A billboard in Times Square calls for the release of the Epstein files on July 23, 2025 in New York City. ADAM GRAY / AFP
Democrats released emails Wednesday, November 12 in which Jeffrey Epstein suggested that Donald Trump was aware of the financier's sexual abuse and definitely "knew about the girls."
Trump has denied any involvement in or knowledge of the sex-trafficking activities of his former friend, who died by suicide in federal prison in 2019 as he was awaiting trial. But Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said the emails "raise serious questions about Donald Trump and his knowledge of Epstein's horrific crimes."
The furor around the disgraced financier is still roiling Trump's administration four months after his Justice Department effectively closed the case, announcing there was no more information to share. Democrats in the House – keen to capitalize on the simmering controversy – have been trying to force a vote that would compel publication of the full Epstein case files.
The newly released emails were written to longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking after Epstein's death, and the author Michael Wolff. In them, Epstein asserts Trump spent significant time with a woman whom Oversight Democrats describe as a victim of Epstein's sex trafficking.
