A massive trove of documents released by the House Oversight Committee has unveiled a startling private assessment of Donald Trump from an unlikely source: the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The emails, part of a 20,000-page document dump obtained via a subpoena of the Epstein estate, reveal Epstein's deep contempt for the former president.
Private Condemnation from a Criminal Associate
In a February 2017 email exchange with former Treasury Secretary and Harvard President Larry Summers, Epstein delivered a scathing judgment of Trump just after his election victory. Epstein wrote that he had met 'some very bad people,' but found 'none as bad as trump.' He went further, asserting there was 'not one decent cell in his body' and concluding Trump was 'dangerous.'
This remarkable condemnation adds a complex layer to the documented relationship between the two men, who were once social companions. A photograph from 1997 shows them together at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Earlier Emails Hint at Deeper Knowledge
The released correspondence includes another revealing message, this one sent to Epstein's partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, in 2011. In it, Epstein describes Trump as a 'dog that hasn't barked,' speculating this was likely because Trump 'spent hours at my house' with an individual whose name is redacted in the documents as '[VICTIM].'
Perhaps most damning is Epstein's written assertion in a separate email that Trump 'knew about the girls,' a direct allusion to the underage victims at the center of Epstein's sex trafficking ring. Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial, with his death officially ruled a suicide, though the circumstances continue to fuel speculation.
Trump's Response and Political Fallout
Facing the public release of these communications, Donald Trump has moved to dismiss the controversy. On his Truth Social platform, he labeled the emerging story a 'hoax' intended by Democrats to distract from the then-ongoing federal government shutdown. Trump accused Democrats of 'trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again' to deflect from their handling of the shutdown and other issues. He warned that only a 'very bad, or stupid, Republican' would fall into that trap.
The release of these emails ensures that the shadow of the Epstein scandal will continue to loom over the political landscape, providing fresh fodder for both critics and defenders of the former president as they dissect the nature of his association with one of America's most notorious criminals.
