White House Shrugs Off New Epstein Emails That Claim Trump ‘Knew About the Girls’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that newly released emails written by Jeffrey Epstein proved President Donald Trump’s innocence rather than any involvement in crimes committed by the late financier.

“These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong,” she said at a press briefing Wednesday.

The connection between Trump and Epstein has dominated the news once again, as the House returns from a long recess during the government shutdown — and prepares to swear in a new member whose signature on a discharge petition could force a vote on releasing the so-called “Epstein files.”

As the president and his allies push to prevent that discharge petition from getting the 218 signatures it needs to force a floor vote, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released new emails from Epstein that mentioned Trump.

In one email, Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop,” referring to Ghislaine Maxwell. Another said Trump spent “hours” with an individual at Epstein’s house. The committee redacted the person’s name but said they were a victim.

The White House is claiming that the individual is Virginia Giuffre, a former Mar-a-Lago spa worker who died in April. She met Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago and accused Epstein of trafficking her and associates of Epstein of assaulting her, but never made accusations against Trump.

Leavitt forcefully denied any wrongdoing on Trump’s part.

“This administration has done more with respect to transparency when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein than any administration ever,” she said, adding that Democrats “care about trying to score political points against President Trump.”

The release of the emails coincides with the swearing in of incoming Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, who plans to provide the final signature needed onto a discharge petition that would force a vote to compel the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.

Multiple reports on Wednesday indicated that Trump and the White House are attempting to convince House Republicans, including Reps. Nancy Mace and Lauren Boebert, to take their names off the discharge petition. Mace and Boebert reportedly have not changed their positions.

Leavitt confirmed that meetings with members of Congress have taken place at the White House about the issue.

“I’m not going to detail conversations that took place in the Situation Room,” she said.

When asked why the White House was trying to stop the discharge petition, Leavitt deflected.

“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?” she said. “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 a defining factor of transparency, having discussions with members of Congress about various issues.”

In a post to Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump reiterated his belief that Republicans shouldn’t support the bipartisan effort to release the files.

“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,” he said. “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.”