Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have released email conversations between convicted sex offender and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, which they suggest indicate that President Donald Trump was aware of his crimes. The emails were published on Wednesday as part of thousands of documents obtained from Epstein’s estate following a subpoena issued by the committee earlier this year.
In an email dated January 2019 to author Michael Wolff, Epstein wrote that Mr Trump “knew about the girls as he has asked Ghislaine to stop.” The email was sent nine months before Mr Epstein committed suicide in his cell. Another email, sent by Mr Epstein to Ms Maxwell in 2011, suggested that Mr Trump was the “dog that hasn’t barked” because he had spent time with a victim, whose name was redacted. Epstein wrote, “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.”
The release of the emails is the latest material published by Democrats to highlight the relationship between Messrs Epstein and Trump. Earlier this year, Mr Trump’s former ally Elon Musk also accused the president of being implicated in the Epstein case, claiming it was the reason he was reluctant to release the classified files despite a campaign promise to unseal the documents. Mr Trump has repeatedly denied any allegations against him relating to the case, and the White House has accused Democrats of selectively leaking emails to create a “fake narrative to smear President Trump.”
