White House says new Epstein emails referencing Trump ‘prove absolutely nothing’

(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Wednesday flatly dismissed the release by House Democrats of emails from sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including one in which he wrote that President Donald Trump “spent hours at my house” with someone the Democrats alleged was a victim.

“These emails prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said as she faced questions on the latest developments at her Wednesday afternoon press briefing.

President Trump weighed in directly for the first time in a social media post shortly after Leavitt wrapped the briefing.

“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.”

Notably, Leavitt seemed to contradict Trump today when she said Trump kicked Epstein out of his Florida club for being a “pedophile” as well as a “creep.”

“What President Trump has always said is that he was from Palm Beach, and so was Jeffrey Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein was a member at Mar-a-Lago until President Trump kicked him out because Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile and he was a creep,” she said.

When asked later by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce if she was implying Trump knew what Epstein was doing with young women, Leavitt clarified in a statement: “No, Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile. That’s a fact that has now come out. The president kicked him out of his club because he thought Jeffrey was a creep to his female employees. The president has said this himself many times.”

In one message released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, Epstein appeared to touch on his relationship with Trump and whether he’d been banned from membership at Mar-a-Lago years earlier.

“Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever,” Epstein wrote in a message to author Michael Wolff, “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”

After Epstein was arrested in 2019, Trump said he hadn’t spoken with him since 2015 because of a falling out. This summer, as momentum picked up in Congress to release all the Epstein files, Trump said Epstein “stole” young women (including prominent Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre) from his Mar-a-Lago club, but that he didn’t know why.

Democrats push for release of all Epstein files; GOP says Dems trying to ‘slander’ Trump

The release of the Epstein emails referencing Trump have added fuel to a renewed push on the Epstein discharge petition.

“We won’t stop until we end this White House cover-up. Release the files, NOW,” Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, wrote on X.

Many Democrats issued similar calls.

“It’s clear as day: Trump is in the Epstein files,” New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler wrote on X. “The American people deserve the full truth.”

“The public deserves to know who enabled Epstein, who looked the other way, and who’s still being protected. Survivors have waited long enough. Release the Epstein files NOW,” wrote Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.

ABC News’ Bruce, at Wednesday’s briefing, pressed Leavitt: “In the interest of transparency, why not just go ahead, release the full files on Epstein, get this all over with?”

“This administration has done more with respect to transparency when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein than any administration ever. In fact, this administration, the Department of Justice, has turned over tens of thousands of documents to the American people. We are cooperating and showing support for the House Oversight Committee,” Leavitt said.

Though ABC News reported that top Trump administration officials met with Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert Wednesday morning in an effort to get her to change her vote on a discharge petition that would compel the Justice Department to release all the files related to Epstein.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee accused Democrats of “trying to create a fake narrative to slander President Trump.”

In a social media post, Republicans on the panel claimed in the 2011 email between Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell that said Trump spent “hours at my house” with an alleged victim, Democrats redacted the name “Virginia” — a likely reference to Giuffre, who had made extensive public comments about her exploitation by Epstein, but had never accused Trump of any wrongdoing.

“Democrats continue to carelessly cherry-pick documents to generate click-bait that is not grounded in the facts,” a House Oversight Majority spokesperson said in a statement. “The Epstein Estate has produced over 20,000 pages of documents on Thursday, yet Democrats are once again intentionally withholding records that name Democrat officials.”

After the release by House Democrats, House Republicans on the Oversight panel released an additional 20,000 pages of documents they received from the Epstein estate.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, one of a handful of Republican women backing the effort to compel the release of all Epstein files, defended Trump and said the focus should be on the victims.

“How pathetic that Democrats are using Epstein’s victims to bury headlines on their vote against reopening the government,” Mace wrote on X.

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna are leading the discharge petition to force a vote on compelling the Justice Department to release all the Epstein files.

Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, set to be sworn in on Wednesday, is expected to become the decisive 218th signature needed for the petition.

“Why did Justice or the FBI not get & release these?” Khanna wrote on X about the Epstein emails made public by House Democrats. “Today, [Massie] & my petition gets 218!”

ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.