Epstein Email Claims Trump ‘Knew About the Girls’ as Democrats Push for Full Files Release
Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2019 email that Donald Trump “knew about the girls,” according to newly released documents that landed squarely in the middle of Washington’s shutdown politics on Wednesday. The emails, released by House Oversight Committee Democrats, include a 2011 message where Epstein told Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump spent “hours” at his home with a victim of his trafficking operation.
What Epstein meant — and whether it referred to criminal behavior — remains unclear. But the release was enough to reignite the long-running debate over Trump’s old social circle and his years-long association with Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting federal trial.
Republicans quickly accused Democrats of weaponizing redacted documents for political damage. The White House dismissed the entire release as a “fake narrative.”
Democrats on the committee say the drip-release of documents is exactly why they want the entire FBI file made public. U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., who led the motion to subpoena Epstein’s files earlier this year, said the newly surfaced emails confirm why transparency is necessary.
“When we passed my motion to subpoena the Epstein files, we knew we’d find damning information,” Lee said. “Today we learned Trump is alleged to have personal knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and spent hours with victims.”
Lee said swearing in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, who joins Congress after a record delay, is the final step needed to vote on fully releasing the files.
Other Democrats — including Rep. Ilhan Omar — pushed harder. “Survivors have waited long enough,” Omar said. “The public deserves to know who enabled Epstein, who looked the other way, and who’s still being protected.”
DNC Chairman Ken Martin called the matter a “cover-up,” accusing the Trump administration of withholding documents during Trump’s first term.
The unnamed “victim” referenced in Epstein’s 2011 email was later identified by House Republicans as Virginia Giuffre — the same woman who accused Epstein of trafficking her to powerful men, including Britain’s Prince Andrew.
But Giuffre complicated the narrative long before this release.
She repeatedly stated, under oath and in her memoir, that Trump never abused her, never trafficked her, and showed her nothing but kindness when she worked as a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago. She described Trump as “friendly” and even said he offered to help her get babysitting jobs.
Maxwell’s household staff echoed her account, saying they never saw Trump engage in inappropriate behavior.
And in a Justice Department interview earlier this year, Maxwell herself said she never saw Trump act improperly and described him as “a gentleman in all respects.”
White House Accuses Democrats of Political Theater
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt came out swinging, accusing Democrats of pushing a “manufactured hoax” designed to distract from the federal shutdown.
“These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong,” Leavitt said. She reiterated Trump’s past claim that he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago after discovering the financier was recruiting young spa workers, including Giuffre.
Trump echoed that argument in a Truth Social post: “Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything to deflect from how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown.”
Leavitt criticized Democrats for redacting Giuffre’s name despite her public statements clearing Trump. “They chose to redact a victim who has already spoken about her relationship with Epstein,” she said.
As Democrats publicized the Trump-related emails, Republicans released an additional 20,000 pages they said were also provided by Epstein’s estate. Much of it included already-published material, including pages from a James Patterson book on Epstein.
They argued Democrats cherry-picked the most politically sensitive emails to smear Trump.
One 2019 email Epstein sent to journalist Michael Wolff read: “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”
Another 2011 email read: “That dog that hasn’t barked is Trump. (Victim) spent hours at my house with him… he has never once been mentioned.”
Maxwell responded: “I have been thinking about that.”
Democrats say the emails warrant the release of full files. Republicans say the statements prove nothing and that Giuffre herself denied Trump’s involvement.
Either way, Epstein — six years after his suicide — is still influencing the political landscape he once navigated from the shadows.
