House Oversight Democrats released Epstein email alleging Trump ‘knew about the girls’

Claim:

Democrats on the U.S. House Oversight Committee released an email in November 2025 in which convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alleged that President Donald Trump “knew about the girls.”

Rating:

Context

The full context of the email was unclear at the time of publication. We were unable to immediately reach author Michael Wolff, who received the email from Epstein. However, in a video shared on his Instagram account, Wolff confirmed that the House Oversight Committee had released emails between himself and Epstein.

On Nov. 12, 2025, the U.S. House Oversight Committee announced the release of an additional 20,000-plus pages of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after subpoenaing his estate earlier in the year.

Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019, became notorious for his sex crimes and for his reported ties to elite figures, including Trump. The president has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

The Oversight Committee previously made public a 2003 album of 50th-birthday messages for Epstein. Snopes reported on the contents of that album, which included a drawing that appeared to show Epstein giving candy to children and a purported birthday note from U.S. President Donald Trump. 

Following the latest document release, various social media posts (archived, archived, archived) claimed it contained an email in which Epstein asserted that Trump “knew about the girls,” seemingly referring to the disgraced financier’s victims, many of whom were underage. 

On Nov. 12, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released the email in question, saying it was included in the latest batch of documents. Therefore, we’ve rated this claim true. We are continuing to independently review the committee’s full document release and will update this story as we learn more. 

The email, dated Jan. 31, 2019, was among three that Democrats on the committee released to the public. Epstein reportedly sent it to author Michael Wolff. The message read (emphasis ours):

[REDACTED 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 —

(House Oversight Committee Democrats)

The context of the email, which was sent during Trump’s first presidential term, remained unclear at the time of publication. 

However, it appeared to reference Trump’s reported request that Epstein leave his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. It also seemed to allude to Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell’s alleged efforts to recruit young women from the club.

Wolff’s response

Snopes was unable to immediately reach Wolff, who has written several books on Trump’s presidency, for comment before publication. However, in a video shared on his Instagram account, Wolff confirmed that the House Oversight Committee had released emails between himself and Epstein. 

“This morning, the House Oversight Committee released emails directly linking Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. In fact, some of those emails are between Epstein and me, with Epstein discussing his relationship with Donald Trump,” Wolff said.

He added, “I have been trying to talk about this story for a very long time now.”

White House response

The identity of the victim referenced in a redacted portion of the email was not immediately clear. However, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt identified the person in an email to Snopes as Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre.

Giuffre, who died by suicide at age 41 in April 2025, published a posthumous memoir documenting her claims that Epstein sexually trafficked her to billionaires and prominent politicians. 

In the book, she also described meeting Trump once at Mar-a-Lago, where her father worked, but did not accuse him of wrongdoing, according to The Associated Press. She said Trump “couldn’t have been friendlier,” adding that he had offered to help her find babysitting work.

Giuffre said she first met Epstein as a teenager while working at the spa at Mar-a-Lago, the AP reported. She said Maxwell hired her to work as a “masseuse” for Epstein, who, along with Maxwell, allegedly coaxed her into performing sex acts during massages. 

Epstein allegedly began taking Giuffre to his homes, where she said she was sometimes directed to have sex with numerous friends and acquaintances of his, according to the AP. 

Maxwell has denied Giuffre’s allegations.

In her emailed statement to Snopes, Leavitt accused Democrats of “selectively” leaking emails to smear Trump. She also claimed Trump kicked Epstein “out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre.”

Her full statement provided to Snopes is as follows: 

The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump. 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. 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. These stories are nothing more than 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.

Additional emails in the release

The Oversight Committee Democrats’ release also contained an email exchange between Epstein and Maxwell. In one message, Epstein wrote:

i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. virignia spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. police chief. etc. im 75 % there

Maxwell replied, “I have been thinking about that.” 

Snopes confirmed that this email exchange between Epstein and Maxwell was legitimate. We also compiled a list of rumors about Trump’s relationship with Epstein that we’ve investigated.