00:00The new emails raise questions about the extent of the relationship between Trump and Epstein.
00:05Epstein, of course, reminds you of the late convicted pedophile and sex trafficker.
00:10Monty Francis joins us more to talk more about this story and its possible effects going forward.
00:16Monty, where do these emails come from? Why are they emerging right now?
00:19Well, so these emails are part of a trove of documents that were turned over to the House Oversight Committee
00:25in connection with Epstein's 2008 plea deal.
00:28Now, Democrats, they sorted through thousands of pages and decided to release three emails.
00:33Now, just in the last couple of hours, Republicans on the committee have released 20,000 additional pages.
00:39So we'll have to see what comes out of that.
00:41But this initial release, three very significant emails, one written by Jeffrey Epstein to his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
00:47The other two were exchanges between Epstein and the author, Michael Wolff.
00:50We're looking at one of the most explosive of the three.
00:53That's the email exchange between Epstein and Maxwell.
00:55It's dated April 2nd, 2011.
00:58So this is after Epstein had pleaded guilty to state charges of sex crimes and avoided federal charges.
01:04And that was before Trump became president.
01:06Here, Epstein says to Maxwell, I want you to realize that the dog that hasn't barked is Trump.
01:11Victim's name is redacted here.
01:13Spent hours at my house with him and he has never been mentioned.
01:17And Maxwell replies, I have been thinking about that.
01:20Now, Maxwell's response here is significant because it seems to contradict her previous statements.
01:26Just as a reminder, Maxwell is serving a prison sentence of 20 years in prison for recruiting underage girls into Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking ring.
01:36Now, back in July, she met with Todd Blanch, who is the Trump administration's deputy attorney general.
01:42And in that meeting, she said that she never saw Trump, quote, in any inappropriate setting in any way.
01:47She also testified that there was nothing from President Trump in that book that was created for Epstein's 50th birthday.
01:54Well, that second statement appears to be false because a page of that book was published after she said that, showing a full page ostensibly signed by Donald Trump.
02:03It includes a drawing of a naked woman figure, a naked woman's figure.
02:07And it says, we have certain things in common, Jeffrey.
02:09And it ends with happy birthday and may every day be another wonderful secret.
02:14And it is signed by Donald Trump.
02:15I should point out that the White House has claimed that this document is inauthentic.
02:19There's been a lot of reporting on this.
02:21The signature appears to belong to Donald Trump.
02:24As for that second claim that Maxwell never saw Trump in any inappropriate situation or inappropriate settings, that appears to be contradicted by this email here where she says, I have been thinking about that.
02:35Now, Democrats have been accusing the Trump administration of a quid pro quo when it comes to Maxwell, because after she met with Todd Blanch and said these things in defense of Donald Trump, she was transferred to a minimum security prison.
02:48There are allegations by Democrats that she's receiving favorable treatment that's not afforded to other inmates at that facility.
02:56Democrats say that Maxwell is planning to formally ask President Trump to commute her sentence.
03:01And when asked about this, Donald Trump would not rule out that possibility.
03:05Now, what about these other two emails, which also mentioned Donald Trump in connection with Epstein?
03:12Yeah, so this involves a writer by the name of Michael Wolff.
03:15He's written many political books, including four about Donald Trump.
03:20Wolff interviewed Jeffrey Epstein on many occasions.
03:23I'd like to focus on one of these emails.
03:26It's dated January 1st, 2019.
03:28And later that year, of course, Epstein was found dead in his prison cell.
03:32And this message to Wolff, Epstein says of Trump, of course, he knew about the girls as he asked Elaine to stop.
03:39Now, this one's a bit difficult to decode because a part of it's redacted.
03:43But the important part is the claim by Epstein that Trump knew about, quote, the girls.
03:47The victims names have been redacted from these messages.
03:50We know one of the victims who sadly died by suicide and posthumously published a memoir about her experiences, Virginia Giuffre.
03:58She worked at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's Florida resort.
04:03And Trump accused Epstein of poaching young women from Mar-a-Lago.
04:07In Trump's words, Epstein stole young women who worked at Mar-a-Lago.
04:10And Trump explained this was part of his falling out with Epstein.
04:13Now, before her death earlier this year, Giuffre had long insisted that Trump was not among the men who had victimized her.
04:21However, Giuffre, of course, alleged to have been trafficked to the former Prince Andrew, who has since lost his title over this Epstein scandal.
04:29Monty, how is Donald Trump responding to it all?
04:31It's not going to surprise you.
04:32Trump has long said these repeated questions about his connection to Epstein were a hoax carried out by Democrats.
04:37He took to social media not long ago, and he said, quote, 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.
04:51Only a very bad or stupid Republican would fall into that trap.
04:54By his account, Trump and Epstein were friendly but had a falling out in the early 2000s.
04:59He has called Epstein a creep, and Trump has denied he ever engaged in anything, any wrongdoing with Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell.
05:08So I suspect we haven't heard the end of this Epstein scandal.
05:12In many ways, another chapter beginning.
05:14I think you could be right on that.
05:17Yes, I mentioned Republicans have just released 23,000 pages of additional documents.
05:22I don't see any big bombshells to come out of that, but we're still sorting through it.
05:26But the shutdown is over.
05:27The House is back in session.
05:29Many people expect a vote to come up in the House to release all of the Epstein files.
05:34The White House is already trying to keep such a vote from happening, but it's fair to say this story is far from over, Mark.
05:39Monty Francis there with that analysis, very forensic, of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of these fresh emails that have been released.
05:48Monty, thank you very much indeed.
05:49Monty Francis there with the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story in the light of the Epstein-Trump story
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