Portrait of American financier Jeffrey Epstein, left, and Donald Trump as they pose together at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1997.
Davidoff Studios Photography | Archive Photos | Getty Images
Notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein wrote in an email to author Michael Wolff that his former longtime friend, President Donald Trump, “knew about the girls,” according to a copy of that April 2019 message purportedly between the two men released by House Democrats on Wednesday.
It is unclear what the phrase “knew about the girls” meant.
In another newly released email that Epstein wrote to his now-convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell in April 2011, Epstein wrote, “I want you to realize that the dog that hasn’t barked is trump.”
Epstein added in that same email that a victim of his, whose name was redacted in the email, “spent hours at my house with” Trump.
“He has never once been mentioned,” Epstein added in that message.
Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in a statement, said that they had obtained the emails and more than 20,000 other documents from the estate of Epstein.
Trump has denied that he knew about Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls and women. The president has never been charged with wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
It is not clear what Epstein was referring to in the email that said “the dog that hasn’t barked.”
CNBC has requested comment from the White House and from Maxwell’s attorney about the emails.
Epstein, 66, killed himself in a Manhattan jail in August 2019, weeks after he was arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges.
Scores of women have said Epstein sexually abused them when they were underage girls or young women.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for crimes related to procuring underage girls to be abused by Epstein.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said the emails that they obtained raise “serious questions” about Trump’s involvement with Epstein.
The three emails related to Trump are among thousands written by Epstein and obtained by the Democrats.
“The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover. These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the President,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, a California Democrat who is the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.
“The Department of Justice must fully release the Epstein files to the public immediately,” Garcia said. “The Oversight Committee will continue pushing for answers and will not stop until we get justice for the victims.”
Trump and the DOJ have been criticized for months for reneging on promises by Trump administration officials to release criminal investigative files about Epstein.
Trump said in July that he threw Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and cut ties with him years ago because “he stole people who worked for me.”
Trump said that Epstein had poached at least one more Mar-a-Lago worker from him after being warned not to do that again.
The president has repeatedly called demands that officials release the so-called Epstein files “a Democratic hoax.”
— CNBC’s Laya Neelakandan contributed to this story.
This is developing news. Check back for updates.
