House Democrats have released a new batch of emails from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation that reveal associates of former President Donald Trump visited the financier’s properties after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor, prompting a fierce political backlash.
The emails, which include unverified claims made by Epstein himself about Trump’s knowledge of his activities, have been labelled a “smear” by the current White House while Democrats insist they demand further scrutiny.
The three emails, extracted from a cache of over 23,000 documents, were made public on Wednesday. They detail communications in which Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019, made assertions about Trump. In a 2015 email to a journalist, Epstein wrote that Trump had “spent hours” with a victim, whose name is redacted but is speculated to be Virginia Giuffre.
In another from 2018, Epstein claimed Trump “knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.” The documents also indicate that individuals linked to Trump continued to visit Epstein’s residences on multiple occasions after he was a registered sex offender.
Democratic Representative Robert Garcia, a member of the oversight committee, stated, “These documents raise glaring questions about what Donald Trump knew and when. The public deserves the full, unredacted truth about the extent of these relationships.” The White House immediately went on the offensive.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “This is a fake narrative pushed by desperate Democrats. Virginia Giuffre herself has stated President Trump was not involved in Epstein’s crimes.” Republicans countered by pointing out that they had previously released over 20,000 pages of documents which, in their view, demonstrated Epstein’s anti-Trump bias.
The broader context of this release touches on the long-standing and complex relationship between Trump and Epstein. The two were known to be social friends in the early 2000s before a reported falling out. Trump has acknowledged flying on Epstein’s plane once.
The timing of the email release, just ahead of the midterm elections, suggests a deeply political motive, and it has ignited a firestorm on social media, reviving conspiracy theories and debates about elite impunity. The legal implications for Trump remain minimal, as he has never been charged in connection with the Epstein case, but the political and reputational damage is the central battleground.
Written by Were Kelly
Sources: ABC News, USA Today, The Guardian.
