Donald Trump’s name appears dozens of times in the 23,000 documents released by Congress – and some of the references could be a nightmare for his presidency
Donald Trump’s White House scrambled into action last night in a bid to deal with potentially damaging revelations in the Epstein files. The US President’s name features dozens of times in emails released by the estate of Jeffrey Epstein to a Congressional Committee – and some of the references could be a nightmare for his presidency.
The sheer volume of correspondence published by the House Oversight committee overnight is so vast that it’s taking time to identify everything that’s in there – as well as to work out the context of the often broken conversations.
So instead of the usual roundup of Trump’s unhinged behaviour today, we’re taking a look at some of the emails released in the Epstein files this week.
It’s worth bearing two things in mind when reading these messages. Firstly, most of these messages were written by America’s most notorious paedophile. A man who abused under-age girls and deceived people about it for two decades. And in many cases he was either speaking to people he was trying to impress, or scrambling to exonerate himself after his crimes were exposed.
Second, many of the claims he makes in the emails are directly contradicted not only by Trump, but by his fixer, Ghislaine Maxwell in her interview with assistant Attorney General Todd Blanche earlier this year – although given her own crimes, and the fact that she was moved to cushier accommodation after giving the interview, we could be somewhat sceptical of her claims too.
The White House has denied any wrongdoing by Trump. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Democrats had leaked select emails to “create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”
With all of that said, here’s what we’ve found in the Epstein files so far that might be most troubling to Donald Trump.
1. Epstein was ‘connective tissue’ between Trump and Andrew
Former Donald Trump aide Steve Bannon joked about Jeffrey Epstein being the “connective tissue” between the US President and then-Prince Andrew.
During Trump’s first state visit to the UK he and wife Melania laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, alongside then-Prince Andrew. Shortly after images emerged of the event, Epstein sent a text message to Bannon, which read: “Prince Andrew and Trump today. Tooo funny.”
He sent a follow up message: “Recall Prince Andrew’s accuser came out of Mar A Lago.” Virginia Giuffre, Andrew’s accuser, previously worked in the spa at President Trump’s Mar A Lago resort in Palm Beach Florida, before alledgedly being recruited for Epstein by Ghislaine Maxwell. Bannon replied to Epstein: “Can’t believe nobody is making u the connective tissue”
READ MORE: Epstein was ‘connective tissue’ from Donald Trump to Andrew, Bannon joked in texts
2. Trump in your house
In a 2017 email exchange, Epstein is discussing a “more private” visit to his apartment in Paris from a person whose name is redacted – but they remarked that they didn’t want their visit to overlap with one from Trump.
“I m at the door but I will wait for my time.. i don’t want to come early to find Trump in your house,” they wrote.
Trump was not in Paris at the time. On the day the email was sent, he was attending a rally in Pensacola, Florida.
And it’s possible the sender was referring to a different Trump.
Donald Trump says he cut ties with Epstein no later than 2007.
3. Epstein claimed to be in Trump Tower shortly before the 2016 election
…which also makes this nugget interesting.
In September 2016, shortly before Trump’s first election victory, former Microsoft Vice President Linda Stone emailed Epstein asking if he was still in Paris.
Epstein replied: “Trump Tower”
Stone replied: “Perfect.”
Earlier in the exchange, the pair had joked about whether he would be given a cabinet position in the next White House administration – so it’s not entirely clear that they were serious.
4. The dog that never barked
In an email exchange with Ghislaine Maxwell, his socialite sometime girlfriend and sex trafficking fixer, Epstein claims Donald Trump spent “hours” at his house with one of his victims, which the White House have since confirmed is a reference to Virginia Giuffre.
“I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. [Giuffre] spent hours at my house with him, he has never once been mentioned. Police chief. etc. I’m 75 % there.” Maxwell responded: “I have been thinking about that…”
6. But Clinton was ‘never on the island’
Trump has often deflected attention from clams of his own links to Epstein onto his predecessor and foe, Bill Clinton.
“I was never there,” he said in 2019. “So you have to ask: Did Bill Clinton go to the island? That’s the question. If you find that out, you’re going to know a lot.”
And last year he said: “You should focus on [Bill] Clinton. You should focus on the president of Harvard, the former president of Harvard. … I’ll give you a list. These guys lived with Jeffrey Epstein, I sure as hell didn’t.”
Well, Epstein said in a 2011 email to Prince Andrew that “Clinton was never on the island”.
READ MORE: Jeffrey Epstein ‘advised’ Russian government on how to deal with Donald Trump
7. Photos of Donald ‘and girls in bikinis in my kitchen’
In one of many email exchanges between Epstein and the New York Times journalist Landon Thomas Jr, the paedophile financier wrote: “Would you like photos of Donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen”
No photos of this kind have ever surfaced.
8. Trump ‘so focused on young women’ he walked into a door
And in another fascinating exchange between Epstein and Thomas, he says the reporter should tell people asking for “juicy info” on him and Trump to “ask my houseman about Donald almost walking through a door leaving his nose print on the glass as young women were swimming in the pool and he was so focused he walked straight into the door”.