BREAKING: Epstein E-mails Implicate Trump

What happened + What's next

UPDATE: House Oversight released the full 20,000 pages here.

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Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have been trying to force the DOJ to release the Epstein Files for months. Today, they announced that the Epstein Estate gave them a total of 23,000 documents, which they are currently reviewing.

In the first public release, they produced three emails that reveal facts many of us suspected. Epstein wrote to Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump had spent hours at his house with one of his victims of sex trafficking. He also lauded that Trump had not leaked to the police (calling him a “dog that hasn’t barked.”)

In an email to author and fabulist Michael Wolff he said explicitly that Trump “knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.” I don’t know about you, but if I knew an acquaintance was sex trafficking children, I would go to the police, not merely kick him out of my club and ask him politely to stop [poaching girls from my employ].

Later, Wolff said to Epstein, “If [Trump] says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency.” This shows that Epstein had clearly contemplated using this information as blackmail.

Where do we go from here?

These add fuel to the fire in the war over the Epstein Files on Capitol Hill, and the Trump Admin’s backtracking on their promise to release them fully. A topic that has alienated some of Trump’s supporters.

In response to the release, Republicans tried to pivot focus - accusing democrats of cherry-picking emails that don’t include Democrats’ names. It seems to me that it’s quite clear that they just picked the ones related to the CURRENT SITTING PRESIDENT.

On Twitter, Republicans say the redacted name of the victim in the 3 email release is Virginia Giuffre. Virginia said in a 2016 deposition for a civil case that while she heard Trump had been in Epstein’s house, she hadn’t seen him herself.

Nancy Mace makes the argument that since Trump eventually cut ties and we do not have specific information from a victim saying he raped them, he should not be involved in the conversation. “I AM SO SICK OF THE FAKE NEWS FOCUSING ON TRUMP,” she writes.

In the House, a special form of bill called a Discharge Petition is about to get its final necessary signature, from Adelita Grijalva, to force a vote on the matter. Rumors abounded on Threads last night that Nancy was going to remove her name - but that’s unsubstantiated. If 218 members of the House – a majority of all 435 districts – sign a discharge petition, they can force a floor vote in the chamber on anything, even if leadership opposes it. The bill would still need to pass the Senate and be signed by Donald Trump to become law.

This week, House Democrats also said an unnamed whistle-blower revealed that Ghilane Maxwell was preparing to ask Trump to commute her federal prison sentence formally.

The emails also show that Wolff, long seen as a journalist chronicling Epstein’s world, acted more like a trusted advisor.

For years, right-wing media has insisted the government is hiding Epstein’s secrets. Yet when Trump AG Pam Bondi staged an “Epstein Files” event at the White House earlier this year, the binders they handed out were filled with old, publicly available documents.

In an unsigned DOJ Memo from July, the department said, “There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.”

Michael Wolff’s email certainly indicates it was contemplated.

Republicans’ message seems to be: Trump didn’t rape anyone, and he eventually distanced himself. But if that’s the defense — if they truly believe there’s nothing to hide — why fight transparency?

When Speaker Johsnon delays the discharge petition, it will be because he’s trying to hide something. It’s not about protecting victims, it’s about protecting power. Trump has directed AG Bondi to release only “pertinent” testimony from the Maxwell case; however, courts have denied the government's requests to release grand jury transcripts. Congress has subpoenaed the DOJ, but, they say, the “overwhelming majority” of the documents were already made public.

I think it was smart of Democrats to release 3 emails first to focus media attention, but I hope they release the whole tranche soon.

If Democrats’ names appear in the files, fine. Good! Let them be released too. No one who preys on children deserves protection. Hiding behind partisanship to shield the president (or anyone!) from scrutiny, that’s complicity.