Newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender and accused trafficker who was once good friends with President Donald Trump, reveal that Trump was likely aware of the disgraced financier’s misdeeds.
The emails from Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend and co-conspirator in the sex trafficking scheme, as well as to author Michael Wolff, were obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee after the committee subpoenaed Epstein’s estate earlier this year. Trump is mentioned multiple times in the messages, which were sent over the span of the last 15 years. The correspondences were made public on Wednesday morning.
Trump has denied having knowledge of Epstein’s misconduct at the time it was taking place, but the emails reveal he knew more about what transpired than he’s previously claimed.
In a 2011 email to Maxwell, Epstein indicated that Trump was keeping a secret for him. “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump,” Epstein wrote.
In that same message, Epstein said that Trump had “spent hours at my house” with a person who later became known as one of Epstein’s sex trafficking victims.
In a 2015 correspondence with Wolff, Epstein asked the author how he should handle possible press inquiries if his past association with Trump was brought up during a 2015 GOP primary election debate.
“If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable P.R. and political currency,” Wolff responded, adding that Epstein should let Trump “hang himself” if he tries to deny having a previous friendship with him.
And in 2019, shortly before he was arrested, Epstein told Wolff that Trump was aware of his sex trafficking operation.
“Of course he knew about the girls,” Epstein said, adding that Trump had “asked Ghislaine to stop.”
It’s unclear what Trump meant by asking Maxwell to “stop” — whether he was requesting that the two halt their operations altogether, or simply their recruitment of girls and women from his Mar-a-Lago resort, which is reportedly one of the reasons he and Epstein had a falling out.
Epstein reportedly died by suicide in 2019 while in custody awaiting trial.
The emails are missing important context, which could potentially be remedied by the Department of Justice (DOJ) releasing the entirety of Epstein files in their possession. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-California), the ranking member on the Oversight Committee, said those files must be made public.
“The Department of Justice must fully release the Epstein files to the public immediately. The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover,” Garcia said, adding that the new emails “raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the President.”
The disclosure of the emails comes as the House of Representatives is set to reconvene following a lengthy government shutdown, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has announced he finally plans to seat Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Arizona), who won a special election in September but has not yet been allowed to assume her role.
Johnson had blocked her from becoming a member of Congress, claiming he couldn’t swear her in because the House was out of session, despite the fact that he had allowed Republicans to be sworn in earlier this year under the same circumstances.
Grijalva represents the last vote needed in a bipartisan coalition to force a discharge petition vote in the House on releasing the Epstein files in possession of the DOJ. Political observers — and Grijalva herself — have suggested that Johnson was delaying her swearing-in to block that vote from taking place.
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