By David Morgan and Helen Coster
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Some prominent conservative influencers sought to downplay newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein in which the convicted sex offender wrote that Donald Trump "knew about the girls," arguing the messages were part of a broader Democratic hoax targeting the U.S. president.
The emails, released by House Democrats on Wednesday, again thrust the relationship between Epstein and Trump into the spotlight. Trump, who was friends with Epstein in the 1990s
and early 2000s before the two had a falling out, has consistently denied knowing about the late financier’s abuse and sex trafficking of underage girls.
The House will vote next week on whether to require the Justice Department to publish all of its unclassified files on Epstein.
Democrats said the emails, including one in which Epstein said Trump spent hours at his house with one of his victims, raised troubling new questions about what Trump may have known. Republican lawmakers responded by releasing 20,000 Epstein-related documents and accused Democrats of cherry-picking a handful of messages to advance a false narrative.
"These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday.
SOME TRUMP VOTERS ALLEGE GOVERNMENT COVERUP
The scandal has been a political thorn in Trump’s side for months, in part because he amplified conspiracy theories about Epstein to his own supporters and promised to release the Justice Department’s investigative files. Many Trump voters believe the government has covered up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscured details surrounding his death by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019.
But a handful of leading MAGA voices defended Trump following the emails' release. Right-wing commentator Jack Posobiec focused on messages between Epstein and journalists that, according to an X post he shared, "showed members of regime media colluding with Jeffrey Epstein to create hoaxes about Trump."
Rogan O'Handley, who goes by DC_Draino online, wrote on social media, "These drip-drip Democrat disclosures are nothing but distractions to once again smear a good man’s name." Rob Schmitt, host of conservative cable channel Newsmax, called the Washington Post’s story about the emails “truly vile reporting.”
Trump canceled a planned press availability during a dinner with financial executives on Wednesday and then declined to take questions from reporters at an Oval Office event to sign the legislation ending the government shutdown, a highly unusual move for Trump.
Reporters shouted questions about Epstein as they were shuttled out of the room.
HOUSE TO VOTE ON RELEASE OF FILES
The resolution, introduced by maverick Republican Representative Thomas Massie and co-sponsored by 11 Republicans and 39 Democrats, caused months of heartburn for Trump and party leaders in the House, who have criticized the initiative as a danger to victims and opted to leave disclosures to investigators at the House Oversight Committee.
“We have been for maximum transparency of the Epstein files from the very beginning,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, who announced he would bring the measure to the floor early after it became clear that Massie would succeed in forcing a vote by collecting signatures from a majority of House members.
The upcoming vote presents a political dilemma for House Republicans torn between loyalty to Trump and the appeals for transparency from some of Epstein's alleged victims. Johnson sought to spare lawmakers a recorded vote on Wednesday by requesting passage by unanimous consent, a move rebuffed by Democrats.
Supporters of the measure say Republicans who oppose it could risk being viewed by MAGA voters as protectors of pedophiles once Trump leaves office after the 2028 election.
“If they're thinking about the right thing to do, that's pretty obvious: you vote for it," Massie told reporters. "But if they're just thinking politically, they need to look past 2028 and wonder if they want this on their record for the rest of their political careers.”
The resolution would only take effect if it passes both chambers of Congress and Trump then signs it into law. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office did not respond to a query on whether he would bring the measure up for a vote if it passes the House.
Massie hopes the measure will draw significant backing from House Republicans to raise the chances that the Senate will act. But some who back the resolution say wider support may be in doubt.
"I think most of my colleagues are taking their marching orders, and that comes from the top," Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, an ardent supporter of the resolution, told the Sean Spicer Show podcast.
(Reporting by David Morgan in Washington and Helen Coster in New York; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Rod Nickel)
