House Democrats release emails between Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, author Michael Wolff
A sign showing a photo of U.S. President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein is displayed ahead of a July news conference. The Democrats on the oversight committee of the House of Representatives released emails on Wednesday featuring exchanges between Epstein and author Michael Wolff and Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and Epstein’s former girlfriend. (Oliver Contreras/AFP/Getty Images)
Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein said U.S. President Donald Trump “knew about the girls,” according to emails released on Wednesday by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Democrats on the oversight committee of the House of Representatives cited exchanges between Epstein and author Michael Wolff and Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and Epstein’s former girlfriend, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for charges including sex trafficking of a minor.
In an email to Maxwell in 2011, Epstein is said to have to written that an unidentified person “spent hours at my house with” Trump and that “he has never once been mentioned.” The person’s name is redacted, with House Democrats characterizing them as “Victim.”
It’s not clear if Epstein was referring to media coverage or what the reference to “mentioned” entails.
Maxwell responds, “I have been thinking about that.”
The messages are part of a batch of 23,000 documents provided by Epstein’s estate to the House’s oversight committee.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt condemned the email release.
“The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump,” Leavitt said in a statement. Leavitt alleged that the redacted victim in the emails was the late Virginia Giuffre, “who repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever.”
Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein said Donald Trump ‘knew about the girls,’ according to emails released on Wednesday by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.Chuck Todd, political analyst and host of The Chuck ToddCast, discusses the allegations and how it could impact Trump’s presidency.
‘Asked Ghislaine to stop’
Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and into the early 2000s, but has denied any wrongdoing, pointing instead to others who were known to have associated with Epstein, including former president Bill Clinton.
The Democrats cited a separate email with Wolff in early 2019, in which Epstein is said to have emailed Wolff that Trump “knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.”
Epstein was subsequently indicted on federal charges that summer, but soon after died in a New York City prison cell. His death was ruled to be a suicide.
The Democrats on the panel said the emails “raise serious questions about Donald Trump and his knowledge of Epstein’s horrific crimes.”
With the record-long U.S. government shutdown appearing to be near its conclusion, Democrats are eager to resume their pressure campaign on the administration concerning Epstein.
On Wednesday, the House Speaker was due to swear in Democrat Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election in September to represent her district in Arizona.
Grijalva has vowed, once sworn in, to provide the final signature needed on a lawmakers’ petition to force a vote on a controversial bill ordering the release of all unclassified records related to the Epstein and that have been held by the Trump administration.
In a recent interview with the Justice Department, the imprisoned Maxwell said she never saw Trump “in any inappropriate setting,” according to a released transcript. She was transferred to a facility with less stringent security after she was interviewed in July by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Patel backtracks from previous claims
Trump told New York magazine in 2002 that his relationship with Epstein stretched back 15 years and he was a “terrific guy,” with a predilection for women “on the younger side.”
By July 2019, he told a reporter at the White House that he “had a falling out with him a long time ago.”
“I was not a fan,” Trump said of Epstein.
A board outlining the case against Ghislaine Maxwell is seen during a news conference toannounce charges against Maxwell for her alleged role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls by Epstein, on July 22, 2020, in New York. She was subsequently convicted at trial. (John Minchillo/The Associated Press)
While initial reports regarding the split indicated the men fell out over a Florida real estate deal, Trump in July said he was angered that Epstein had recruited unspecified persons from the spa at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Epstein was given a plea deal in 2008 — on state charges of soliciting prostitution in Florida — that is viewed in retrospect as extremely lenient.
The circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death in August 2019 and the financier’s associations with high-profile men like Trump, Clinton, Prince Andrew and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates have spawned myriad conspiracy theories and animated MAGA-aligned podcast hosts.
While still a private citizen appearing on a podcast, Kash Patel accused federal officials of a coverup in the Epstein case “because of who’s on that list.”
Since becoming FBI director, Patel has backed off such explosive claims while defending the agency’s handling of the case. Attorney General Pam Bondi in February seemed to hint at revelations that would ensue from the administration concerning the case, but they have not materialized.
In his second term, Trump has expressed annoyance with reporters asking about Epstein, and has also referred to the controversy as a “Democrat hoax” without elaborating on what that means.
Republican Mace criticizes Democrats
A handful of House Republicans, including Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have joined the chorus of Democratic colleagues in that chamber in criticizing the Trump administration’s response to questions about Epstein.
In September, members of both parties stood nearby as several alleged Epstein victims spoke on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, demanding more transparency from the administration.
Massie has publicly lamented the fact that no clients of Epstein in the U.S. have faced any consequence for their actions, drawing a contrast with recent events in Britain.
King Charles has stripped Andrew of his royal title of prince. Andrew paid millions in an out-of-court settlement in 2022 to Epstein victim Giuffre, who died this past April.
In public comments before her death, and in a posthumous memoir released recently, Giuffre said that sexual contact with Andrew occurred when she was 17 years old.
Sarah Ferguson, Andrew’s ex-wife, and Britain’s ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson, have also faced repercussions in recent months after new information came to light regarding their respective communications with Epstein after he was convicted in Florida.
But at least one House Republican, Nancy Mace, on Wednesday took exception to the release of emails.
“As a survivor, I find it deeply offensive that Democrats would use Epstein victims to bury headlines about the vote to reopen the government today — today of all days,” said Mace, of South Carolina. (CBC)