Democrats, GOP disputed Epstein emails

Reference to Trump seen in released record

By: Bart Jansen
USA Today

WASHINGTON - Democrats and Republicans are disputing the significance of newly released emails from accused sex trafficker Jeffery Epstein.
..... Democrats highlighted several emails that referee President Donald Trump. but White House and Republican lawmakers deny that the message prove any close connection between the two men.
..... Two of the key Epstein emails say Trump "spent hours at my hours" and "of course he knew about the girls."
..... They are part of 23,000 pages of records of House Oversight and Accountability Committee released November 12 [2025] about the Epstein investigation.
..... "Release the Epstein files" was a rallying cry of Republicans demanding more information to fight pedophilia. But it now threatens to fracture the party as Democrats demand that the Justice Department release tis files.
..... A House vote is expected the week of November 17 [2025] on legislation to force the department to release more documents. However, the bill must still get through the SE ante and be signed by Trump to take effect.
..... Trump said on social media "only a very bad, or stupid" Republican would help Democrats draw more attention to Epstein.
..... "We won't stop until we end this White House cover-up," representative Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, said on a social media post November 12. [2025] "Release the files NOW."
..... The White House and Republicans say the Trump administration has released more documents than any other administration did - and that the records and other testimony fail to prove Trump knew about Epstein's alleged criminal activity.
.....White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters November 12 [2025] the email release was part of a Democratic "smear" against the president.
..... "The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to cerate a fake narrative to smear President Trump," she said.
..... The first email democrats highlighted was from April 2011, after Epstein had spent 13 months in jail for soliciting a 14-year-old girl for sex and was returning to public life.
..... Epstein pleaded guilty in state court to procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. Then-U. S. Attorney Alex Acosta dropped his federal investigation as part of the plea deal.
..... "I want you to realize that dog that hasn't barked is Trump..." Epstein wrote in his associate Ghislaine Maxwell in the email. After a victim's name that was redacted, the email continued that she "spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned."
..... Maxwell was later convicted and is serving a 20-year prison term for conspiring with Epstein to traffic minors.
..... Garcia called the emails "serious and disturbing."
..... Adam Kinzinger, a former GOP House member from Illinois who investigated trump over the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, said the implication of the emails are obvious.
..... "Trump is associated with Epstein and protecting Ghislane Maxwell to protect himself,' Kinzinger said on social media November 13. [2025] "every Republican now has a choice, pick a side. No middle ground."
..... The victim mention din the email was Virginie Roberts Giuffre, who was 16 when Maxwell recruited her from Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club to work for Epstein in 2000.
..... Roberts Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, [2025] published a posthumous book, "Nobody's Girl," saying Epstein abused her and trafficked her to other men, including the man then known as Price Andrew of the United Kingdom. His title has since been taken away.
..... House Republicans on the oversight panel accused Democrats of redacting Roberts Giuffre's name from the email because she had publicly denied witnessing wrongdoing by Trump.
..... "Democrats are trying to create a fake narrative to slander President Trump," republican said in a classic media post November 12. [2025] "shame on them."
..... Robert Giuffre testified in a civil case in November 2016 that Trump didn't :partake in any sex with any of" Epstein's victims.
..... "I don't think Donald Trump participated in anything," Robert Giuffre said in the deposition. "Oh, I didn't physically see him have sex with and of the girls, so I can't say who he had sex with in his whole life or not, but I just know it wasn't with me when I was with other girls.
..... The second email that Democrats highlighted was from Epstein to author Michael Wolff, who has written several books about Trump, Epstein sent it in January 2019, when Trump was in his first term as president and Epstein was not yet facing federal charges. A series of articles in the Miami Herald suggested prosecutors treated Epstein leniently years earlier.
..... "Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop," Epstein wrote to Woliff.
..... By this point, Trump had appointed Acosta as his first-term labor secretary. The president defended Acosta when Epstein was indicted on federal charges in July 2019.
..... Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top
Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, who led the second impeachment against Trump, said even presidents must be brought to justice.
..... Republicans are scrambling to cover up the Epstein file, but we say anyone involved in Epstein's billion-dollar child sex trafficking ring must be brought to justice - whether Republicans, Democrats or, yest, even presidents," Raskin said on social media November 12. [2025]
..... Trump has forcefully denied knowing about Epstein's criminal activities and said he ousted him from his MAr-a-Lago club.
..... "Thees emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong," Leavitt told reporters.

..... Transparency note: Michael Wolff was a freelance USA Today contributor from 2012 to early 2017. USA Today had no knowledge of any relationship between ho and Jeffrey Epstein nor any actions beyond his submission for publication. We are committed to intermarry and transparency as we upheld our editorial standards and maintain the trust of our readers.

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