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LAST UPDATE | 12 Nov
DEMOCRATS HAVE RELEASED emails in which paedophile Jeffrey Epstein suggested that US President Donald Trump was aware of the disgraced financier’s sexual abuse and definitely “knew about the girls.”
Trump has repeatedly denied any involved or knowledge of the sex-trafficking activities of his former friend, who died by suicide in 2019 while in prison awaiting trial, and accused Democrats of trying to “deflect” from their own failings with the latest messages.
But the scandal has proved tough for Trump to shake, and Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said the three new emails “raise serious questions about Donald Trump and his knowledge of Epstein’s horrific crimes.”
The pressure on Trump has grown this evening, after a newly sworn-in Democratic representative added her name to a petition that now has enough signatures to force a vote on the release of the full Epstein files.
In an April 2011 message to longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein asserts Trump spent significant time with a woman whom the White House later identified as Epstein’s main accuser, Virgina Giuffre.
“I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump,” wrote Epstein. He added that the victim “spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned.”
Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking after Epstein’s death, replied: “I have been thinking about that…”
In another email to the author Michael Wolff, dated 31 January 2019, Epstein allegedly wrote: “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever… of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”
Epstein appeared to be referring to Trump’s claims – repeated by the White House today – that he kicked the financier out of his Florida club for being a “creep.”
The Epstein furor is still roiling Trump’s administration more than four months after his Justice Department sought to close the case.
Keen to capitalise, Democrats in the House have been trying to force a vote that would compel publication of the full Epstein case files.
Trump urged Republicans not to fall into a “trap”, and top officials hosted hard-right Republican Lauren Boebert in the White House Situation Room to push her to keep her name off the petition.
“The Democrats are 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,” Trump said on Truth Social.
But Boebert refused to back down, and the petition passed when Democratic congresswoman Adelita Grijalva was sworn in after weeks of delay and immediately signed the petition.
The Democrats on the House Oversight Committee obtained the emails after subpoenaing Epstein’s estate earlier this year.
The White House went into fightback mode, accusing Democrats of selectively leaking the mails to “create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Virginia Giuffre, who herself died by suicide in April, had declared that Trump “‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions.”
“These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong,” Leavitt told reporters.
The Epstein scandal has dogged Trump for months, after his Justice Department in a July memo reaffirmed he died by suicide, and that a “client list” Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed to have been reviewing did not in fact exist.
It sparked a furious backlash from Trump’s “MAGA” support base, who felt betrayed after being told for years that a “deep state” cover-up was protecting figures in the Democratic Party whom they accused of being Epstein’s clients.
Trump’s MAGA lieutenants – including two allies who now run the FBI – made careers of fanning the conspiracy theories, including that Epstein’s suicide was actually a murder ordered by his powerful clients.
Trump’s ties to Epstein are extensive. The pair were pictured partying together during a 15-year friendship before they reportedly fell out in 2004 over a property deal, and when Trump subsequently denounced his former ally.
The ripples from the scandal have also spread across the Atlantic. Trump said last month he felt “very badly” for the British royal family after the former prince Andrew, who was accused of abuse by Giuffre, had his titles revoked.
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