Cryptic Email Exchange Raises Questions About Trump-Epstein Relationship
Freshly disclosed correspondence from Jeffrey Epstein has ignited renewed scrutiny over Donald Trump's previous assertions regarding his association with the convicted sex offender. The email trove, made public by House Democrats, presents several contradictions between Epstein's written accounts and the US president's own public statements about their relationship.
The communications reveal an intriguingly ambiguous exchange between Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell from April 2011. Epstein wrote to Maxwell: "I want you to realize that that dog that hasn't barked is Trump." Maxwell responded cryptically: "I've been thinking about that." The email continues with Maxwell noting that "Victim [name redacted] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned." The White House has since identified this victim as Virginia Giuffre.
Direct References to Mar-a-Lago and Underage Girls
Another significant message emerged from January 2019, when Epstein emailed author Michael Wolff, who has written several books about Trump's presidency. This communication proves more direct yet remains tantalisingly incomplete. Once again mentioning a redacted victim's name, the email makes an unexplained reference to "Mara Lago" [sic], Trump's Florida estate and private club.
Epstein's email continues: "Trump says he asked me to resign, never a member ever." This comment potentially relates to reports that Trump once banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago - according to some accounts, for allegedly attempting to seduce a fellow member's teenage daughter.
Perhaps most damning is Epstein's additional assertion: "Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop." While what Maxwell was instructed to cease remains unexplained, the claim that Trump "knew about the girls" raises serious questions about the veracity of the president's previous denials.
Contradictions in Trump's Public Statements
These email revelations stand in stark contrast to Trump's public comments about his knowledge of Epstein's activities. When questioned by journalists in July 2019 about whether he had "any suspicions that [Epstein] was molesting … underaged women", Trump responded unequivocally: "No, I had no idea. I had no idea. I haven't spoken to him in many, many years."
This denial appears inconsistent with Trump's earlier remarks to New York magazine in 2002, where he praised Epstein effusively: "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life."
The newly released documents also include a December 2015 exchange between Epstein and Wolff that discusses potential damage from their past connections to Trump's presidential campaign. Wolff advised: "I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn't been on the plane or in the house, then that gives you a valuable PR or political currency."
Since Epstein's death and the proliferation of revelations about his sex trafficking of minors, Trump has attempted to distance himself from his former acquaintance while emphasising Epstein's connections to Bill Clinton. Trump stated in 2019: "I know [Clinton] was on his plane 27 times, and he said he was on the plane four times … And then the question you have to ask is: Did Bill Clinton go to the island?"
According to Rolling Stone, unsealed documents indicate that both Clinton and Trump travelled on Epstein's aircraft. In recent years, Trump has expressed disdain for Epstein, claiming: "I was not a fan of Jeffrey Epstein….I threw him out of a club. I didn't want anything to do with him."
The president has also entertained conspiracy theories among his MAGA supporters regarding Epstein's death. When questioned by Tucker Carlson in 2023 about whether Epstein might have been murdered, Trump responded: "I don't know…it's possible. I mean, I don't really believe – I think he probably committed suicide. But there are those people, there are many people – I think you're one of them, right? But a lot of people think that he was killed."
Amid growing demands to release Epstein-related files, Trump proved ambiguous during his 2024 presidential campaign. When Fox News asked if he would release the Epstein files alongside JFK and 9/11 documents, he equivocated: "I guess I would. I think that less so because you don't want to affect people's lives if it's phony stuff in there, because it's a lot of phony stuff with that whole world. I don't know about Epstein so much as I do the others."
With portions of his base angered by this unfulfilled promise, Trump has since criticised journalists and political opponents for focusing on the Epstein case, dismissing the files as a "hoax" created by his adversaries, including Barack Obama.
