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 US President was aware of his activities, in an email released by congressional Democrats.
“I want you to realise 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 White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the emails, which were released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. Trump has repeatedly said he cut ties with Epstein nearly two decades ago and that he was not aware of the late financier’s activities. He has also cast the focus on Epstein as a “hoax” concocted by Democrats to distract from and undermine his agenda, without offering proof.
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 also discussed a Trump CNN interview in a 2015 email exchange. 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.
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