Emails released by the House Democrats on Wednesday show the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alleging that President Donald Trump “knew about the girls” and “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with one of them. Trump has long denied having any prior knowledge of Epstein’s conduct.
The core three email exchanges, released as the House of Representatives returned to Washington to end the government shutdown, were penned by the disgraced financier between 2011 and 2019. One correspondence was addressed to Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors. The other two exchanges were sent to author Michael Wolff, who penned the 2018 book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.
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In one of the newly-released emails, Epstein claimed that Trump “knew about the girls,” and debated how to frame his relationship with Trump to the press, amid growing interest as Trump’s political stature grew.
Trump’s relationship with Epstein has long come under fire and has remained a focal point among critics worldwide, with protesters from the U.S. to the U.K. projecting images of the two together amid demands for the Trump Administration to release the full Epstein files.
Trump and the White House have staunchly, and repeatedly, downplayed his former encounters with Epstein and have said the President knew nothing of the convicted sex offender’s conduct.
The White House on Wednesday again denied that Trump had any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, and labelled the “unnamed victim” from the emails as the late Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April and was a survivor of Epstein’s abuse and an accuser of Prince Andrew.
[Andrew has strongly denied the allegations of sexual abuse made by Giuffre. In early 2022, he settled a lawsuit with Giuffre for an undisclosed amount. Andrew was recently stripped of his royal titles after a posthumously-published memoir from Giuffre featured further damning accusations.]
“The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump. 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,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told TIME on Wednesday.
[TIME was unable to independently verify that Giuffre’s name is the one marked “victim.”]
Leavitt went on to say that “Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees” including Giuffre, who worked as a locker room attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Giuffre alleged she became a victim of Epstein, and was “loaned” out to members of his network, after initially being approached by his associate, Maxwell, while working at Mar-a-Lago. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on July 29 that Giuffre was someone Epstein “stole” from the Mar-a-Lago spa, and that it formed part of his reason for eventually banning Epstein from the club. Giuffre had “no complaints about us, as you know—none whatsoever,” Trump said.
Shortly after the release of the three emails on Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee released 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate, featuring emails, articles, and 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,” said Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, a ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee.
In a statement sent to TIME, Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin alleged: “Despite Donald Trump’s denials, it’s clear from these emails that Trump knew his close friend Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile and a predator—and that Trump himself spent hours at Epstein’s house with one of his victims. The White House’s failed attempt to hide the truth from the American people has been one of the greatest cover-ups in American history, but the jig is up.”
Trump dismissed the emails on Wednesday afternoon, accusing the Democrats of “trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects. Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.”
Addressing his 11 million followers on Truth Social, the President concluded: “There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats.”
Here’s what to know about the key claims featured in the newly-surfaced Epstein emails, and the disputed narrative they put forth about Trump.
Epstein alleges Trump “knew about the girls”
In an email dated Jan. 31, 2019, during Trump’s first presidency, Epstein appears to have told author Michael Wolff: “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever.”
This was seemingly in dispute of Trump’s claims that he had asked Epstein to resign his membership at the President’s Mar-a-Lago Club, with Epstein saying he had “never” been a member.
Epstein went on to allege: “Of course he [Trump] knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine [Maxwell] to stop.”
Democrats on the Oversight Committee said earlier this week that “whistleblower documents revealed Ghislaine Maxwell asked President Trump to commute her sentence,” alleging that Maxwell has received “concierge-style treatment” in prison.
Maxwell’s appeal for release was rejected by the Supreme Court in October, and Trump has largely refused to comment on whether he might one day issue a pardon. Pressed by reporters at the Oval Office, Trump once again made an effort to distance himself from both Maxwell and Epstein. “You know, I haven’t heard the name in so long,” he said of Maxwell in October. “I can say this, that I’d have to take a look at it [the case]. I would have to take a look.”
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have called on House Speaker Mike Johnson and Oversight Chairman Jame Comer to “publicly oppose a commutation or pardon by President Trump.”
Epstein claims Trump “spent hours” with victim
In an email sent by Epstein to co-conspirator Maxwell in April 2011, the late sex offender made allegations pertaining to Trump and a “victim,” which the White House has since identified as key Epstein accuser Giuffre.
“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. Police chief. Etc. I’m 75% there,” Epstein wrote. To which Maxwell replied: “I have been thinking about that.”
Epstein was initially sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in 2008 after pleading guilty to state charges—one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. He was in custody once more awaiting trial on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors when he died in a New York jail cell in 2019.
Epstein debates how Trump can frame their relationship ahead of a Republican presidential primary debate in 2015
In another correspondence, author Wolff told Epstein that he heard CNN is “planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you—either on air or in scrum afterwards.”
To which Epstein, according to the leaked exchange, replied: “If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?”
Wolff is then seen to reply: “I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency.”
He went on to say: “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. Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he’ll say ‘Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime.’”
CNN has reported that “there is no mention of Epstein in the transcript,” regarding the 2015 primary debate it hosted.
Wolff has written a number of books about Trump, including Fire and Fury in 2018, which was heavily condemned by the President. In an interview with TIME, Wolff described Trump’s response, which involved a legal letter, as “ludicrous and scary.”
TIME has reached out to Wolff for comment regarding the newly-released emails.
What is the history of Trump’s relationship with Epstein?
Trump’s connection to Epstein dates back decades. In a 2002 interview with New York magazine, he famously said that Epstein was “a lot of fun to be with.”
“It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,” Trump is quoted as telling the reporter.
In July 2019, NBC News’ TODAY released unearthed video footage understood to be from 1992, which showed Trump greeting Epstein at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
After Epstein’s 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, Trump made significant strides to distance himself. Addressing reporters in the Oval Office in 2019, Trump said: “I had a falling out with him [Epstein]. I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.”
Trump’s former relationship with Epstein recently came under the spotlight again in September after a birthday letter, alleged to have been signed by Trump and addressed to Epstein, was published. It was one of several letters said to be written by high-profile figures for a book celebrating Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003.
The White House staunchly denied that Trump wrote Epstein the birthday note, but stopped short of calling the documents fake.
Among the letters was a note from Peter Mandelson, who served as the U.K. ambassador to the U.S. until he was sacked in September following the new information about his relationship with Epstein. In addition to a birthday note, several emails were uncovered showing an extensive correspondence between the former ambassador and Epstein between 2005 and 2010. In the emails, Mandelson expressed support for Epstein as the latter was facing charges for sexual abuse.
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