Live Updates
CNN reporters are going through thousands of documents from Epstein estate released by House committee
” data-timestamp-html=”
” data-check-event-based-preview data-is-vertical-video-embed=”false” data-network-id data-publish-date=”2025-11-12T13:54:16.058Z” data-video-section=”politics” data-canonical-url=”https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/12/politics/video/epstein-trump-emails-digvid” data-branding-key data-video-slug=”epstein-trump-emails-digvid” data-first-publish-slug=”epstein-trump-emails” data-video-tags data-breakpoints=”{“video-resource–media-extra-large”: 660}” data-display-video-cover=”true” data-details data-track-zone=”live-story-lede” data-sticky-anchor-pos=”bottom”>
See the newly released private emails where Epstein mentioned Trump
08:40 • Source: CNN
See the newly released private emails where Epstein mentioned Trump
08:40
• Today’s release: The House Oversight Committee has released an additional 20,000 pages of documents the GOP-led panel received from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender whose death by suicide spawned intense scrutiny of the high-profile people he knew.
• What we’ve found so far: Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell coordinated their public response to a 2015 lawsuit brought by an anonymous woman later revealed to be Virginia Roberts Giuffre. In an interview with the Justice Department this summer, Maxwell had said her relationship with Epstein was “almost nonexistent” between 2010 and 2019 outside of corresponding over legal matters. Read below for more updates from CNN reporters.
• White House pushes back: Press secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted the emails, saying they prove “nothing.” Trump accused Democrats of bringing up Epstein to “deflect” from their handling of the government shutdown, which could end in hours with a vote in the US House. But the White House reached out to Rep. Lauren Boebert, one of four Republicans signed onto a petition to trigger a vote on legislation compelling the release of the files.
In early June 2019, President Trump made a state visit to the United Kingdom, where he was welcomed by the former Prince Andrew. A photo shows Andrew grinning as he shakes Trump’s hand.
In a June 2019 email exchange with Steve Bannon, Trump’s former White House chief strategist, Jeffrey Epstein wrote, “prince andrew and trump today.. Tooo [sic] funny.” And then he added, “recall prince andrews accuser came out of mara lago [sic].”
Bannon replied, “Can’t believe nobody is making u [sic] the connective tissue.”
It’s unclear what exactly Bannon meant by the message. Trump fired him from the White House in 2017, though Bannon remained influential in conservative politics as he does today.
Trump and Andrew socialized together in the 1990s and 2000s, per newspaper reports, alongside Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, sometimes at Mar-A-Lago. King Charles stripped Andrew of his prince title in October.
CNN reached out to Bannon for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Speaker Mike Johnson brushed aside new findings that Jeffrey Epstein mentioned President Donald Trump by name multiple times in private emails when asked by CNN on Wednesday.
“I think it’s a massive distraction by the Democrats while we’re trying to get the government reopened and cover for their mistakes. I find it interesting that the press corps didn’t ask all these questions for four years during the Biden administration,” Johnson said, asked by CNN if the speaker had any concerns about the new findings.
Pressed by CNN why Congress shouldn’t release all Epstein documents when the president himself has said he supports doing so, Johnson said: “He is for maximum transparency. He said it as recently as a couple of days ago, and I talked to him about it today. He’s for everything coming out.”
As that Epstein pressure builds, two more House Republicans — GOP Reps. Warren Davidson of Ohio and Eli Crane of Arizona — told CNN they plan to vote for the bill to release the Epstein files when it comes to the floor. Neither had signed the discharge petition.
Asked by CNN if he planned to support the bill on the floor, Crane said: “Yeah. I told you I would, yep.”
Other Republicans, however, remain staunchly opposed.
Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana told Raju “I’m a vote against” the Epstein transparency bill.
“My understanding and I’ve looked into it extensively is that the president didn’t like that guy, he had no friendly relationships with him. You can’t control who takes a picture with you,” Higgins told CNN.
Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva has signed the discharge petition to force a vote compelling the Department of Justice to release all of its case files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Grijalva, who was sworn in as the House’s newest member just moments before, provided the 218th signature.
The congresswoman’s support locks in the votes needed to allow the petition to move forward – despite a last minute pressure campaign from the White House to try and remove some of the GOP signers.
After 50 days of waiting, Rep. Adelita Grijalva was sworn into Congress Wednesday, bringing an end to a contentious chapter in the US House of Representatives that included a lawsuit and rising tensions inside the Capitol over her seating.
The timing of her swearing-in had also been closely watched because she is poised to become the decisive 218th member in support of an effort to force the House to vote on the release of all of the Epstein case files.
In remarks on the House floor, Grijalva said she would sign the discharge petition “right now to release the Epstein files. Justice cannot wait another day.”
She also thanked two Epstein survivors who were in the gallery for her swearing in.
“Just this morning, House Democrats released more emails showing that Trump knew more about Epstein’s abuses than he previously acknowledged. It’s past time for Congress to restore its role as a check and balance on this administration and fight for we, the American people,” Grijalva said.
Speaker Mike Johnson had said he would not swear in the Arizona Democrat amid the government shutdown until the House returned to legislative session. The swearing-in took place after the chamber reconvened to vote on a Senate-passed bill to reopen the government.
This post has been updated with remarks from Grijalva.
In an August 2018 email to Kathryn Ruemmler, a former White House counsel under President Barack Obama, Epstein wrote that, “I know how dirty Donald is,” referring to potential scandals that might come out about Donald Trump.
Epstein sent the message on August 23, 2018, after Trump’s longtime fixer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to federal campaign finances crimes. As part of a cooperation deal with prosecutors, Cohen implicated Trump in a 2016 hush-money scheme involving payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair, which Trump denies.
“You see, I know how dirty Donald is,” Epstein wrote in the email. “My guess is that non-lawyers NY biz people have no idea what it means to have your fixer flip.”
The email conversation began when Ruemmler sent Epstein a New York Times column about the Cohen guilty plea and what it might mean for Trump.
“The principled case for impeachment is clear,” Ruemmler wrote. “What’s missing is the courage.”
Trump was not impeached and he never faced any federal charges over the matter despite a lengthy investigation. However, the Manhattan district attorney later won an indictment of Trump on state charges in connection with the matter. Trump was convicted last year of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up the payments.
In March 2011, as the Epstein scandal was picked up by British tabloids focusing on Prince Andrew’s involvement, Epstein reached out to Andrew to ask how he was doing.
“you ok?” Epstein wrote to an email identified as “The Duke,” an apparent reference to Andrew, known at the time as the Duke of York. “these stories are complete ant (sic) utter fantasy.”
King Charles stripped Andrew of his prince title last month and forced him to move out of the royal residence. Andrew relinquished his title as Duke of York weeks beforehand.
In early January 2018, as questions swirled about Trump’s behavior following the release of Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury,” Epstein exchanged a series of emails with a reporter at The New York Times discussing the president’s mental state.
Epstein sent the reporter an excerpt of the book that ran in New York Magazine.
The reporter remarked that Trump was “looking/sounding increasingly unhinged,” Epstein replies, “no questions donalds statement is goofy. . early dementia?”
GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert is not expected to remove her name from the petition that would force a vote on compelling the administration to release all the Jeffrey Epstein case files after a meeting at the White House, a source familiar with the meeting told CNN.
Boebert had previously told CNN’s Manu Raju as much on September 16, saying “no” when asked if there was “any way you take your name off the Epstein discharge petition?” She also said at the time, “I’m not getting pressured” from the White House.
Separately, President Donald Trump and GOP Rep. Nancy Mace, another GOP signer on the petition, have been playing phone tag. Mace previously told CNN’s Raju rumors that she were planning to remove her name from the petition were untrue.
Boebert and Mace are two of three Republicans who are supportive of an effort from Reps. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, to force a vote on the release of the files on the House floor. The pair is set to receive the 218th decisive signature from Rep. Adelita Grijalva Wednesday afternoon, allowing the push to force a vote to move forward.
Asked at Wednesday’s press briefing about the meeting with Boebert, press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded: “Doesn’t it show transparency that members of the Trump administration are willing to brief members of Congress whenever they please? Doesn’t that show our level of transparency? Doesn’t that show the level of transparency when we are willing to sit down with members of Congress and address their concerns? That is, that’s a defining factor of transparency, having discussions, having discussions with members of Congress about various issues. And I’m not going to detail conversations that took place in the Situation Room, in the press briefing room.”
CNN has reached out to Boebert for comment.
In a March 24, 2018, email chain with Kathryn Ruemmler, a former White House counsel under President Barack Obama, Epstein shared a Daily Beast article titled, “How Close Is Donald Trump to a Psychiatric Breakdown?”
The exchange shows Epstein forwarding the story early that morning to Ruemmler, with her replying: “Not confidence inspiring.”
Epstein then responded: “but – accurate.”
A year earlier in July 2017, Ruemmler wrote an email to Epstein saying, “Trump is truly stupid.”
“Duh,” Epstein replied several hours later.
It is not clear why Ruemmler and Epstein were corresponding at the time.
But the Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 that a spokesperson for Goldman Sachs, where Ruemmler was then employed, said she had a professional relationship with Epstein in connection with her role at law firm Latham & Watkins LLP.
Ruemmler did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
In December 2018, Epstein emailed Ruemmler about Trump’s behavior, writing:
“you might want to tell your dem friends that treating trump like a mafia don, ignores the fact that he has great dangerous power. tightening the noose too slowly, risks a very bad situation. gambino was never the commander in chief. there was little gambino could do as the walls closed in. not so with this maniac.”
That same day, Epstein forwarded the same comment to Reid Weingarten, an attorney who worked for him.
Weingarten replied that Trump was “starting to behave very erratically.”
Epstein wrote back: “borderline insane. and corroborated by some that are close.”
President Donald Trump responded Wednesday to new reporting detailing emails from Jeffrey Epstein mentioning Trump, again calling the saga a “Hoax,” and blasting Democrats for releasing the emails in a fiery post to his Truth Social platform.
“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,” Trump wrote. “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.”
The emails were released Wednesday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, who obtained them after subpoenaing Epstein’s estate earlier this year. Trump did not receive or send any of the messages, which largely predated his time as president, and he has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
The president’s comments come as CNN reported that top Trump administration officials have planned to meet Wednesday about an effort in the US House to force a vote on releasing Justice Department Epstein case files.
Three Republican House members – Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Nancy Mace – have signed onto the effort from Reps. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, to force a vote on the release of the files on the House floor.
Top Trump administration officials were planning to meet Wednesday with Boebert to discuss the discharge position.
” data-timestamp-html=”
” data-check-event-based-preview data-is-vertical-video-embed=”false” data-network-id data-publish-date=”2025-11-12T18:13:15.781Z” data-video-section=”politics” data-canonical-url=”https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/12/politics/video/epstein-mentiond-trump-in-newly-released-emails-digvid-vrtc” data-branding-key data-video-slug=”epstein-mentiond-trump-in-newly-released-emails-digvid-vrtc” data-first-publish-slug=”epstein-mentiond-trump-in-newly-released-emails-digvid-vrtc” data-video-tags=”vertical” data-breakpoints=”{“video-resource–media-extra-large”: 660}” data-display-video-cover=”true” data-vertical-orientation=”true” data-details>
Epstein mentioned Trump in newly released private emails
Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender whose death by suicide spawned intense scrutiny of the high-profile people he knew, mentioned President Donald Trump by name multiple times in private correspondence over the last 15 years with an associate and an author in Trump’s orbit, according to newly released emails from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
02:30 • Source: CNN
Epstein mentioned Trump in newly released private emails
02:30
In January 2015, an anonymous woman – later revealed to be Virginia Roberts Giuffre – filed a lawsuit alleging that Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell groomed and sexually abused her between 1998 and 2002. The lawsuit alleged they forced her to become a “sex slave” to powerful men – including a royal prince later revealed to be Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Mountbatten-Windsor, who has been stripped of his prince title, has denied the allegation and later settled a lawsuit Giuffre filed against him.
In several email exchanges on January 10, 2015, after the lawsuit was filed, Epstein and Maxwell coordinated their public response to the allegations.
“Initial response, too many unanswered question [sic] raised, relationship with jeffrey/…I am writing to writin [sic] to respond to alleagtinoin [sic] that have been made wchich [sic] are categorically untrue,” Epstein wrote Maxwell.
Maxwell responded by asking if her lawyer could speak with a lawyer, then wrote:
After Epstein assured Maxwell he was on the phone with his lawyer about getting her a lawyer, she replied, “I need it written out in full.”
“Call me,” Epstein replied.
Maxwell later settled a defamation lawsuit with Giuffre in June 2017 for an undisclosed sum.
In an interview with the Justice Department this summer, Maxwell said her relationship with Epstein was “almost nonexistent” between 2010 and 2019 outside of corresponding over legal matters.
The White House said Wednesday that the release of Jeffrey Epstein emails that mentioned Donald Trump “prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.”
Asked whether Trump ever spent time at Epstein’s house with one of his victims — as one of the newly released emails suggests — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated that Trump had kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago for being a “creep” and also described the convicted sex offender as a “pedophile.”
Leavitt defended the administration’s efforts to block moves in the US House to try to compel the release of the Epstein files, arguing that it’s committed to transparency.
“We are cooperating and showing support for the House Oversight Committee. That’s part of the reason you are seeing these documents that were released today, because of the House Oversight Committees and Republicans’ efforts to get these out to the public,” she said.
And she again dismissed questions about whether Trump is considering a pardon for longtime Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking after Epstein’s death.
“It’s not something he’s talking about or even thinking about at this moment in time,” she said.
CNN’s Betül Tuncer contributed to this post.
One attorney representing several of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers, said the new release of documents by the House Oversight Committee underscores the importance of releasing all of the case files.
Arick Fudali told CNN today the full release of the files would provide additional context to the emails made public by lawmakers.
“The United States of America deserves to know what sort of involvement Donald Trump had with Jeffrey Epstein. Did it go further than what he’s admitted or not? What do these emails explain, if anything? We need to see the full files and anything short of that is just unsatisfactory,” Fudali said.
The emails, and other documents released by the committee earlier this year, came from Epstein’s estate.
In some of the emails, Epstein mentions President Donald Trump by name.
Fudali said the emails could indicate that the relationship between Trump and Epstein entails “more than has been publicized — or perhaps not. But that’s why we need the entire files.”
The top House Democrat said President Donald Trump’s reported efforts to lobby Republicans to remove their names from the discharge petition to force a vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files “speaks for itself.”
“This is the Republican nightmare, and it has now arrived,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries added.
“It’s extraordinary to me that rather than extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, rather than find a bipartisan path forward for Democrats and Republicans to come together to deal with the Republican healthcare crisis, Donald Trump is spending his day pressuring people like Nancy Mace and Lauren Boebert to come off of the Epstein discharge petition because they are afraid, clearly, of what’s in those files,” he said.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna suggested Wednesday that 40-50 Republicans would back a bill compelling the release the Jeffrey Epstein case files when it comes to the House floor.
Khanna, along with Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, is leading an effort to force a floor vote on the legislation and said the petition would get the 218 signatures needed to trigger the move today. He said this would lead to a floor vote on the bill in early December.
Asked if he was concerned the Senate may not take the bill up or the Justice Department may refuse to comply, Khanna said, “Not if we get a huge vote here in the House. I mean, I believe we’re going to get 40, 50, Republicans voting with us on the release. And if we get that kind of overwhelming vote, that’s going to push the Senate, and it’s going to push for a release of the files from the Justice Department.”
Four Republicans are currently signed onto the petition to trigger the floor vote, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace, and Massie.
The White House defended reported plans for a meeting between administration officials and GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert to discuss an effort in the US House to force a vote on releasing Justice Department case files related to Jeffrey Epstein as an exercise in transparency.
The meeting, which CNN reported earlier, is expected to include Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and Boebert, who has signed onto the House effort to compel the documents’ release.
“Doesn’t that show our level of transparency? Doesn’t that show the level of transparency when we are willing to sit down with members of Congress and address their concerns?” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response to a question about the reported meeting plans.
“That’s a defining factor of transparency, having discussions, having discussions with members of Congress about various issues. And I’m not going to detail conversations that took place in the Situation Room, in the press briefing room,” she went on.
On Capitol Hill, three Republican House members – Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Nancy Mace – have signed onto an effort from Reps. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, to force a vote on the release of the files on the House floor.
The pair is set to receive the 218th decisive signature from Rep. Adelita Grijalva Wednesday afternoon, allowing the push to force a vote to move forward.
The emails show an interesting exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Soon-Yi Previn, the wife of controversial filmmaker Woody Allen.
Epstein sent an article to Previn, titled, “Bill Clinton’s CIA chief joins Trump campaign.” The article, published by The Hill in September 2016, was about the former Clinton-appointed CIA director James Woolsey joining Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
“Woody said it doesn’t mean anything,” Previn wrote in response to Epstein.
It’s unclear why Epstein flagged the news to Previn and what if any interest she or her husband would have had in Woolsey’s involvement with Trump.
Jeffrey Epstein survivors are expected to be in attendance at Adelita Grijalva’s swearing-in ceremony this afternoon, sources with knowledge tell CNN — a move that is certain to further crystalize the intensifying public pressure for the Trump administration to release the Epstein files.
At least two women who said they were victims of Epstein’s abuse plan to be in the room when Grijalva is sworn in as the newest member of the House — a moment that the congresswoman-elect from Arizona and her fellow Democrats have been waiting for since she won a special election in September.
Grijalva is expected to provide the final signature needed for a discharge petition in the House that would compel a vote in the lower chamber on the release of the Epstein files.
Critics had accused House Speaker Mike Johnson of delaying the representative-elect’s swearing-in.
A week after Donald Trump was inaugurated to his first term as US president, he signed an executive order banning the entry of foreign nationals from Muslim majority countries for 90 days, widely referred to as the “Muslim ban.”
Jeffrey Epstein said in an email to a New York Times reporter on January 28, 2017: “IT helps as he is seen as keeping his word.”
He added later in the email: “That being said Donald is f**king crazy, I told you that.”
GOP Rep. Warren Davidson said that while he doesn’t plan on signing on to the effort to force a House vote to compel the release of the Justice Department’s Epstein case files, he would support the underlying bill.
He plans on voting on the bipartisan bill to force the release of the files when it comes to the floor because he wants more information from the Trump administration, Davidson said.
“This is something that has gone on for 20 years, and so justice is long overdue. There have been plea agreements with a lot of the victims here, and so they’ve chosen to take the agreements over prosecution in many cases, and so that does make it harder to bring the case,” he said, adding that he wants to see Attorney General Pam Bondi come before Congress and “do some explaining.”
“How is it that you had everything tee’d up and then suddenly there’s nothing. You handed out binders to journalists, what was in the binders? A nondisclosure agreement or something? Because we’ve seen nothing out of this, so there needs to be an explanation to the public,” he said.
Leave a Reply