United States lawmakers have released over 20,000 pages of documents from the estate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Some of these newly released documents include mentions of President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday morning, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee made public three email exchanges. These included messages between Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, and his long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in sex trafficking. The release also included emails between Epstein and the author Michael Wolff, who has written several books about President Trump.
In response, House Republicans released a much larger set of documents just hours later. They claimed that the Democrats were trying to “cherry-pick” documents to “create a fake narrative to slander President Trump.” The White House also weighed in, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stating that the emails were “selectively leaked” by Democrats to “liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”
Leavitt added, “The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees.” It is known that Trump and Epstein were friends for many years. However, the president has said that they had a falling out in the early 2000s, which was two years before Epstein’s first arrest. President Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
What the Email Between Epstein and Maxwell Reveals
The first email that was released by the Democrats is from 2011 and is a conversation between Epstein and Maxwell. In the email, Epstein writes to Maxwell, “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.. [VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him.” He continues by writing that Trump “has never once been mentioned,” not even by a “police chief.” Maxwell’s reply was, “I have been thinking about that…”
The name of the victim was blacked out in the version of the email that the Democrats released. However, the unredacted version, which was included in the larger set of documents released by the committee, shows the name “Virginia.” The White House has stated that this refers to the late Virginia Giuffre, who was a well-known accuser of Epstein and who died by suicide earlier this year. In a statement, the White House said that Giuffre “repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions.”
In a 2016 deposition, Giuffre stated that she never saw Trump take part in any abuse. In her memoir, which was released this year, she did not accuse the president of any wrongdoing. When asked why the name was initially redacted, Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said that his party will never release the names of victims, in accordance with the wishes of their families.
What the Emails Between Epstein and Wolff Show
In his email exchanges with the author Michael Wolff, Epstein discussed his relationship with Trump. At the time of these emails, Trump was campaigning for the presidency for his first term. In one email from 2015, Wolff informs Epstein that CNN is planning to ask Trump about their relationship. Epstein replies, “If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?”
Wolff’s response was, “I think you should let him hang himself.” He suggested that if Trump denied being on Epstein’s plane or at his house, it would give Epstein “valuable PR and political currency.” He added that it was also possible that Trump would say Epstein was a “great guy” who had gotten a “raw deal.”
In another email from October 2016, just days before the presidential election, Wolff offers Epstein an interview that he says could “finish” Trump. “There’s an opportunity to come forward this week and talk about Trump in such a way that could garner you great sympathy and help finish him. Interested?” Wolff wrote.
A third email, from January 2019, shows Epstein telling Wolff that “Trump said he asked me to resign” from his Mar-a-Lago club. Epstein then adds that he was “never a member ever.” He also wrote that “of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.”
In a video posted to Instagram on Wednesday, Wolff responded to the release of the emails. “Some of those emails are between Epstein and me, with Epstein discussing his relationship with Donald Trump,” he said. “I have been trying to talk about this story for a very long time now.”
Prince Andrew Also Mentioned in Released Documents
In addition to President Trump, another released document mentions Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was formerly known as Prince Andrew. In March 2011, he replied to an email that had been forwarded to him by Ghislaine Maxwell via Jeffrey Epstein. The email was about alleged sexual activity with a masseuse who worked for Epstein.
Andrew’s reply reads, “Hey there! What’s all this? I don’t know anything about this! You must SAY so please. This has NOTHING to do with me. I can’t take any more of this.” Maxwell had forwarded a “right of reply” email from the Mail on Sunday newspaper, which contained numerous allegations about Maxwell, Epstein, and the then-Prince Andrew. The email stated that a woman, whose name is redacted, had been introduced to Andrew by Epstein in 2001 at Maxwell’s house in London, where she had sex with Andrew. The Mail on Sunday later published a story that included a photograph of Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre. Prince Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing and has never been charged with any crime.
