More than 20,000 pages of material linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been released by US lawmakers, revealing new email exchanges involving Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and author Michael Wolff.
Some of the documents make reference to US President Donald Trump, intensifying public scrutiny over their past association.
According to the BBC, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee published selected emails early Wednesday, prompting Republicans to counter-release a larger batch of documents, accusing Democrats of attempting to “create a fake narrative” about Trump.
One of the emails released by Democrats shows Epstein telling Maxwell in 2011 that the “dog that hasn’t barked is Trump,” noting that a woman named “Virginia” had spent hours at his house with Trump.
Maxwell responded that she had also considered this. The White House said the email referred to Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein accuser who died earlier this year, and pointed to her previous statements which stressed that Trump had never engaged in wrongdoing.
Another exchange from 2015 shows Wolff warning Epstein that CNN was planning to ask Trump about their relationship.
In response, Epstein asked what answer should be crafted, to which Wolff suggested that Trump might deny ever going to Epstein’s house or being on his plane.
Wolff told Epstein such a denial could provide “valuable PR and political currency”.
Additional correspondence from October 2016, days before Trump’s election victory, shows Wolff encouraging Epstein to consider speaking publicly to “finish” Trump. Epstein declined to do so.
A third email, from January 2019 during Trump’s presidency, includes Epstein stating that Trump “said he asked me to resign” from his Mar-a-Lago club before adding that he was “never a member ever,” and claiming Trump “knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop”.
Wolff later acknowledged the emails in a video response, confirming he had been discussing Trump with Epstein.
The broader document release also includes references to other high-profile figures such as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, and former UK cabinet minister Peter Mandelson. Both have denied wrongdoing.
Epstein survivors, including Annie Farmer, said the new emails underline the need for a full disclosure of all files related to Epstein’s activities.
Trump, who has repeatedly denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes, appeared visibly uncomfortable when questioned about the newly released emails at a media briefing on Wednesday.
Watch the moment Donald Trump is asked about the Epstein emails below.
