Newly released emails reveal Jeffrey Epstein’s correspondence with Trump ally Tom Barrack

Democratic members of the US House Oversight Committee have published three emails belonging to financier Jeffrey Epstein on the X platform. Epstein, who was found dead in prison, had faced allegations of human trafficking involving minors.

The documents, submitted to the committee by Epstein’s heirs, suggest that US President Donald Trump was aware of the investor’s actions.

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution and was convicted of sexually abusing a minor.

Epstein was arrested again in the summer of 2019 and charged with sex trafficking and forcing victims, including 14-year-old girls, into prostitution.

The billionaire died under suspicious circumstances in his cell in August of that year before his trial began; it was alleged that he committed suicide.

Epstein’s close associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for aiding and abetting sex trafficking.

According to The Washington Post, Trump and Epstein met in the early 1980s when they were neighbors in Florida. The two were frequently seen together during that period, and Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet several times. However, their relationship deteriorated in the early 2000s.

Trump has repeatedly denied being friends with or having a business relationship with Epstein.

Correspondence with Barrack in 2016

Among the published documents is correspondence between Epstein and Tom Barrack, a close friend of US President Donald Trump and ambassador to Türkiye, from 2016.

In a message dated March 9, 2016, Epstein wrote to Barrack:

“FYI: I am getting calls from many journalists throughout the week about both Donald (Marla, beauty pageants, Mar-a-Lago, etc.) and Clinton… The calls about Clinton have recently decreased, but my response is always ‘I have nothing to say,’ or I try to ignore them completely. I have been caught off guard with questions on the street a few times, but I am more careful now.”

Barrack gave a brief reply to Epstein, saying, “Hope you are well, let’s catch up.”

Epstein then responded, “Send a picture of you with the kid.”

In another message sent by Epstein to his associate Ghislaine Maxwell in 2011, it was revealed that an unnamed victim “spent a few hours with Trump (at my house) but never mentioned Trump.”

Epstein added a note to his message: “I want you to understand, the dog that doesn’t bark is Trump.”

Correspondence between Epstein and Michael Wolff, the author of the book Fire and Fury, from 2015 and 2018 has also been made public. In the emails, the two discuss what strategy to follow regarding potential statements about Trump.

Wolff suggests letting Trump’s own words get him into trouble, writing, “If it really looks like he’s going to win, you can save him by creating a sense of indebtedness.”

In another message sent to Wolff in January 2019, Epstein stated, “Of course he knew about the girls, because he told Ghislaine to stop.”

Meanwhile, Republicans have accused Democrats of “fabricating a false story to smear Trump.” Party officials stated that the victim mentioned in the emails is Virginia Giuffre, who claimed to have been deceived by Ghislaine Maxwell and to have worked at Trump’s properties at a young age.

According to The New York Times, Giuffre said in a 2016 statement that she did not participate in or witness any abuse of minors by Trump but had heard he was present at Epstein’s mansion. Giuffre committed suicide this spring.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt described the Democrats’ release of the emails as “a malicious attempt to distract from President Trump’s historic achievements.”

In response, the Democratic Chairman of the Oversight Committee, Robert Garcia, shared the following message on his X account: “If what we published bothers you, there’s an easy way to fix it. Have your boss UNSEAL THE FILES TODAY.”

During his election campaign, Trump had promised to declassify the documents in the Epstein file. In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that she had a “list of individuals to whom Epstein offered the sexual services of underage girls” on her desk, but later corrected her statement, saying she was actually referring to “general files related to the case.”

Bondi subsequently released declassified documents from the case. The documents included private jet flight logs, an address book, a list of evidence, and a “masseuse list.”

However, the FBI and the Department of Justice announced that a document referred to as a “client list” does not exist.

Allegations that Trump’s name appears in the Epstein files have continued to create pressure from both Democrats and Republicans for the full public disclosure of the documents.

Trump responded to his intra-party critics with the words, “Because of that guy who just won’t die.”

According to The New York Times, interest in the issue had waned due to the US government shutdown. However, it is believed that the Epstein files could be brought back to the forefront once the process ends.

Last week, The New York Post reported that Epstein was offered a deal in 2019 to testify against Trump in exchange for his release. A petition from Epstein’s former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, stated that the financier was told he “wouldn’t have to prove anything until Trump’s people debunked it.”