Late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein specifically referenced his relationship with President Donald Trump in writing before Trump was elected to office and in the runup to the 2020 election, according to newly obtained emails released Wednesday by the House Oversight Committee.
The emails, some of which were shared directly with PBS News, are among 23,000 documents Epstein’s estate released to the committee, ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., wrote in a news release. They include correspondence between Epstein and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her involvement in Epstein’s sex trafficking ring.
Below are the first three emails released by committee. See the emails at this link.
Read the full emails released by the committee by clicking the document below.
In one 2011 email about Trump, Epstein wrote that “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump [sic]. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, [sic] he has never once been mentioned.”
Maxwell responded: “I have been thinking about that … .”
In another email to author Michael Wolff on Jan. 31, 2019, Epstein mentioned the president’s private club, Mar-a-Lago, and said, “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever. Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine [sic] to stop.”
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In another exchange dated Dec. 15, 2015, Wolff allegedly emailed Epstein that he’d heard CNN planned to ask Trump about their relationship. CNN hosted the 5th Republican primary debate of the 2016 election cycle on December 15, 2015. Epstein asked: “If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?” Wolff offered, in part, that “If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt.” Trump was not asked about Epstein during the debate, according to a PBS News review of transcripts and video.
PBS News has asked the White House, Maxwell’s legal team and Wolff for comment about these exchanges.
Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein case, but their relationship has been under renewed scrutiny. Details of the dissolution of their friendship are hazy. Trump claims he stopped speaking to Epstein because he “stole” workers from Mar-a-Lago’s spa.
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On the campaign trail, Trump said he supported the release of more of the government’s files related to Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while in prison. Yet since returning to office, Trump has described the push for more transparency as a “hoax,” and sued The Wall Street Journal for its reporting about a lewd birthday drawing he allegedly made for Epstein.
Calls to release more information have intensified among members of Congress, Epstein survivors and the public. Under a new Republican majority, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Department of Justice and several high-ranking officials this summer, including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey, as part of its own investigation into how the government handled the case. The committee has released more than 33,0000 pages of documents related to the case, as well as a redacted electronic copy of Epstein’s birthday book, which appeared to include messages allegedly from Trump and Bill Clinton, among others.
“The more Donald Trump tries to cover-up the Epstein files, the more we uncover. These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the President,” Garcia wrote in Wednesday’s news release. “The Department of Justice must fully release the Epstein files to the public immediately. The Oversight Committee will continue pushing for answers and will not stop until we get justice for the victims.”
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Earlier this week, a whistleblower shared information with the House Judiciary Committee that Maxwell was receiving special treatment at the prison she was moved to several months ago in Texas. Last month, Wolff sued first lady Melania Trump, alleging she had threatened him with a lawsuit to silence him from writing about her connections with Epstein.
More than three-quarters of Americans think the Trump administration should release all of the Epstein files, with victims’ names redacted, according to a late September poll from PBS News, NPR and Marist.
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