White House responds to emails published regarding the Epstein case and accuses Democrats of 'selectively leaking' to 'smear president Trump'

The White House made a statement in the wake of the recent release of emails from the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, which mention the president, Donald Trump, accusing Democrats of selectively leaking documents to "create a false narrative" and divert attention from other political issues, such as reopening the government.

The scandal resurfaced Wednesday when Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Accountability Committee released three e-mail exchanges obtained from Epstein's estate. These messages, dating from between 2011 and 2019, involve communications between Epstein, his associate Ghislaine Maxwell - convicted of sex trafficking - and author and columnist Michael Wolff, known for his books about Trump.

In them, Epstein repeatedly alludes to the president, describing him as "the dog that hasn't barked" (a metaphor for someone who has not reported wrongdoing) and suggesting that Trump had knowledge of Epstein's activities.

One of the emails, dated April 2, 2011 and addressed to Maxwell, states, “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump… [VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. police chief. etc. im 75%there.”

Another message, from January 2019 to Wolff, mentions Mar-a-Lago - Trump's Florida resort - and states, “[VICTIM] mara lago. [REDACTED]. trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever. . of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”

Democrats, led by the committee's ranking member, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), presented these emails as evidence of a possible "cover-up" by the White House in the handling of the Epstein files.

“The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover, Garcia said in a statement. "These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the President.”

The committee has received more than 23,000 documents from Epstein's estate following a subpoena, and Garcia urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to immediately release the "Epstein files" to ensure justice for the victims.

In an immediate response, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement sharply criticizing the Democrats' action. “The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump,” Leavitt said.

“The ‘unnamed victim’ referenced in these emails is the late Virginia Giuffre,” who repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions,” Leavitt continued. “The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre."

The White House also accused the blue party of censoring unprotected information in the files, and Republicans on the committee responded by releasing more than 20,000 additional pages of documents to contextualize the leaks.

Additionally, from within the Trump Administration, they called these revelations “bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments, and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again.”