, Hurd, Boebert, and Crank all voted to block a floor vote on releasing the files, a move opposed by Democrats DeGette, Neguse, Crow, and Pettersen.
