Resurfaced July 2025 radio audio captures Michigan’s Republican Senate nominee arguing that names tied only to travel with Epstein should stay out of public view.
A recording now circulating as “leaked audio” puts Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers on the record opposing an unredacted Epstein-file release that could expose people whose only documented connection was a flight with Jeffrey Epstein.
The clip is from Rogers’ July 28, 2025 appearance on the Brian Kilmeade Show, according to a Michigan Democratic Party transcript and reporting by Metro Times. Raw Story also reported on the resurfaced interview. It records a policy argument for redactions, not a private order by Rogers stopping a Justice Department release.
“You also have to protect somebody who got on an airplane and rode with him.” — Mike Rogers, on the Brian Kilmeade Show
Rogers said victims must be protected and said records concerning Epstein’s island “ought to be released.” But he urged a small working group to screen the material, argued against a “big, big, ugly vote on the House floor,” and said people whose names appeared in raw files should not have their careers, reputations, or families wrecked by the court of public opinion.
The question lands amid Rogers’ own fundraising. Metro Times reported that at least seven donors whose names appeared in released Epstein-related records gave nearly $4.7 million to Rogers, his committees, and outside groups backing him since 2023. Snopes independently verified the core funding claim but noted that most of the money went to an independent super PAC and that appearing in the files does not establish criminal conduct.
Rogers’ campaign told Metro Times that the former FBI agent “busted human traffickers” and called any implication that he would accept money from traffickers “disgusting.” The resurfaced recording does not name the people Rogers wanted redacted. It does show a Senate candidate demanding that some Epstein-linked names remain hidden.