Thousands of pages of Epstein documents released by the House Oversight Committee include emails and texts with close contacts that often touched on President Trump.
Jeffrey Epstein’s private emails and text messages, among the more than 20,000 documents released Wednesday by the House Oversight Committee, provide a glimpse into his relationships with people who formed part of his inner circle during his final years. And they repeatedly touched on President Trump.
Epstein increasingly turned to close Trump ally Steve Bannon, journalist Michael Wolff and lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler as his reputation cratered and his status among the world’s most powerful shrank in the years before his 2019 death in a Manhattan jail cell. Ruemmler at the time was a partner at the law firm Latham & Watkins and had served as White House counsel during the Obama administration. She is now the chief legal officer for Goldman Sachs.
The emails show they often talked with Epstein about Mr. Trump, an old friend from New York and Florida, who has previously said he cut ties with Epstein years earlier. Mr. Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing. Epstein, in return, often sought advice or sounding boards for some of his most important personal projects, ranging from deals in the Middle East to his goal of reviving his shattered reputation through a documentary with Bannon.
Mr. Trump, in a post on his social media site, raged against Congressional Democrats who on Wednesday seized upon a 2019 email in which Epstein wrote Mr. Trump « knew about the girls » — an allegation that Mr. Trump has forcefully and consistently denied for years.
« The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects », Mr. Trump wrote, referring to the federal government shutdown that ended Wednesday.Epstein and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon
There were hundreds of texts and emails between Bannon and Epstein covering a wide range of topics, including the Middle East, possible business deals and several conversations on how Epstein should portray himself in the media.
Several of their interactions include disparaging remarks about Mr. Trump, with one text saying the president is the « worst negotiator in human history. »
In one exchange from June 28, 2019 — just a week before Epstein’s arrest — he wrote to Bannon, « Now you can understand why Trump wakes up in the middle of the night sweating when he hears you and I are friends. »
Bannon was a key player in Epstein’s longshot effort to rehabilitate his reputation. Bannon filmed hours of interviews with Epstein as part of a planned documentary, saying in a 2018 text, « I’d like to do a documentary on the real story. » Epstein answered, « yes, great idea. » A source who was close to Epstein told CBS News he planned a public relations campaign aimed at portraying himself in a redemptive light.
