Senate Democrats released on Wednesday a new batch of emails from the estate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that mention Donald Trump. The emails now raise further questions about Trump and Epstein's friendship.
In one email from 2011, Epstein wrote to his convicted sex trafficking accomplice Ghislane Maxwell that Trump was the "dog that hasn't barked," adding that Trump had spent "house at my house" with one of the alleged trafficking victims.
Another email to Trump biographer Michael Wolff from Epstein reads, "of course [Trump] knew about the girls as he asked Ghislane to stop."
And in a third email released, Wolff tells Epstein to let Trump "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. 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," Wolff wrote.
The three new emails are part of 23,000 documents the Senate Oversight Committee is reviewing from the Epstein estate. The Advocate has not independently verified the documents.
Trump has repeatedly denied being close to Epstein, but his signature seems to appear on a lewd drawing in a birthday book to Epstein. The president said in July that he and Epstein became distant after Epstein "hired away young female employees who worked at the spa at Mar-a-Lago," NPR reports.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on additional charges.
"These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump's historic accomplishments, and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again," White House Press Secretary Karolina Leavitt wrote to NPR.
"The more Donald Trump tries to cover-up the Epstein files, the more we uncover," gay U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia of California said in a statement. Garcia is the ranking member of the Oversight Committee. "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."
Garcia added: "The Department of Justice must fully release the Epstein files to the public immediately. The Oversight Committee will continue pushing for answers and will not stop until we get justice for the victims."
Republicans on the committee said they would release an additional 20,000 pages of documents, the Associated Press reports.
Wednesday's revelations arrive as the House comes back into session to vote on reopening the federal government. A bipartisan group in the House has demanded the release of all the files related to the Epstein case. However, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has been able to push the vote back by not having the House in session for weeks. That includes refusing to swear-in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva from Arizona.
She's expected to be sworn in on Wednesdays. Both Democrats and some Republicans have said Johnson purposefully chose not to swear Grijalva in because she would be the last lawmaker needed to petition for a House floor vote to release the Epstein files.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, the National Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24/7 with free and confidential services. More resources are available here. If you or someone you know has experienced trafficking, or if you suspect someone is a victim of trafficking, the National Human Trafficking Hotline is also available at 1-888-373-7888, toll-free and 24/7. For cases involving minors, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is available 24/7 at 1-800-843-5678.
If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text, or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services. Trans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations. The Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at TheTrevorProject.org/Help or text START to 678678.
