Two Democratic congressmen from Maryland joined the growing call for the Department of Justice to release files related to the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, challenging President Donald Trump’s administration and aligning themselves with enraged MAGA Republicans who want to read them.

Last week, Trump administration officials closed the investigation into Epstein’s connections and cause of death, after promising before taking office they would work to release related documents.

Epstein, a convicted sex offender and wealthy financier, died in prison while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. A medical examiner said he died by suicide, but that conclusion sparked far-right conspiracy theories that Epstein was murdered to hide the names of his high-profile associates.

Factions of Trump’s base have been anticipating the release of a so-called Epstein client list, and have railed against the administration’s decision to shutter the case.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Jamie Raskin waded into the controversy last week, leveraging what power they hold to demand transparency and — perhaps with a little mischief in mind — amplify the rift between Trump and his far-right MAGA base.

Raskin said Monday he will request Republican leaders on the House Judiciary committee call for an investigation into the Trump administration’s handling of the case, and if necessary, request they subpoena top officials and the documents. Raskin said he will send a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio and chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

It remains unclear whether the additional documents mentioned in correspondence by top Trump administration officials exists. But Van Hollen and Raskin are challenging them to show their work.

In Van Hollen’s case, he won immediate — and rare — bipartisan support from the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Republicans and Democrats unanimously approved his budget amendment to force Attorney General Pam Bondi to preserve the Epstein files and report Justice Department findings to Congress.

“There’s clearly a lot of concern that the attorney general and the president of the United States are backtracking on that commitment,” he said. “My view is that the best way to get to the bottom of this is to require full transparency.”

Van Hollen said he heard from Republican leaders after he filed the amendment that they would not contest it but he did not speak with each Republican member.

“They are hearing from their constituents, and I suspect they didn’t want to be seen as standing in the way of transparency and accountability,” he said.

The required report would include a host of documents, detailing Epstein’s financial and trafficking activities, his co-conspirators, connections to U.S. or foreign government officials and “oversight failures” by the New York prison where Epstein died, according to the amendment.

FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy and former podcaster Dan Bongino have both trumpeted a “deep state” government cover-up. During his confirmation hearing, Patel said he would produce the results of the investigation.

Bondi said in February she had possession of Epstein’s client list. But last week her Justice Department published a memo saying there was no “client list” and that Trump’s FBI concluded Epstein died in jail by suicide. Patel in a social media post Sunday said the “conspiracy theories just aren’t true.”

Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, along with his colleagues sent a scathing letter to Bondi and questioned “whether the White House has moved to prevent the declassification and public release of the full Epstein files because they implicate President Trump.”

The letter also held Bondi to account for withholding documents related to Trump’s possession of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.

“Your conduct is particularly worrisome as it appears to be part of a pattern of using the DOJ to cover up evidence of criminal wrongdoing by President Trump,” the letter said, “including information allegedly contained in the Epstein files.”

Raskin said he asked for the documents to be released during the Biden administration and was driven by the need for transparency and accountability to do so again.

“It is probably more important now that millions of people think that there’s some kind of cover up taking place,” he said, given that Trump administration officials have campaigned on their existence and release.

“Now [they] have engaged in a 180-degree U-turn on the subject,” he said.

Raskin said transparency and accountability are a “public value” on which both parties can agree.

“I’m on the side of anybody who says that they should come clean with whatever it is they know,” he said.

A spokesperson for the justice department confirmed they have received Raskin’s letter but declined to comment.

Trump and Epstein were known associates, though Trump distanced himself after Epstein’s arrest.

Since both efforts target Trump administration decisions, there’s a chance neither will advance in a Republican-controlled legislative branch, nor will Raskin’s letter spur a response from Bondi.

Van Hollen’s amendment is hung up in a protracted budget process along with another he proposed to keep the Trump administration from using certain funds to relocate the FBI headquarters anywhere but Greenbelt, Maryland.

It still has many procedural hurdles but Van Hollen said he thinks it will stick.

“I don’t think anybody’s gonna remove this,” he said. “Certainly not in the Senate.”