Trump was aware of Epstein’s behavior, according to documents released by Democrats

The scandal threatens to become one of the major burdens on the president, who is already facing internal divisions in his party over the management of the Epstein files and the fatigue that has accumulated for this reason during his second term.

The publication of these messages reactivates a chapter that the presidential environment considered closed, and once again places Trump’s name next to the name of the financier convicted of the charges against him. Child sex trafficking.

There is still no evidence that Trump abused minors or participated in the network that included Epstein’s targets. In these emails, Epstein says the current Pres Yes, he was with one of the women Who took advantage of him.

Trump has previously denied any connection to Epstein’s network and called the case a “hoax” promoted by Democrats. He insisted that the two were friends in the 1990s and early 2000s, but they broke up in 2004.

She confirmed in previous statements that she expelled Epstein from her Mar-a-Lago club because she “hired” masseuses at the place, including Virginia Giuffre, who claims that Maxwell recruited her into the abuse network when she was a teenager.

The emails, sent between 2011 and 2019, were selected by the House Oversight Committee from thousands of documents from Epstein’s estate. One was addressed to Maxwell and two others to the writer Michael Wolf.

In an April 2011 letter, Epstein wrote: “I want you to realize that the dog that has not barked yet is Trump,” adding that one of the victims “spent hours with him in my house.” In another message dating back to January 2019, he told Wolff: “Of course he knew about the girls, because he asked Ghislaine to stop.”

Wolff has written several books on Trump’s biography, and they are quite revealing for what they reveal. Epstein interviewed him for a project, and they talked for about 100 hours.

The commission explained that the emails were censored in part to protect the victims’ identities and did not specify whether the portions distributed were part of longer conversations. According to Democrats, the messages are inflammatory “Serious questions about what the White House is still hiding And the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the president,” the representative said Robert GarciaThe main spokesman for the committee.

Epstein died in prison in 2019. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and conspiracy. The published emails date from years after the 2008 court settlement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges and serve just 13 months in prison in Florida on a charge of soliciting prostitution.

“You should let him hang himself.”

In another exchange, dated December 2015, Wolfe warned Epstein that CNN planned to ask Trump about their relationship during a Republican primary debate. Epstein responded: “If we could prepare a response for him, what do you think he should say?” “I think you should let him hang himself,” Wolf replied. “If he says he was never at your house, that gives you political currency you can use later.”

The disclosure of these messages comes at a sensitive political moment for the White House, at the end of the prolonged government shutdown and negotiations to pass the law to end the blockade. Democrats used the session to once again demand the full publication of the Epstein files, a request that the executive branch has so far rejected.

The publication also coincided with the congresswoman’s impending swearing-in Adelita Grijalvaof Arizona, whose vote in the House would force the release of all materials from the investigation. This case, more than two decades after the first signs of abuse appeared, is once again casting its shadow over the presidential environment and threatens to open a new political rift in Washington.