Epstein Email Suggests Relationship With Trump After He Was President
WASHINGTON – An email written by Donald Trump’s once-close friend Jeffrey Epstein suggests the two men maintained contact after Trump became president, contradicting Trump’s oft-repeated claim that he cut ties with the now-dead child sex trafficker two decades ago.
The revelation comes in a Nov. 23, 2017 exchange in which Epstein discusses his plans for the coming days with someone described as “Faith Kates” in Epstein’s email contacts. The email was among thousands of documents released by the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, which received them thanks to a subpoena from Epstein’s estate.
Kates asks where Epstein will be spending Thanksgiving and Epstein responds, “eva.”
Kates replies that “Glenn” will be there, but “he’s a sleeper” and then asks, “who else is down there?”
Epstein responds: “david fizel, hanson, trump.”
To which Kates responds: “Have fun!!!”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the email chain made no sense. “These emails prove literally nothing,” he said, but declined to answer the specific question posed by News themezone, which was whether Trump had met with Epstein in November 2017.
Earlier Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated that Trump had done nothing wrong and had banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago, his country club in Palm Beach, because of his conduct.
It is not clear who Faith Kates, David Fizel or Hanson are, or even whether their names are spelled correctly, given the large number of spelling errors in Epstein’s emails. It’s also unclear where “down there” refers, although both Epstein and Trump had residences in Palm Beach, Florida, which in late November was in full social “season.”
Nov. 23, 2017, was Thanksgiving Day that year, and Trump (as he has done many weekends and holidays from late October to mid-spring as president) was at Mar-a-Lago.
Photography by Davidoff Studios via Getty Images
Epstein communicated with others in Trump’s orbit long after the time Trump claims he broke contact with him. In a March 9, 2016, exchange with Trump confidant and real estate investor Tom Barrack, Barrack writes: “I hope you’re doing well. Let’s catch up.”
Epstein responds: “send pictures of you and your son. Make me smile.”
Barrack is now the US ambassador to Türkiye.
This summer, Trump began claiming that he had ended his friendship with Epstein after learning that Epstein had been recruiting outside of Mar-a-Lago to join what turned out to be Epstein’s child sex trafficking ring.
“He did something that was inappropriate. He hired help. And I told him, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He robbed people who worked for me. I said, ‘Don’t do that again,'” Trump told reporters during a $10 million taxpayer-funded golf vacation in Scotland. “He did it again. And I kicked him out of the place. Persona non grata.”
However, that recruitment began no later than 2000, when Epstein’s accomplice and fellow sex trafficker, Ghislaine Maxwell, recruited Virginia Giuffre, then 16, in the parking lot of Mar-a-Lago. It was a full seven years before Trump finally ended Epstein’s membership at Mar-a-Lago, which coincided with Epstein’s announcement in 2007 that he would accept a plea deal on a state prostitution charge to avoid federal charges.
When asked by News themezone why it took seven years to break up with Epstein, Trump said, “I don’t understand your question.”
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Interest in the Epstein case was revived this spring and summer when Trump’s Justice Department, after saying it would release all investigative files in the case against Epstein, abruptly changed course and said there was nothing more to release. Not long afterward, Maxwell was transferred without explanation from a Florida prison to a “Club Fed” camp in Texas after meeting with a prominent Justice Department lawyer.
Epstein was found dead in his cell in 2019, a month after he was arrested again, this time on federal sex trafficking charges following a Miami Herald investigation into his 2007 plea deal.
Maxwell was convicted by a federal jury in 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.