Epstein emails suggest Trump 'knew of girls'; spent hours at his house

Jamie Tarabay and Erik Wasson  Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein appeared to allege that Donald Trump spent hours in a house with one of the late sex trafficker’s victims and suggested the president was aware of his activities in emails released Wednesday by congressional Democrats. 

“I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump,” Epstein wrote in a 2011 email, without specifying if he was referring to the future president. He went on to say that a victim had “spent hours at my house with him” and that “he has never once been mentioned,” again without directly identifying whom he was referring to.  

That email was sent to Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Epstein, who was convicted and is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in helping him with the sexual abuse of underage women. 

The emails are likely to intensify scrutiny over the president’s relationship with Epstein and come as House lawmakers are poised to force a vote on legislation to compel the Department of Justice to release more files related to the investigation into the deceased sex trafficker’s activities.

 

The messages were released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. The committee subsequently released a trove of roughly 20,000 pages of documents they said were received from Epstein’s estate. 

“The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. Leavitt said the victim referenced in the emails had “ repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions.” 

“These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments, and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again,” she added. 

Trump has repeatedly said he cut ties with Epstein nearly two decades ago and that was not aware of the late financier’s activities. 

In a separate email with author Michael Wolff from 2019, Epstein wrote that “trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever,” appearing to refer to the president’s request that he leave the Mar-a-Lago club. Epstein added “of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.” 

Epstein and Wolff in a 2015 email exchange also discussed Trump potentially being questioned by CNN about their relationship on the night of a GOP primary. Wolff suggested Epstein had leverage over Trump, who was then running for president. 

“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,” Wolff wrote. 

A lawyer for Wolff did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Trump has faced pressure from parts of his base to provide more transparency over the sex-trafficking investigation into Epstein, a case that has long drawn interest from many Trump allies and spurred conspiracy theories about the late convicted sex offender’s associates and death. 

The president has expressed frustration with questions over his relationship with Epstein, saying that the media should focus on other individuals. In July, he told reporters he had “nothing to do with the guy” and that he “never went to the island,” appearing to refer to properties in the Caribbean that belonged to Epstein and where it is alleged that the financier sexually abused and trafficked young women. 

“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,” Representative Robert Garcia of California, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement. “The Department of Justice must fully release the Epstein files to the public immediately.” 

Scrutiny of Trump’s relationship with Epstein intensified this year after the Wall Street Journal released a letter purportedly written by him to Epstein on a birthday. Trump has denied writing the alleged note, which House Democrats released earlier this year with another trove of documents related to Epstein. The president has sued Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co., News Corp. and owner Rupert Murdoch for libel. 

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida charges, including procurement of minors to engage in prostitution. He was facing federal charges of trafficking underage girls when he was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019. He had pleaded not guilty. Authorities said that Epstein committed suicide.