What’s in the explosive Jeffrey Epstein emails accusing Trump?

The Jeffrey Epstein case took a new twist Wednesday when House Democrats released emails the disgraced financier wrote that mention President Trump. A few hours later, Republicans then released a trove of 20,000 pages of documents.

Epstein, who died in prison, was accused of orchestrating sex trafficking of young girls. President Trump, a longtime friend of Epstein’s, has said he fell out with the convicted sex offender before he was elected to the nation’s highest office and has denied any involvement in wrongdoing.

The emails Democrats released

• “Of course he knew about the girls,” Epstein said of Trump in an email to author and journalist Michael Wolff in early 2019, when Trump was in the midst of his first term as president.
• In another email dated Dec. 15, 2015, Wolff emailed Epstein ahead of a Republican presidential primary debate: “I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you — either on air or in scrum afterwards.” Epstein wrote back, “If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?”

• In a third email, sent to British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell in 2011, Epstein wrote: “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.” Maxwell responded: “I have been thinking about that…”

Read the excerpts here:

From a portion of the GOP’s 20,000-page document dump

• In May 2017, long after Trump had reportedly broken ties with Epstein, a New York Times reporter emailed criminal defense attorney Reid Weingarten, then a finalist for Trump’s outside counsel, seeking comment. Weingarten forwarded the email to Epstein less than an hour and a half later: “do you want it? Or Jared?” he asked, referring to the president’s son-in-law and senior advisor at the time. “Do I have the choice?” Epstein replied. “And if so, your view?”
• In June 2017, someone whose name has been redacted sent Epstein an email with a link to a YouTube video. “How are u? Send this interview to Donald Trump pls,” the subject line read. “Its going to be everywhere.” Epstein responded, “ok.”
• “you see, i know how dirty donald is. My guess is that non lawyers ny biz people have no idea. What it means to have your fixer flip,” Epstein wrote in a 2018 email. It was appeared to be an email to Kathy Ruemmler, attorney and former White House counsel under President Obama, in reference to Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen cooperating with prosecutors investigating the president.

The reaction

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that Democrats had “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”

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

Democrats, however, say the emails break new ground.

“The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) said in a statement as he released the 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.”

By Wednesday afternoon, House Democrats — and a few Republicans — secured enough signatures for a petition that would force a chamber vote on the release of Justice Department files related to the Epstein investigation.

The background

Despite many investigations, there have been no official findings linking Trump to Epstein’s crimes.

Epstein, a wealthy financier with a deep bench of powerful friends, died in a New York City prison in August 2019 as he faced federal charges in a sprawling child sex-trafficking conspiracy.

The charges followed reporting by the Miami Herald of a scandalous sweetheart deal brokered by federal prosecutors in Florida that had allowed Epstein to serve a months-long sentence, avoiding federal charges that could have resulted in life imprisonment.

In July, the Wall Street Journal reported President Trump sent a raunchy 50th birthday letter to Epstein that included a sketch of a naked woman, her breasts and a squiggly “Donald” signature mimicking pubic hair. The president denied writing the letter.

“These are not my words, not the way I talk,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “Also, I don’t draw pictures.”