On Wednesday, the Democratic majority on the House Oversight Committee released a trove of emails tied to the estate of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, including correspondence that references former President Donald Trump in ways that raise fresh questions about the relationship between Trump and Epstein.
In one of the newly released emails from April 2011, Epstein wrote to his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him … he has never once been mentioned.” Maxwell replied: “I have been thinking about that.”
Another message, dated January 2019 and addressed to author Michael Wolff, quotes Epstein stating: “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.”
Wolff’s own correspondence in December 2015 contains advice to Epstein: “If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency.”
Committee Democrats assert the emails “raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the President.”
White House Calls Disclosure a Smash-and-Grab
The White House and Republican members immediately responded, calling the release politically motivated. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement: “These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.”
Trump himself posted on social media: “The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown.”
Republican committee members also argued the Democrats selectively leaked documents to “generate click‐bait.”
The emails come from a larger package of more than 23,000 documents the Oversight Committee received from Epstein’s estate in response to a subpoena. The timing is significant: a new Democratic member of the House was sworn in Wednesday, enabling a petition to compel a vote on the full release of non-classified Epstein-related files.
However, as noted by multiple outlets, the newly released emails do not allege legal wrongdoing by Trump. The identity of the individual described in the 2011 email is redacted; committee Democrats say they follow standard rules protecting victim names.
Observers say the disclosures are likely to fuel political pressure rather than prompt immediate legal action. Legal experts note that while the document suggests the possibility of knowledge or presence, it does not by itself establish criminal liability without further corroboration.
Regardless, the release is already rippling through Washington. The Oversight Committee plans to continue digging into Epstein’s estate, his flight logs, financial records and other materials tied to his wide-ranging network. “The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover,” Representative Robert Garcia of California said.