Democrats on a powerful House committee have released new emails they say raise serious questions about US President Donald Trump‘s knowledge of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein‘s crimes.
The White House accused them of “selectively” leaking emails to “create a fake narrative to smear President Trump” and linked the emails to Australia-based Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre.
In one of three emails released, the disgraced financier told girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell in April 2011 that someone – who the committee described as a victim of Epstein and whose name has been redacted – “spent hours at my house with him”.Donald Trump with billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2000, with their respective partners Melania Knauss (now Trump) and Ghislaine Maxwell at the president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. (Getty)
In another email, to author Michael Wolff in 2019, Epstein claimed Trump “knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop”.
In a third email from 2015, Epstein and Wolff discussed how to respond to questions about Trump as he ran for the Republican presidential candidate nomination.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released the three emails on Wednesday (early Thursday AEDT), claiming they raised questions about “Trump and Epstein’s relationship, Trump’s knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and relationship to victims”.
“The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover,” ranking Democrat Robert Garcia said.
“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.”
They obtained the emails in a tranche of documents after subpoenaing Epstein’s estate earlier this year.
Within hours the committee itself, controlled by Republicans who accused the Democrats of “cherry-picking”, released 20,000 pages of documents from the Epstein estate.
Trump did not receive or send any of the messages, which largely predated his time as president, and he has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein or Maxwell. (AP)
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused the Democrats of “bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments”, calling them a “hoax”.
“The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump,” she said, in a statement.
“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.
“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.”
Giuffre, who accused Epstein and now-former prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of sexually abusing her, died at her WA farm on Anzac Day. Her posthumous memoir was released last month, piling further pressure on the disgraced royal.Virginia Roberts Giuffre speaks during a news conference outside a Manhattan court in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
In the email with Maxwell, Epstein said: “i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. [VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned.”
Maxwell replied: “I have been thinking about that…”
(House Oversight Committee)
“Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever,” Epstein said.
“Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop”.
(House Oversight Committee)
In the email from 2015, Wolff told the disgraced financier that CNN was planning to ask Trump about his relationship with Epstein, which prompted Epstein to ask how to respond.
“I think you should let him hang himself,” Wolff said.
“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.”
(House Oversight Committee)
Trump did not receive or send any of the messages, which largely predated his time as president, and he has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein or Maxwell.
Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in an interview earlier this year that she “never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way”, and that she didn’t recall ever seeing Trump at Epstein’s house. She said she did witness the two men together in social settings.
The Oversight Committee, led by Republican James Comer, is one of the most powerful in Congress, with broad leeway to investigate nearly anything.
Members have long used the panel’s clout to command attention and investigate scandals inside and outside the government, including the Epstein case.
Jeffrey Epstein on March 28, 2017. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File) (AP)
Comer at the time said it was “appalling” for Democrats to release the sketch and accused them of engaging in “cherry-picking documents and politicising information” to imply without evidence that Trump was involved in Epstein’s actions.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Despite his death, details of his relationships with wealthy and powerful people continue to face immense scrutiny.
The Epstein case has been a political headache for Trump, who reneged on a pledge during his 2024 election campaign to release Epstein-related files from a Department of Justice investigation.
That prompted an outcry from Trump’s conservative base, including some members of Congress.
Epstein was first jailed in June 2008, sentenced to 18 months in a minimum-security prison after pleading guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18.
He was released from prison in July 2009, having served just 13 months.
– Reported with Reuters, CNN and Associated Press
