Epstein mentioned Trump multiple times in private emails, new release shows

Originally Published: 12 NOV 25 08:30 ET

By Kaitlan Collins, CNN

(CNN) — Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender whose death by suicide has spawned intense scrutiny of the high-profile people he knew, mentioned Donald Trump by name multiple times in private correspondence over the last 15 years with an associate and an author in Trump’s orbit, according to newly released emails from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

The emails to longtime Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking after Epstein’s death, and the author Michael Wolff include conversations in which Epstein asserts Trump spent significant time with a woman whom Oversight Democrats describe as a victim of Epstein’s sex trafficking. The emails also include a message in which Epstein asserts Trump “knew about the girls” — seemingly in reference to Trump’s claim that he kicked Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club for poaching young women who worked there, according to the newly released emails.

The emails were released Wednesday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, who obtained them after subpoenaing Epstein’s estate earlier this year. Trump did not receive or send any of the messages, which largely predated his time as president, and he has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein or Maxwell. CNN has reached out to the White House and Wolff for comment.

In one email dated April 2, 2011, which CNN has independently reviewed, Epstein emailed Maxwell: “i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. (REDACTED) spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. police chief. etc. im 75 % there.”

Maxwell responded: “I have been thinking about that…”

The context of the message was not immediately clear. About three years earlier, in June 2008, Epstein had been sentenced to 18 months in a minimum-security prison after pleading guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18. He was released from prison in July 2009, having served just 13 months. Years later, his plea deal would face media scrutiny, including from the Miami Herald, and face widespread criticism as being too lenient.

Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in an interview earlier this year that she “never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way,” and that she didn’t recall ever seeing Trump at Epstein’s house. She said she did witness the two men together in social settings.

“The President was never inappropriate with anybody,” Maxwell said. “In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.”

The name of the person Epstein referenced in his email was redacted by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee — who received a tranche of 23,000 documents from his estate — to protect her identity. CNN has not been able to determine who the person is.

Trump’s relationship with Epstein has been under scrutiny amid a political firestorm in Washington over whether and when the federal government will release its files on the late sex trafficker who died in prison in 2019. The controversy heated up earlier this year when Trump’s own Justice Department declared that it stood by its previous conclusion that Epstein died by suicide and that it did not plan to provide any more information on the case.

That sparked an outcry in Congress and among some members of Trump’s own MAGA base, and it breathed life into efforts to pry loose new information. The House Oversight Committee successfully sought materials from the estate, and there is a separate effort underway in Congress to force a vote on compelling the release of more files from the US government. That effort will get a critical, 218th supporter when Rep. Adelita Grijalva is sworn in on Wednesday.

The latest release also included emails between Epstein and Wolff, including one from January 2019 during Trump’s first term and about seven months before Epstein died by suicide in prison.

According to the email reviewed by CNN, Epstein wrote to Wolff apparently to address Trump’s claim that he asked Epstein to resign his membership at the president’s Mar-a-Lago Club.

“trump said he asked me to resign,” Epstein wrote, adding, “never a member ever. . of course he knew about the girls as he asked to Ghislaine to stop,”

The White House has said Trump barred Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club “for being a creep,” and Trump himself has said Epstein “stole” young women who worked at the Mar-a-Lago spa while explaining why their relationship ended. In her interview with Blanche, Maxwell denied recruiting at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump’s association with Epstein has long been public, though the US president has denied any wrongdoing. He filed a libel lawsuit against the publisher of the Wall Street Journal and reporters who wrote a story about a collection of letters gifted to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, including a note bearing Trump’s name and an outline of a naked woman.

In a third email released by the Oversight committee and viewed by CNN Wednesday, Wolff — who published a book on Trump’s West Wing in 2018 — wrote Epstein with the subject line “heads up” on December 15, 2015. That was the day of a CNN Republican primary debate, but there is no mention of Epstein in the transcript.

“I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you–either on air or in scrum afterwards,” Wolff reportedly wrote to Epstein.

Epstein, according to the email, responded, “if we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?”

Wolff answered, “I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt. Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he’ll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime.”

Wolff has indicated publicly that he has interviewed Epstein, and The Daily Beast has reported it obtained recordings in which Epstein spoke at length to the author about Trump and claimed the two were close friends. Trump’s camp has called the recordings “false smears,” according to the Daily Beast.

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