(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.

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(WASHINGTON) –Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva was officially sworn in to the House on Wednesday — seven weeks after she won a special election, and just before the House is set to up Senate-passed legislation to reopen the government.

House Speaker Mike Johnson administered the oath of office, which prompted loud applause from Democrats.

Grijalva spoke on the House floor and immediately after that signed the discharge petition that would force a floor vote on compelling the Department of Justice to release the complete files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

“Justice cannot wait another day,” she said.

Grijalva pointed to the new emails released by House Democrats earlier Wednesday in which Epstein made mentions of President Donald Trump.

“Our democracy only works when everyone has a voice,” Grijalva said.

“This includes the millions of people across the country who have experienced violence and exploitation, including Liz Stein and Jessica Michaels, both survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, they are here in the gallery with us this evening,” she said. “Thank you for being here.”

Grijalva called on lawmakers on Capitol Hill to do more to counter Trump.

“It’s past time for Congress to restore its role as a check and balance on this administration and fight for we, the American people,” she said. “We need to fight for our immigrant communities and veterans. We need to stand up for our public schools, children and educators. We need to respect tribal sovereignty and our environment, we need to stand up for LGBTQ+ rights, because that’s what the American people expect us to do: fight for them. That is why I will sign the discharge petition right now to release the Epstein files.”

Grijalva’s election win was four days after Johnson dismissed lawmakers following House passage of the clean continuing resolution to fund the government in mid-September.

While the question has followed the speaker throughout the shutdown, Johnson had shrugged off the delay in Grijalva’s swearing-in, arguing that his decision was not about Grijalva’s intent to become the decisive signature on a discharge petition.

The state of Arizona sued the House of Representatives over the speaker’s decision to not swear in Grijalva during the government shutdown and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have expressed their opposition to Johnson’s decision.

When could a vote on the Epstein files discharge petition occur?

After Grijalva signed the discharge petition, a procedural maneuver to bypass House leadership on forcing floor votes on legislation, it reached the necessary 218-vote threshold for a vote to be forced in the lower chamber.

The petition, led by Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, now needs to “ripen” — meaning it will receive floor consideration after seven legislative days, according to House Rules. After that, any member who signed the petition can call up the measure and notify of an intention to offer a discharge motion on the floor. 

So the earliest the House will hold a vote on the discharge petition is in early December after the chamber’s Thanksgiving recess.

Speaker Johnson was opposed to the effort, pointing to the work being done by the House Oversight Committee on Epstein.

The committee has released thousands of records related to Epstein, provided by the Department of Justice. Some of documents released by the committee include public court filings and transcripts from his associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial, previously released flight logs from Epstein’s plane, already-public Bureau of Prisons communications the night of Epstein’s death and various other public court papers from Epstein’s criminal case in Florida. Maxwell has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking young girls and women.

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