Congress has passed a bill requiring the Justice Department to release its files related to the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.
All House Democrats and four Republicans forced a vote on the issue after the Republican party dragged the process out for months. The issue has disrupted committee meetings, stalled floor action on other legislation since this summer, and caused President Trump to lash out against Republicans who pushed for the file to be released.
Mr. Trump suddenly dropped his opposition last Sunday amid growing Republican support for the bill, telling the House Republicans that they should vote to release the Epstein files “because we have nothing to hide.”
This vote and unexpected surrender by Trump follows the release of thousands of pages of emails and other materials by the House Oversight Committee.
Although tens of thousands of emails have been released, here are some of the most memorable exchanges so far:
When Landon Thomas Jr (then a reporter at the New York Times) wrote to Epstein in 2015 asking about his relationship with Trump, Epstein said, “have them ask my houseman about donald almost walking through the door leaving his nose print on the glass as young women were swimming in the pool he was so focused he walked straight into the door.”
In another exchange with Thomas, Epstein asks, “would you like to see photos of donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen?”
Throughout the emails, Epstein also depicts how intimately he knows Trump, “You see, I know how dirty donald is,” said in a 2018 email to former counsel Kathy Ruemmler.
In an email exchange with ex-Harvard President Larry Summers, Epstein also said, “Recall ive told you, I have met some very bad people, none as bad as trump. not one decent cell in his body.”
Lastly, an exchange between Epstein and his brother, Mark Epstein, has attracted a lot of scrutiny and attention from social media and the general public. Epstein states, “Ask him if Putin has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba?”
“Bubba” was originally speculated to be former president Bill Clinton, but Mark Epstein (brother Jeffrey) set the record straight, stating “Any attempt to conflate that reference with President Clinton… or to read sweeping implications into them, misrepresents both the purpose and the tone of the original correspondence.”
The bulk of the documents come from a personal email address ([email protected]) that he set up around 2009, when Mr. Epstein was released from the Palm Beach County jail after having served 13 months of an 18-month sentence on a reduced charge of soliciting prostitution.
The newly available emails continued into the summer of 2019, when Mr. Epstein was arrested and imprisoned after federal prosecutors charged him with sex trafficking.
Mr. Epstein was found dead in his cell at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan on Aug. 10, 2019, thirty-four days after his imprisonment.
The circumstances surrounding Mr. Epstein’s death have been the subject of ongoing speculation and multiple investigations; ultimately it was concluded as a suicide.
This is an ongoing investigation as it will take time to sort through the thousands of emails.
*This information is updated as of Friday, November 21st
