What did Trump know about Epstein?

Trump’s claims of ignorance are contradicted by a newly released 2019 email

President Donald Trump arrives at the White House on November 9, 2025. (ALLISON ROBBERT/AFP via Getty Images)

From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were friends. They were photographed together in Mar-a-Lago, Epstein attended Trump’s wedding in 1993, and they attended the same elite social events in Manhattan.

On July 12, 2019, shortly after Epstein’s arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, Trump was asked by a reporter on the White House lawn if he suspected Epstein was sexually abusing underage girls:

REPORTER: With regard to Jeffrey Epstein, did you have any suspicions that he was molesting young women, underaged women?

TRUMP: No, I had no idea. I had no idea. I haven’t spoken to him in many, many years. But I had -- I didn’t have no idea [sic].

On July 31, 2025, Trump was asked if he knew why Epstein had been “taking“ young women who were employed at Trump’s spa at Mar-a-Lago. Two days earlier, Trump claimed that Epstein had “stolen“ Virginia Giuffre and other underage victims from the spa. Trump again denied knowledge of Epstein’s activities. “No, I didn’t know,” Trump said.

On Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee released emails, obtained from Epstein’s estate, that directly contradict Trump’s denials.

In a January 31, 2019, email to journalist Michael Wolff, Epstein wrote that Trump “of course… knew about the girls.”

In April 2011, as Epstein’s legal troubles mounted, Epstein wrote in an email to his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, that the “dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.” Epstein said that Trump had spent “hours at my house” with one of the victims, which Republicans on the committee later revealed was Giuffre. The email implies that Trump had knowledge of Epstein’s crimes but had not communicated with authorities.

The White House claims that House Democrats unnecessarily redacted Giuffre’s name to create a “fake narrative.” Giuffre said in a deposition that Trump never conducted himself inappropriately in her presence.

While the emails do not show that Trump was involved in sexual misconduct facilitated by Epstein, they do directly undermine Trump’s claims that he was unaware of Epstein’s crimes.

Trump scrambles to prevent the release of more Epstein information

After a record 50-day delay, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) finally swore in Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) on Wednesday. Grijalva then provided the final signature needed for a discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Department of Justice’s Epstein files. The vote is expected to occur in early December.

In the hours before Grijalva was sworn in, Trump scrambled to peel Republicans off the discharge petition. Trump called Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-CO), one of the few Republicans to back the discharge petition, early Tuesday morning. Boebert was summoned to the White House on Wednesday, where she met in the Situation Room — “a space reserved for handling high-level crises and military operations” — with Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel. Trump has also tried to contact another member who signed the discharge petition, Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-SC). These efforts were unsuccessful.

Beyond the DOJ files, the other source of information about Trump’s knowledge of Epstein’s crimes is Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2021. Earlier this year, Maxwell participated in an interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s personal attorney. After the meeting with Blanche, Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security prison in Texas. A whistleblower reports that at the new facility, “Maxwell is having custom-prepared meals delivered directly to her cell, that the warden made special accommodations for her to meet with visitors, and that she was allowed to have special time to play with a puppy.”

Trump has refused to rule out a pardon for Maxwell.