WASHINGTON ― The late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein urged to confidants that President Donald Trump knew about his prison exercise, in line with electronic mail messages made public Wednesday.
Trump “knew about the girls,” Epstein wrote in one of many three emails launched by Democrats on the Home Oversight Committee.
The emails, culled from hundreds of paperwork obtained from a committee subpoena to the Epstein property, have beforehand not been made public, the Democrats mentioned. The messages undermine the president’s efforts to downplay his relationship with Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 whereas dealing with federal fees associated to intercourse trafficking minors.
In one other of the messages, from 2011, Epstein tells Ghislaine Maxwell, his associate in crime, that Trump is the “dog that hasn’t barked” as a result of he’d hung out with somebody whose title is redacted as “VICTIM.”
“i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump,” Epstein wrote. ”[VICTIM] spent hours at my home with him,, he has by no means as soon as been talked about.”
On the time, Epstein had already been convicted in Florida of felony solicitation of prostitution following an investigation that found Epstein and his confederate grooming underage women for sexual abuse by recruiting them to work as therapeutic massage therapists at Epstein’s dwelling in Palm Seashore, Florida. Epstein struck a take care of federal prosecutors, who agreed to not press federal fees in change for Epstein’s responsible plea to state fees.
After particulars of the lover deal got here to mild, in addition to extra details about Epstein’s conduct, he was charged by federal prosecutors in New York in 2019. Authorities mentioned he then hanged himself in jail; his demise fueled conspiracy theories a few community of elite sexual deviants having him killed to forestall their crimes from coming to mild.
The Trump administration has refused to make public the federal government’s investigative recordsdata associated to the Epstein case regardless of earlier guarantees by Trump and different officers to launch the fabric. Trump is reportedly talked about repeatedly within the Justice Division’s recordsdata, that are separate from the paperwork obtained from the property that Democrats launched Wednesday.
“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,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) mentioned in a press launch.
In an announcement, White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned the emails have been “selectively leaked” by Democrats to smear Trump.
“The ‘unnamed victim’ referenced in these emails is the late Virginia Giuffre, who repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions,” Leavitt mentioned. “The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre.”
Afterward Wednesday, Republicans on the Home Oversight Committee launched the complete batch of 20,000 paperwork obtained from the Epstein property ― and accused Democrats of redacting Giuffre’s title with a view to make it look like the sufferer might have been somebody who might implicate Trump.
“The official stance of Oversight Democrats is that we don’t confirm or deny the names of victims,” a spokesperson for Oversight Democrats mentioned in response.
Home Oversight Committee
The e-mail launch comes as a bipartisan push to require the Justice Division to launch the Epstein recordsdata nears a milestone. The swearing-in of Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) on Wednesday afternoon will give proponents the ultimate signature wanted to drive a Home vote on laws ordering the Epstein materials made public in a searchable database. Even when the Home passes the invoice, nevertheless, it could nonetheless have to clear the Senate and in some way overcome opposition from the president himself.
Wednesday’s launch isn’t the primary materials from the Epstein property to implicate Trump. Earlier this 12 months, the Oversight Committee obtained a “birthday book” from 2002 through which Trump paid tribute to Epstein for his fiftieth birthday with a creepy message suggesting the 2 shared some “wonderful secret.”
In one of many emails launched Wednesday, Epstein appeared to dispute Trump’s claims that he’d banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago membership in Florida.
Epstein wrote in 2019, earlier than his federal indictment, to the journalist Michael Wolff, “trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever.. of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”
Trump mentioned earlier this 12 months he banned Epstein from his membership after he “stole people that worked for me.” Giuffre, who died by suicide this 12 months, has testified she was employed away from Mar-a-Lago in 2000 ― seven years earlier than Trump informed reporters he’d minimize ties with Epstein.
Like Giuffre, different Epstein victims who spoke out on Capitol Hill this 12 months mentioned they didn’t see Trump behave inappropriately.
It was Ghislaine Maxwell who recruited women for Epstein’s massages. She was sentenced to twenty years in jail in 2022 for taking part in Epstein’s crimes, however she’s now hoping Trump will commute her sentence.
In an uncommon interview with a prime Justice Division official this 12 months, Maxwell mentioned she might have recruited a masseuse from Mar-a-Lago, however she couldn’t recall for certain. She mentioned she by no means noticed Trump doing something inappropriate ― testimony for which Maxwell was apparently rewarded with a switch to a minimal safety jail camp, the place she reportedly receives extremely preferential therapy.
In one other electronic mail, in 2015, Wolff informed Epstein that Trump could be requested about their relationship throughout a presidential debate that 12 months. Epstein questioned what he would say if he have been capable of craft Trump’s reply.
“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. “You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt. Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he’ll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime.”
