MAGA Senate hopeful Mike Collins tried to tie Jon Ossoff to the Epstein Files during a debate. It backfired spectacularly. And it’s a warning sign for Republicans everywhere.
Last night in Georgia, Trump’s candidate for the U.S. Senate, Mike Collins, thought he’d backed Jon Ossoff into a corner. Collins is trying to take Ossoff’s seat, and in a televised debate, he decided his best shot was to tie the senator to Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn billionaire and Democratic donor who has acknowledged past meetings with Jeffrey Epstein.
Partway through the debate, Collins went in for the kill.
“You claim to fight against the Epstein class, but I’m going to tell you, this call is coming from inside the house,” he said, visibly excited to drop his supposed truth bomb. Collins pointed out that Ossoff has accepted campaign contributions from Reid Hoffman. “The Epstein class is on stage right now. And it’s you. Will you condemn Reid Hoffman and apologize for your hypocrisy tonight?”
Ossoff didn’t flinch.
“Mike, who on your team advised you to raise the Epstein files?” he asked. “You voted to cover up the evidence, even though you knew 14-year-old girls had been raped, because Donald Trump told you to. Donald Trump, who by the way is named a thousand times in the Epstein files.”
Then he went in again.
“Have you ever met with Jeffrey Epstein’s victims when they ask you why you voted to cover up the Epstein files? What would you say to them tonight, Mike, after you voted to cover up evidence of the most notorious sex trafficking ring in American history? The vote is public record. You should explain that vote to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims right now.”
You have to watch the video. Collins spends most of it looking down at his notebook and squiggling his pen, belatedly realizing he’d built a trap for himself and walked right into it.
Naturally, Collins’ answer was to insist he had voted to release the files. Which is partly true, in the least heroic way possible. In July 2025, House Democrats tried to force a vote compelling the Justice Department to release the records, and Collins voted with his party to block it, echoing the president’s line that the whole thing was a hoax. Then, four months later after Trump reversed himself and gave Republicans permission (under withering public pressure) to release the files, Collins finally voted “yes” along with nearly everyone else in the chamber.
He didn’t “release” the files; he dutifully obeyed the president’s orders.
I bring this up because the exchange is bigger than one Georgia debate.
For a year, Republicans in Washington have told themselves that the Epstein cover-up is a Democratic obsession, a story for the base and something that would fade. Well, last night showed what it actually is. It’s a glaring liability sitting in the voting record of every single member who followed Trump’s lead… and the first time a Republican tried to use it by going “on offense,” it exploded in his face.
I have to say, friends, that’s a damned fine consequence of covering up corruption. You end up owning it. Mike Collins didn’t sexually abuse anyone, and to my knowledge he’s not mentioned in the files. But they’re all over him now. Why? Because he followed orders from a man he knew — knew — was nakedly trying to protect his own interests by perverting the justice system to shut down an investigation that would embarrass him… and possibly worse. Now a Democrat gets to stand next to Mike Collins on live television and ask whether he’s ever looked a survivor in the eye and explained why sucking up to Donald Trump was more important than prosecuting pedophiles.
This isn’t just a trap Mike Collins built for himself. It’s a trap MAGA Republicans built for themselves by obeying Trump’s corrupt commands, time and time again. Voters now rank the Epstein cover-up among the top issues of this election, and not just Democratic voters. A whopping 88 percent of Americans (including 83 percent of Republicans) say they’re prioritizing candidates who support seeking justice on the Epstein scandal. And every single one of the Republicans who ran dutifully to Trump’s side in July 2025 — then scrambled to the other side in November — has the same two votes on the same public record as Mike Collins does. By the way, that’s nearly the entire House Republican conference, and most of them are on the ballot in three weeks.
The president’s cover-up was supposed to protect him. Instead, it’s become the one thing his party can’t defend, can’t explain, and absolutely can’t take back. It’s the most visible symbol of corruption in Washington. Mike Collins learned that the hard way last night. And the rest of them are about to.
Your friend, in defiance,
P.S. DEFIANCE.org is a nonprofit “club for the courageous.” We exist to fight corruption, like what you just read about. In fact, we’ve put all 3.5 million Epstein Files on the road across America, as you’ll read about below. We announce a NEW effort to right corruption weekly. That’s what your membership funds. If you haven’t yet, become a member today.
DEFIANCE DAILY
In case you missed it, last night’s episode of DEFIANCE Daily is below. Catch our next episode tonight at 5 pm ET!
TRACK THE TRUMP-EPSTEIN READING ROOM & BOOKMOBILE
The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Bookmobile is heading south. This week, it will stop in Columbia, South Carolina, on Friday, Oct. 16, and Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday, Oct. 18, Meanwhile, the Reading Room just wrapped up its well-attended engagement in Columbus, Ohio, and heads to Detroit, Michigan, next week.
Plan a future visit and share with others. Check out the tour schedule and RSVP HERE.
THE ANT HILL IS OUR MEMBERS-ONLY CORNER OF THE COLONY, WHERE “DEFY ANTS” GET MORE THAN JUST THE NEWSLETTER.
IF YOU’RE ALREADY A DEFIANCE MEMBER, THEN MARCH RIGHT IN. IF NOT, SIGN UP HERE, SO YOU DON’T MISS A THING.
