US President Donald Trump attacked Democrats on Wednesday after they released emails from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that revealed numerous references to him in private correspondence, saying they were trying to deflect attention amid the ongoing shutdown.
According to the released emails, the communications suggested that Trump ‘knew about the girls’.
“Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein scam again as they will do anything to distract from how badly they did on the Shutdown and many other issues,” Trump said in a post on Truth’s social media.
Trump said only a very bad or stupid Republican would fall into this trap, adding: “Democrats have cost our country $1.5 trillion with their recent antics about viciously shutting down our country while putting many at risk — and they should pay a fair price.”
Referring to the ongoing US government shutdown, the longest in American history, the president went on to say that there should be no backtracking on Epstein or anything else, and that all Republicans involved should focus only on opening up our country and repairing the enormous damage done by the Democrats.
Epstein’s emails have sparked renewed unrest among Democrats and GOP leaders as the House of Representatives is expected to vote to end the shutdown that has left federal workers unpaid and millions of Americans without SNAP benefits.
Democrats cited exchanges between Epstein and author Michael Wolff and Ghislaine Maxwell.
In a 2019 email to journalist Michael Wolff, Epstein added that Trump “spent hours at my house” with one of his victims, whose name is redacted.
Ghislaine Maxwell was an associate of Epstein, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping him sexually abuse underage women.
Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt accused Democrats of “selectively leaking emails” to “create a false narrative to smear President Trump.”
She added that the release of the emails was a “hoax” designed to take the shine off the upcoming vote to end the longest US government shutdown, which Trump called a Republican victory.
“These stories are nothing more than malicious attempts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments,” Leavitt said.
“Any common-sense American will see through this fraud and a clear distraction from a government that is reopening.”
