White House pushes back after newly released Epstein emails draw scrutiny of Trump

The White House is pushing back after House Democrats released a batch of emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate.

(NBC)- The White House is pushing back after House Democrats released a batch of emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, drawing renewed scrutiny of President Trump’s past interactions with the late convicted sex offender.

“These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

One 2011 email from Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell reads, “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump. [Redacted Name] spent hours at my house with him, he has never once been mentioned.” The White House says the redacted name refers to Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most well-known accusers. Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year, never accused Trump of misconduct and wrote in her memoir that he “couldn’t have been friendlier.”

Leavitt claims Democrats released the emails to distract from Republicans’ work to reopen the government, calling it “another distraction campaign.”

In another email from 2019, after Epstein was indicted on sex trafficking charges, he wrote about Trump: “Of course he knew about the girls. He asked Ghislaine to stop.” Trump has long said he cut ties with Epstein years before his legal troubles and banned him from Mar-a-Lago for trying to recruit club employees, including Giuffre.

“He stole her, and by the way, she had no complaints about us,” Trump has said.

Republicans have also released 20,000 pages of documents. One email shows Epstein commenting on former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s guilty plea, writing, “I know how dirty Donald is.”

Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

Meanwhile, bipartisan pressure is intensifying to release all Department of Justice Epstein files. A newly sworn-in Democrat became the critical 218th signature on a discharge petition to force a vote.

“I will sign the discharge petition now to release the Epstein files. Justice cannot wait another day,” said Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona.