Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Newly released emails from the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein reveal multiple references to former President Donald Trump in correspondence spanning more than a decade. The messages, published Wednesday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, shed new light on Epstein’s communications with his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell and journalist Michael Wolff, and offer a rare glimpse into his private discussions about the former president.
According to the committee, the emails were obtained through a subpoena issued earlier this year to Epstein’s estate as part of a broader congressional effort to release additional information related to the disgraced financier’s network and his death in federal custody in 2019. Trump did not send or receive any of the emails, most of which predate his presidency, and he has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein or Maxwell.
In one 2011 exchange, Epstein wrote to Maxwell: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump. [Name redacted] spent hours at my house with him. He has never once been mentioned.” Maxwell responded, “I have been thinking about that…” Committee Democrats described the unnamed woman as a victim of Epstein’s trafficking operation. Republican members later identified her as Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most well-known survivors, who died by suicide in April. Giuffre, who has accused Epstein and Prince Andrew of abuse, never alleged any misconduct by Trump.
In her 2019 memoir Nobody’s Girl, Giuffre recalled meeting Trump while working as a locker room attendant at his Mar-a-Lago resort in 2000, describing him as “friendly” and noting he once asked whether she babysat for guests’ children. She made no claims of inappropriate behavior.
Epstein’s 2011 reference to Trump came several years after his 2008 conviction in Florida for soliciting prostitution and procuring a minor for prostitution, charges that resulted in a controversial plea deal criticized for its leniency. Epstein served 13 months of an 18-month sentence and was released in mid-2009.
The newly disclosed emails also include a 2019 exchange between Epstein and Wolff, written about seven months before Epstein’s death. In that message, Epstein appeared to dispute Trump’s public assertion that he had expelled him from Mar-a-Lago for “being a creep.” “Trump said he asked me to resign,” Epstein wrote to Wolff. “Never a member ever. Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.”
The White House, in a statement issued by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, denounced the release of the emails as politically motivated. “These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments,” Leavitt said, accusing House Democrats of “selectively leaking” material to “create a fake narrative.”
Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021, also sought to distance Trump from Epstein in a recent interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “I never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way,” she said. “The President was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.” Maxwell added that while she saw Epstein and Trump together in social situations, she could not recall the former president visiting Epstein’s properties.
Trump’s relationship with Epstein has been the subject of renewed scrutiny in recent years, particularly as Congress presses for greater transparency about Epstein’s activities and his death in a federal jail. Earlier this year, the Justice Department reaffirmed its conclusion that Epstein died by suicide and stated that no further disclosures were planned, a decision that angered both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
The Oversight Committee’s Democratic majority has been leading the push to obtain additional records, including Epstein’s private correspondence and visitor logs. A separate bipartisan measure to compel the release of more government files is expected to advance later this week, following the swearing-in of Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who will provide the 218th vote needed to move the measure forward.
Another email released by the committee, dated December 15, 2015 the night of a CNN Republican primary debate, shows Wolff warning Epstein that Trump might be asked publicly about their relationship. Epstein responded, “If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?” Wolff replied: “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 political currency. You can hang him or, if he looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt.”
Wolff later told CNN he did not recall the specific context of the exchange but acknowledged that he and Epstein had been discussing Trump at the time. The Daily Beast previously reported that Epstein spoke at length about Trump in recorded interviews with Wolff, describing their relationship as close a claim Trump’s team has dismissed as “false smears.”
While the newly revealed correspondence does not contain evidence of illegal conduct, it underscores Epstein’s ongoing fascination with Trump and the degree to which he saw himself as entangled in Trump’s social and political world. The release of the emails is expected to intensify political debate in Washington over the federal government’s handling of the Epstein investigation and whether more records related to the late financier should be made public.
