Emails released Wednesday by House Democrats show Jeffrey Epstein claimed President Donald Trump visited his home with a trafficking victim and "knew about the girls" in his abuse operation, directly contradicting the president's emphatic denials of any involvement or awareness of the sex-trafficking network run by the convicted offender who died by suicide in federal prison during 2019, New York Times reported. California Representative Robert Garcia, the Oversight Committee's top Democrat, stated the correspondence "raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the president," with the messages certain to intensify Capitol Hill debate over the administration's reversal on promises to fully release investigative files, according to New York Times.
The three email exchanges – all sent after Epstein's 2008 Florida plea deal on state prostitution charges where federal prosecutors declined pursuing charges and years following the early 2000s falling out between the men – included one April 2011 message where Epstein told his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, later convicted on charges related to facilitating his crimes, "I want you to realize that that dog that hasn't barked is Trump," adding an unnamed victim "spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned," New York Times noted. Maxwell responded "I have been thinking about that," while a January 2019 email from Epstein to author Michael Wolff declared "Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop," with House Democrats citing an unnamed whistle-blower indicating Maxwell plans formally requesting Trump commute her 20-year federal sentence, according to New York Times.
Jeffrey Epstein mentioned Donald Trump multiple times in private emails, a new release shows. Our report from this morning: pic.twitter.com/svUQR75679
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) November 12, 2025
Trump has condemned continued questioning as a "hoax" perpetrated by Democrats while calling Epstein a "creep" and insisting he never engaged in wrongdoing with him or Maxwell, though both men split their time between New York and Palm Beach, Florida, maintaining friendship throughout the 1990s and early 2000s before their relationship dissolved around 2004, with varying explanations offered for the split including competitive bidding on Palm Beach real estate, New York Times reported. Last summer Trump stated Epstein had "hired" away Mar-a-Lago spa workers, believing one was Virginia Giuffre, who reported Maxwell recruited her into the sex ring while working at the private club as a teenager, while at the time of Epstein's 2011 email calling Trump the "dog that didn't bark," the president was a reality television star years from his presidency and emailing staff about negative press coverage of Florida abuse, according to New York Times.
The Trump administration released earlier this year a courthouse interview transcript with Maxwell confirming the men once maintained a social relationship but denying any Trump connection to the trafficking network, while Epstein's 2019 email claiming Trump "knew about the girls" and asked Maxwell "to stop" went to Wolff, who had recently published a tell-all book about the president months before the arrest and federal charges sending Epstein to prison, following the Miami Herald's publication of articles renewing focus on his secret 2008 agreement, New York Times noted. Epstein's email referenced a trafficking victim and mentioned Mar-a-Lago while disputing Trump ever requested his club resignation, writing "Never a member ever," according to New York Times.
A third email exchange commenced December 15, 2015, when Wolff warned Epstein that CNN was "planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you — either on air or in scrum afterwards," prompting Epstein to ask "If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?" with Wolff recommending inaction and suggesting Trump might deny close association, writing "I think you should let him hang himself" because "If he says he hasn't been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable P.R. and political currency" usable to "hang him" later or "save him, generating a debt," though debate transcripts show Trump never received the question, New York Times reported.
The email release occurred hours before Speaker Mike Johnson's scheduled swearing-in of Arizona Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat he has avoided seating for nearly two months following her election victory, with Grijalva anticipated to supply the final signature on a petition compelling a House vote demanding the Trump administration release all investigative material concerning Epstein, a measure the White House strongly opposes, New York Times noted.
