Trump’s name appears in new Epstein files released by Congress : NPR

On Wednesday morning, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three new emails from the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that mentioned President Trump: raising new questions about the extent of their relationship.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee later Wednesday released the latest set of more than 20,000 documents that include emails from Epstein often expressing dissatisfaction with Trump and his presidency, financial market reports and court documents related to Epstein's cases.

“The more Donald Trump tries to hide the Epstein files, the more we reveal,” Ranking Member Robert Garcia, D-Calif. the statement says. “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.”

In one 2015 email between Epstein and writer Michael Wolf, the pair discuss a potential issue from an upcoming CNN report about Trump's personal ties to Epstein.

“I think you should let him hang himself,” Wolf wrote. “If he says he wasn't on the plane or at home, that gives you valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that will potentially benefit you in a positive way, or if it really looks like he might win, you can save him by creating debt.”

Another email Epstein sent in 2011 to Ghislaine Maxwell, his assistant convicted on human trafficking charges, calls Trump “the dog that didn't bark” and says Trump “spent hours in my house” with one of the alleged sex trafficking victims.

Another 2019 message between Epstein and Wolff, in which the disgraced financier wrote that “of course, [Trump] knew about the girls when he asked Ghislaine to stop.” The email did not provide any details.

“I have met some very bad people, but not as bad as Trump,” Epstein wrote to former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers in 2017. “Not a single decent cell in his body.”

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt sent NPR a statement saying, in part, that “Democrats selectively leaked emails to liberal media outlets to create a false story to smear President Trump.”

“These stories are nothing more than bad faith attempts to distract attention from President Trump’s historic accomplishments, and any reasonable American can see right through this hoax and a clear distraction from reopening the government,” Leavitt wrote.

During the press briefing, Leavitt reiterated that the emails “prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong” and said the administration has “done more on transparency when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein than any other administration has ever done.”

In September, House Democrats published more than 200 pages Epstein's congratulatory book, created more than two decades ago, includes an obscene drawing and a letter apparently signed by Trump.

The president, who has consistently denied any meaningful connection to Epstein, called the drawing and signature a “fake.”

Trump has been criticized for paying little attention to his supporters, who have called for full disclosure of files held on Epstein and his alleged crimes before and after he died by suicide in 2019 while in federal custody.

In July Trump told reporters that he and Epstein had a falling out because Epstein hired young female employees who worked at the Mar-a-Lago spa.

The release is timed to coincide with the vote of the House of Representatives

The latest revelation of Epstein's files comes as the House of Representatives returns to session for a vote that could reopen the federal government after the longest shutdown in US history.

House Democrats and four Republicans had pushed for a vote to release additional files related to Epstein's case even before the government shutdown began in October.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson was able to delay the vote, keeping the House out of the room for seven weeks, and most recently refused to swear in Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona. Grijalva is expected to be sworn in Wednesday afternoon.

Critics on both sides viewed Johnson's refusal as a means of avoiding a vote on the Justice Department's request to release Epstein documents.

During the campaign, Grijalva, who won the special election on September 23, promised to sign a bipartisan petition launched by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., demanding a House vote on Epstein. Grijalva's signature was the 218th needed to force a vote on the issue.

The Epstein files continue to be a political thorn in the president's side after Trump campaigned to release the documents as part of a broader message portraying his candidacy as a way to expose powerful people hiding the truth.