The Jeffrey Epstein case took a new turn Wednesday when House Democrats released emails written by the disgraced financier that mentioned President Trump. Hours later, Republicans released a 20,000-page collection of documents.
Epstein, who died in prison, was accused of organizing the sex trafficking of young girls. President Trump, a longtime friend of Epstein, feuded with the convicted sex offender before he was elected to the nation's highest office and denies any wrongdoing.
Letters
- “Of course he knew about the girls,” Epstein said of Trump in an email to author and journalist Michael Wolff in early 2019, as Trump was nearing the end of his first term as president.
- In another email, dated Dec. 15, 2015, Wolf emailed Epstein before the Republican presidential primary debate: “I hear CNN plans to ask Trump about his relationship with you tonight, either on air or in a scrum afterwards.” Epstein responded: “If we could give him an answer, what do you think it should be?”
- In a third email, sent to British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell in 2011, Epstein wrote: “I want you to understand that the dog that didn't bark was Trump. [Victim] spent hours with him in my house…he was never mentioned.” Maxwell replied: “I thought about it…”
Read excerpts here:
Reaction
Caroline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said 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,” she said in a statement, “and any reasonable American can see right through this hoax and a clear distraction from the reopening of government.”
Democrats, however, say the emails break new ground.
“The more Donald Trump tries to hide the Epstein files, the more we reveal,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) said in a statement. statement how he published the documents. “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.”
Background
Despite numerous investigations, there have been no official findings linking Trump to Epstein's crimes.
Epstein, a wealthy financier with a deep bench of powerful friends, died in a New York prison in August 2019 while facing federal charges in a sprawling child sex trafficking conspiracy.
The charges follow the Miami Herald's reporting on a controversial deal brokered by federal prosecutors in Florida that allowed Epstein to serve a months-long sentence without federal charges that could have resulted in life in prison.
In July, the Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump sent Epstein a lewd 50th birthday letter that included a sketch of a naked woman, her breasts and the wavy signature “Donald” that mimicked pubic hair. The President denied writing the letter.
“These are not my words or how I speak,” Trump wrote on his social network. “I also don’t draw pictures.”
