“He knew about the girls but he didn’t bark.” Epstein said victim spent hours with Trump

Words from the convicted sex offender in emails released this Wednesday. Republicans quickly denied it and say Democrats cherry-picked emails to create a false narrative.

New emails written by the late Jeffrey Epstein were released this Wednesday, in which the convicted sex offender assures that US President Donald Trump, “knew about girls”but that it was “a dog that didn’t bark”, which seems to indicate that Trump did not disclose details about the criminal activities that have been linked to the American leader.

In the electronic messages, made public by the Democrats on the US Congressional Oversight and Reform Committee, an exchange of correspondence from 2019 and another from 2011 stands out.

“Trump said he asked me to resign, I was never a member,” Epstein wrote to writer and journalist Michael Wolff, apparently referring to the president’s call for Epstein to leave his club, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, which he frequented. And then he states that Trump was aware of the women involved in the sex trafficking scheme he managed.

“Of course he knew about the girls, since he asked Ghislaine [Maxuell, a namorada e cúmplice de Epstein, atualmente a cumprir pena de prisão] to stop”, according to the documents released this Wednesday, which are part of a vast set of materials handed over by Epstein’s estate to Congressional investigators, who have been analyzing the case for months.

In previous messages, from 2011, Epstein wrote directly to Maxwell:

“I want you to understand that That dog that didn’t bark is Trump… [A vítima, cujo nome foi omitido na divulgação] spent hours at my house with him“, but no email.

The same documents also contain an email from 2015 in which Wolff comments to Epstein on the fact that Trump, at the time a presidential candidate, could be questioned by CNN about the scandal. Epstein asked him what ideal answer the Republican could give and Wolff made a suggestion: “I think you should let him hang himself, if he says he wasn’t on the plane or in the house, that gives you a valuable political and public relations bargaining chip,” he wrote to Epstein.

Republicans deny

The White House immediately reacted to the disclosures, accusing Democrats of manipulating the facts to create a false narrative.

“Democrats selectively leaked emails to liberal media outlets with the aim of creating a false narrative to defame President Trump,” said spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, who said the unnamed victim who spent hours with Trump was Virginia Giuffrealso deceased, that Prince Andrew of sexual abuse but had previously said that Trump was not involved in any inappropriate behavior.

Leavitt also insisted that the former president “expelled Epstein from the club decades ago for being a pervert towards female employees”.

Epstein files closer to the public

Newly sworn-in Democratic Representative Adelita Grijalva announced her support for a petition aimed at forcing the public release of all files related to the Epstein case. With his signature, the petition reaches the 218 necessary to force a vote, a maneuver that the president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, tried to avoid for months.

Although the bill still has to pass the Senate and be signed by the president, political pressure on Republicans is increasing. The Republican leadership has not yet decided whether it will attempt to discipline the votes.

Democrats accuse the majority of covering up information and protecting the former president. They say the Trump administration provided few non-public materials. Republicans counterattack, accusing Democrats of politicizing the process.

Maxwell acquitted Trump, will ask for pardon

In this apparatus, the role of Ghislaine Maxwell, arrested for helping the tycoon, also came back into focus. In July, Epstein’s ex-girlfriend gave an interview to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, in which she stated that she never witnessed any inappropriate behavior on the part of President Donald Trump or former President Bill Clinton.

Coincidence or not, Maxwell is preparing to make a request for a commutation of his sentence, and Trump has not ruled out the possibility of granting him one presidential pardon. Democrats say Maxwell has received preferential treatment since he began cooperating with the administration. Shortly after the interview with the Department of Justice, it was transferred to a minimum security prison.

Despite the new revelations, there is no proof that Trump participated in the sex trafficking network. He himself has always denied any involvement and stated that the relationship with Epstein ended many years ago, claiming to have cut ties when it became known about the deceased’s suspicious activities at his Mar-a-Lago club.