WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2019 e mail to a journalist that Donald Trump “knew concerning the ladies,” based on paperwork made public Wednesday, however what he knew — and whether or not it pertained to the intercourse offender’s crimes — is unclear, and the White Home rapidly accused Democrats of selectively leaking the emails to smear the president.
Democrats on the Home Oversight Committee launched three emails referencing Trump, together with one Epstein wrote in 2011 wherein he informed confidant Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s home with a intercourse trafficking sufferer.
The disclosures appeared designed to boost new questions on Trump’s friendship with Epstein and about what information he might have had relating to what prosecutors name a yearslong effort by Epstein to use underage ladies. The Republican businessman-turned-politician has persistently denied any information of Epstein’s crimes and has mentioned he ended their relationship years in the past.
The model of the 2011 e mail launched by the Democrats redacted the identify of the sufferer, however Republicans on the committee later mentioned it was Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual encounters with plenty of his wealthy and highly effective pals. Epstein took his personal life in a New York jail in 2019 whereas awaiting trial on federal expenses.
Giuffre, who died earlier this yr, had lengthy insisted that Trump was not among the many males who had victimized her.
In a court docket deposition, she mentioned beneath oath that she didn’t imagine Trump had any information of Epstein’s misconduct with underage ladies. And in her lately launched memoir, she described assembly Trump solely as soon as, when she labored as a spa attendant at his Mar-a-Lago membership in Palm Seashore, Florida, and didn’t accuse him of wrongdoing.
Giuffre wrote that she was launched to Trump by her father, who additionally labored on the membership. She described Trump as pleasant and mentioned he provided to assist her get babysitting jobs with dad and mom on the membership.
Trump “couldn’t have been friendlier,” Giuffre wrote.
Different members of Epstein’s family employees additionally mentioned in sworn depositions that, whereas Trump did cease by Epstein’s home, they didn’t see him have interaction in any inappropriate conduct.
White Home spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt mentioned Democrats “selectively leaked emails” to “create a faux narrative to smear President Trump.”
In July, Trump mentioned he had banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago as a result of his one-time pal was “taking individuals who labored for me,” together with Giuffre. The ladies, he mentioned, have been “taken out of the spa, employed by him — in different phrases, gone.”
“I mentioned, ‘Pay attention, we don’t need you taking our folks,’” Trump informed reporters. Requested if Giuffre was one of many workers poached by Epstein, the president demurred however then mentioned Epstein “stole her.”
The emails made public Wednesday are a part of a batch of 23,000 paperwork supplied by Epstein’s property to the Oversight Committee.
Shortly after Democrats launched the Trump-related emails, committee Republicans countered by disclosing what they mentioned was an extra 20,000 pages of paperwork from Epstein’s property. Amongst them: copies of pages from a James Patterson ebook concerning the ex-financier.
The discharge resurfaces a storyline that had shadowed Trump’s presidency through the summer time when the FBI and the Justice Division abruptly introduced that they might not be releasing extra paperwork that investigators had spent weeks analyzing, disappointing conspiracy theorists and on-line sleuths who had anticipated to see new revelations.
In a single 2019 e mail to journalist Michael Wolff, who has written extensively about Trump, Epstein wrote of Trump, “In fact he knew concerning the ladies as he requested ghislaine to cease.”
In an April 2, 2011, e mail to Maxwell, a former Epstein girlfriend now imprisoned for conspiring to have interaction in intercourse trafficking, Epstein wrote, “I need you to appreciate that that canine that hasn’t barked is Trump. (Redacted identify) spent hours at my home with him,, he has by no means as soon as been talked about. police chief. and so forth. im 75 % there.”
Maxwell replied the identical day: “I’ve been eager about that.”
The identify of the particular person mentioned to have hung out with Trump was blacked out of the e-mail, however Home Democrats recognized the particular person as a “sufferer.”
Leavitt mentioned that the unnamed particular person referenced within the emails is Giuffre, who had accused Britain’s then-Prince Andrew and different influential males of sexually exploiting her as a young person and who died by suicide in April. Andrew, who lately was stripped of his titles and evicted from his royal residence by King Charles III after weeks of stress to behave over his relationship with Epstein, has rejected Giuffre’s allegations and mentioned he didn’t recall assembly her.
Leavitt mentioned in a press release that Giuffre had “repeatedly mentioned President Trump was not concerned in any wrongdoing in any respect and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her of their restricted interactions.”
“The very fact stays that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his membership a long time in the past for being a creep to his feminine workers, together with Giuffre,” the assertion mentioned. “These tales are nothing greater than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments, and any American with frequent sense sees proper via this hoax and clear distraction from the federal government opening again up once more.”
Messages in search of remark have been left with Wolff, Maxwell lawyer David Markus and representatives for Giuffre’s household.
Maxwell, interviewed in July by the Justice Division’s second-in-command, repeatedly denied witnessing any sexually inappropriate interactions involving Trump.
“I truly by no means noticed the President in any kind of therapeutic massage setting,” Maxwell informed Deputy Lawyer Common Todd Blanche, based on a transcript of the interview. “I by no means witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any manner. The President was by no means inappropriate with anyone. Within the occasions that I used to be with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.”
Giuffre got here ahead publicly after an preliminary investigation led to an 18-month Florida jail time period for Epstein, who made a secret deal to keep away from federal prosecution by pleading responsible as an alternative to comparatively minor state-level expenses of soliciting prostitution. He was launched in 2009.
In subsequent lawsuits, Giuffre mentioned she was a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago when she was approached in 2000 by Maxwell.
Attorneys for Maxwell, a British socialite, have argued that she by no means ought to have been tried or convicted for her function in luring teenage ladies to be sexually abused by Epstein. She is serving a 20-year jail time period, although she was moved from a low-security federal jail in Florida to a minimum-security jail camp in Texas after the Blanche interview.
