A trove of newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein has ignited a political firestorm, with the late financier making a series of damning claims against President Donald Trump. The documents, released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, include correspondence where Epstein describes the president in starkly negative terms.
In an August 2018 email to Kathy Ruemmler, a former White House counsel for Barack Obama, Epstein wrote, “you see , i know how dirty donald is.”
This was part of a larger pattern of disparaging remarks. In a February 2017 exchange, after Ruemmler called the newly inaugurated President Trump “so gross,” Epstein replied, “worse in real life and upclose.” A separate 2017 email to former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers was even more blunt: “i have met some very bad people .. none as bad as trump. not one decent cell in his body.. so yes- dangerous.”
The documents, which are part of a 23,000-page file provided by Epstein’s estate, were selectively released by committee Democrats. Ranking Member Robert Garcia stated the emails “raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding.”
The release also included a 2018 email in which Epstein bragged to Norwegian diplomat Thorbjørn Jagland about giving insight on Trump to a top Russian official. “churkin was great,” Epstein wrote, referring to Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s late ambassador to the UN. “he understood trump after our conversations. it is not complex. he must be seen to get something its that simple.”
The White House immediately denounced the release. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Democrats of a “bad-faith” and “selective leak” designed “to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.” She added that the release was a “clear distraction” just as the president signed a bill ending the 43-day government shutdown.
In response to the Democrats’ release, Republicans on the committee released their own, much larger 20,000-page trove of documents. They argued the full context shows Epstein “frequently expressing displeasure with Trump.”
The release has renewed scrutiny on the relationship just as the House prepares to vote on fully releasing all Epstein-related files.
