Jan. 16, 2026
By Jacob Collins Dodd
Staff Writer
In the aftermath of financier Jeffrey Epstein’s death, authorities delved into his communications with the world’s highest-profile figures in business and politics.
Their efforts intensified in November 2025 when Democrats on the House Oversight Committee successfully fought against President Donald Trump to release a tranche of over 20,000 unseen emails from Epstein’s estate, where Trump’s name appears over 1,500 times.
From as early as 1996 to as late as 2018, Epstein operated a sex trafficking ring in which he lured over 1,000 young women and underage girls to his array of luxury properties, notably his townhome in New York City, estate in Palm Beach, Florida and 72-acre private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
In June 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from a minor, serving 18 months in prison.
In July 2019, upon returning to the United States from Paris, France, on his private plane, federal agents arrested Epstein on charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. A month later, on Aug. 10, he was found dead by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell.
On April 2, 2011, in an email Epstein sent to Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime associate who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for recruiting and grooming his underage victims, he wrote that the “dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.” In the same email, he wrote that a victim “spent hours” at his house with Trump.
Among Epstein’s trove of unsealed emails was a thread that began on March 19, 2018, between him and his brother Mark. The exchange revived concerns that Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has sensitive material that could be used to blackmail America’s leader. This possibility is especially troubling considering Trump’s consistent support for Russia during his first and second presidential terms.
Epstein’s brother wrote to him, saying, “How are you?” Minutes later, Epstein replied, “All good. Bannon with me,” referring to Steve Bannon, Trump’s former political strategist.
Two days later, his brother wrote back, “Ask him if Putin has the photos of Trump [with] Bubba?” Within close-knit circles, Bubba is a nickname for former president Bill Clinton, who was an associate of Epstein’s throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
On April 2, 2011, in an email Epstein sent to Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime associate who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for recruiting and grooming his underage victims, he wrote that the “dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.”
On Jan. 31, 2019, months before his arrest, Epstein wrote in an email to author and journalist Michael Wolff, “Of course he knew about the girls,” referring to Trump. Wolff, who wrote several bestselling books critically covering Trump and his direction of the White House, was an acquaintance of Epstein’s in Manhattan’s elite networks.
During a White House press briefing on July 9, 2019, days after Epstein was arrested for sex trafficking, Trump told reporters that he “knew [Epstein] like everybody in Palm Beach knew him,” and asserted that he was not a “fan” of his, despite flying on Epstein’s private plane at least eight times throughout the 1990s.
Three days later, Trump insisted he “had no idea” of Epstein’s criminal activity and firmly denied knowledge of Epstein’s sex trafficking operations.
In 2002 — four years before Epstein’s first criminal investigation was publicized — financial journalist Landon Thomas Jr. published a lavish megaprofile about Epstein in New York Magazine, presenting him as a rising, ultra-wealthy enigma who mysteriously became a figure within the exclusive spheres of billionaires, celebrities, politicians, intellectuals and royalty. In the article, then-real estate developer Trump told the magazine that Epstein is a “terrific guy” who “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
As records of Epstein’s sexual crimes resurface, the president’s history with him reads not as a series of isolated encounters, but as a documented, longstanding relationship. The question is no longer whether Trump knew Epstein, but why he has fought so persistently to suppress information about their friendship.
