House Democrats Release Never-Before-Seen Epstein Emails About Trump
Jeffrey Epstein claimed Donald Trump “spent hours at my house” with one of his victims and “knew about the girls,” according to several newly released emails dating from 2011 to 2019.
The correspondence, obtained by the House Oversight Committee and made public by Congressional Democrats Wednesday, includes messages to his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and author Michael Wolff, who has written several critical books chronicling Trump’s presidency. It is unclear what the phrase “knew about the girls” in the email meant.
About two hours later, House Republicans released a trove of 23,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate. They paint a picture of Wolff advising Epstein, suggesting that Epstein “talk about Trump in such a way that could garner you great sympathy and help finish him.”
HOW WE GOT HERE
Epstein reportedly died by suicide in federal prison in 2019. He and Trump were friendly in the 1990s and early 2000s, but had a falling out about 20 years ago. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying he banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida because Epstein was stealing spa workers to go work for him. Trump has also not been charged with any wrongdoing regarding Epstein victims.
Over the summer, Maxwell told Justice Department officials that Trump was “never inappropriate with anybody” during the years he knew Epstein.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on sex trafficking charges and is serving a 20-year sentence, and she is reportedly pushing to get a pardon from Trump.
WHITE HOUSE RESPONDS
Trump responded Wednesday, saying, “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap” that Democrats are setting. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed that message, accusing Democrats of selectively leaking “emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”
“The ‘unnamed victim’ referenced in these emails is the late Virginia Giuffre, who repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions,” Leavitt said.
“The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre,” Leavitt said.
Giuffre died by suicide in April, but supported Trump, noting she believed he would release the Epstein files.
House Speaker Johnson swore in Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona Wednesday after a seven-week delay she believes is tied to her push to release the Epstein files. Her signature will force a House floor vote on making the files public.
ABC News reports that top White House and Justice Department officials met Wednesday morning with Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) to persuade her to withdraw her name from a bipartisan petition.
The effort did not appear to work, as the petition secured enough signatures on Wednesday evening.
Now, a bipartisan bill to release more Epstein-related files will get a House floor vote.
It follows uproar in Trump’s MAGA base over the summer when the heads of the DOJ and FBI put out a joint statement saying there was no Epstein client list and that he died by suicide.