Prankster built GOP midterm convention lookalike website – that just sends people to the Epstein files
A website purporting to host details about the Republican National Committee’s 2026 midterm convention instead redirected visitors’ attention to a subject President Donald Trump has long sought to put behind him, according to a new report.
Google’s preview for the imposter site — gopdallas2026.com — stated that it included “details about the 2026 RNC Midterm Convention at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, Sept. 9-10 including registration, VIP experiences,” The New York Times reported.
But when users clicked the link, they were instead sent to the Department of Justice’s cache of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased sex offender.
The fake site appeared far more prominently in Google search results than the RNC’s official convention page, gopconvention.com, drawing immediate attention to the discrepancy.
It remains unclear who created the lookalike website, but the RNC has blamed Democrats.
“Democrats are too broke to have their own midterm convention, so they settled for a sad, fake little website,” RNC spokesperson Zach Parkinson wrote on social media, responding to a Daily Mail report that linked the site to a creative agency run by a former Democratic operative.
As of Saturday afternoon, the site still redirects users to the Justice Department’s website.
The upcoming, first-of-its-kind convention is intended to boost Republicans ahead of the midterm elections in November, which historically see the president’s party lose seats in Congress.
However, some GOP lawmakers reportedly have no interest in attending, while Republican operatives have complained about the pricey tickets.
The Independent has contacted the RNC for comment.
Jeffrey Epstein was a financier and convicted sex offender who pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution. In 2019, federal prosecutors charged him with trafficking minors. He died in a Manhattan jail in 2019 before trial, leaving many questions unresolved.
The Justice Department’s release of millions of Epstein-related records has renewed scrutiny of his ties to powerful figures, including Trump, who has not been accused of wrongdoing and says he cut ties with Epstein years ago.
Appearance in the files does not indicate wrongdoing.
Trump started the firestorm over Epstein by pledging during the presidential campaign to release more information. However, months into his term, his then-Attorney General Pam Bondi announced no new information would be released. That sparked outrage from his base. Congress passed a law to force the release, and Trump eventually complied and released the documents – despite missing the initial deadline.
