Emails released by Democrats in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday show that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein said Donald Trump knew about Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls.
Despite documented meetings with Epstein — who committed suicide while awaiting trial in 2019 — Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing. Trump and Epstein were friends for about 15 years, until they reportedly fell out in 2004 over a property deal.
According to Democrats, the conversation took place between author Michael Wolff and Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence on charges including sex trafficking of a minor.
“In private correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein wrote in 2011 that Donald Trump ‘spent hours at my house’ with a sex trafficking victim,” the statement from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said, citing another email with Wolfe from 2019, in which “Epstein explicitly said Donald Trump ‘knew about the girls because he told Ghislaine to stop by. Said for’.”
White House rejects ‘fake statement’
Meanwhile, the White House accused Democrats of pushing a “fake narrative.” “Democrats selectively leaked emails to liberal media to create a fake story to discredit President Trump,” press secretary Carolyn Levitt said in a statement.
He said the release of the emails was a hoax designed to downplay the importance of the upcoming vote to end the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown.
“These stories are nothing more than malicious attempts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments,” Levitt said.
US President Donald Trump himself called the publication of the emails a “disinformation”.
“(Democrats) will do anything to distract from how badly we’ve done on the shutdown and many other topics,” Trump posted on his Truth social account.
“Only a very bad or stupid Republican would fall into that trap,” he said.
Democrats demand answers
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said the emails “raise serious questions” about the current US president’s knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Four months after the US Justice Department effectively closed the case after saying there was no further information to share, criticism of Epstein and his relationship with Trump continues in the US, despite the US President not being accused of any wrongdoing regarding the case.
Democratic representatives in the House are trying to secure a vote that would result in the release of the full Epstein case files.
He received the emails after the financier’s assets were summoned earlier this year.
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko