The Democrat from Nevada said she refused to be lectured about how to challenge President Trump, and she argues that her party needs to do more to gain voters’ trust.
The move is part of an effort by Democrats to draw Senate Republicans into the debate over the release of the Epstein files, which has bitterly divided the House G.O.P. and wrought havoc in that chamber.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, and all seven Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee sent a letter to the Justice Department requesting that it turn over its files on Jeffrey Epstein.
“No one wants a shutdown, and the way we avoid that shut down is by working together,” said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.
Working to exploit a G.O.P. rift, Democrats are aggressively pushing charges of a coverup in the case of the accused pedophile, which many of them once dismissed as a conspiracy theory.
Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, and Representative Katherine Clark, Democrat of Massachusetts, arriving for a news conference on Wednesday.