Trump's Trials - New Epstein emails appear to reveal more Trump ties

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have released three new emails from the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that mention President Trump, raising new questions about the extent of their relationship.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's Terms from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow. We're under invasion from within. If you're not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will. We all serve at the pleasure of the president. The golden age of America is upon us. We are in the golden age. Every episode of Trump's terms, we bring you NPR's latest coverage of the 47th president.

With a focus on actions and policies he is pursuing on his own terms and in the process, taking the presidency into uncharted territory. Today's story starts right after this. I'm A. Martinez. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have released several emails from the state of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that refer to President Trump. They raise new questions about the extent of their relationship, NPRs. Stephen Fowler has taken a look at those emails, and he's here to explain the context. So, Stephen, what do these documents claim to show?

Well, these new Epstein emails appear to reveal more connections to the disqualions to the grace financier. It's part of a 23,000 document release turned over from Epstein's estate to the House Oversight Committee. There's a 2015 email thread between Epstein and author Michael Wolf, where the pair discuss a potential question from an upcoming CNN interview with Trump about Trump and Epstein's personal ties. A section from Wolf reads in part, quote, I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn't been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency, end quote. There's another email A that Epstein sent in 2011 to Galane Maxwell, his associate who was also

convicted on trafficking charges, that called Trump the dog that hasn't barked and says Trump spent, quote, hours at my house with one of the alleged sex trafficking victims. There's a 2019 email between Epstein and Wolfe that saw the disgrace financier write that, of course, Trump knew about the girls as he asked Galane to stop. The email does not elaborate further, and it's important to note here, that NPR has not independently confirmed the veracity of the correspondence. Okay. Now, the House is set to return to action after seven weeks of recess. How does this document dump fit into that? These latest Epstein files come as the House returns for

votes that could reopen the federal government after the longest shutdown in U.S. history. House Democrats and more Republicans have been pushing for a vote to release additional files related to the Epstein case since before the government shutdown began. But House Speaker Mike Johnson was able to delay that vote by keeping the chamber out, and most recently, by refusing to swear in Democrat Adelaide Grijalva of Arizona. Now, Grijalba will be sworn in this afternoon, and there will be enough votes to move forward with this bipartisan Epstein-Files petition. Ranking member Robert Garcia said in a statement that, quote, the more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover, and added that the latest emails and correspondents

raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the president. So speaking to that relationship, walk us through the timeline of the previous revelations about the Epstein files and the president's political issues with that topic. Well, in September, House Democrats released more than 200 pages of a birthday book for Epstein created more than two decades ago that included a lewd drawing and letter that appears to be signed by Trump. The president has consistently denied any meaningful connection to Epstein, the veracity of the birthday book, and has paid little heed to his own supporters who have called for a full release of the files kept on Epstein and his alleged crimes,

both before and after he died by suicide in 2019 in federal custody. In July, Trump told reporters that he and Epstein fell out because Epstein hired away young female employees who worked at the spot Mar-a-Lago. And as another reminder A, Trump campaigned on releasing the documents as part of a broader message painting his candidacy as a way to expose powerful people hiding the truth, and people across the ideological spectrum feel like that is now a promise that Trump has broken. All right. That's NPR's Stephen Fowler. Stephen, thanks. Thank you. Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics Podcast,

where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear you. hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.