Emails reveal Jeffrey Epstein and associate discussed ‘girls’ and travel

While Donald Trump’s justice department has downplayed the possibility that other men were involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of teen girls, an email released on 12 November as part of the House oversight committee’s Epstein investigation shows an exchange between the late financier and an associate where they discuss “girls” and travel.

Epstein sent an email asking “what is your schedule?” on 23 July 2010 to an associate. The latter responded the next morning saying: “the other girl name is [redacted].” The Guardian is withholding the associate’s name, as attempts to identify and contact him were unsuccessful.

That afternoon, the associate also wrote: “Can you call me/ I am with tigrane he would like to meet you he is here with me in Ibiza/with 8 top girls he said he would like to build some thing with you/can you come to Ibiza we have a huge house or how can we orgnise this/ meeting even Jean Luc could doo a great biz also/ he has the most amizing top models on stand by I told him not to do any/deals with anybody before he meet with you.” The Guardian could not identify the figure referred to as “tigrane”.

“He stoped working with IMG and Trump wi here please call me and let me/ know what is your plans/ warmest regards” the associate wrote, apparently referring to Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent and friend of Epstein.

Epstein wrote “i will be in paris tom000rw night” in the chain.

Several hours after the email mentioning “8 top girls”, the associate wrote: “can you come to Ibiza or you can send us the ticket to come with Tigrane and five girls to Paris because they have there return ticket from Barcelona if they are living from here it will be great if you can arrenge for us tickets for Paris please let me know so we can get orgnized.”

Authorities arrested Brunel in December 2020 at Charles de Gaulle airport on suspicion of crimes including alleged rape and sexual assault of minors and human trafficking of underage girls for sexual exploitation. Brunel, who was suspected of providing teenage girls to Epstein, was found dead in prison in February 2022 of an apparent suicide.

The email exchange occurred almost exactly a year after Epstein was released from a Florida jail where he served a brief sentence for solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution involving a minor.

Nothing in these emails suggests that Trump was present or a participant in the subject of their discussion. Trump, who had been friends with Epstein before an apparent fallout some 15 years ago, has denied wrongdoing.

Trump has been saddled by his ties to Epstein for months, largely due to his justice department’s handling of its investigation.

Justice department officials in July said their investigation of Epstein investigative files “did not expose any additional third-parties to allegations of illegal wrongdoing” and that “this systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list’”.

“There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” the memo also claimed.

The memo flew in the face of Epstein’s accusers, who have said others participated in his abuse. Trump’s political allies and supporters, many of whom believe Epstein colluded with high-profile individuals to traffic teen girls, were incensed, given that the president had promised to release the files.

The president’s name does appear repeatedly in other documents released by oversight committee members on Wednesday. Oversight Democrats released email exchanges with Epstein in 2011, 2015 and 2019.

In these exchanges, Epstein described Trump as the “dog that hasn’t barked”. He also alleged that Trump had “spent hours” at his home with one of Epstein’s victims; Epstein also alleged that “of course” Trump “knew about the girls”.

The 20,000 pages of documents released by Oversight Republicans hours later suggested Epstein kept apprised of Trump. Epstein and his pilot emailed about Trump’s air travel in relation to his own transportation; he also appeared to consume news about the president’s political challenges.

These missives also showed Epstein speaking ill of Trump. Epstein wrote to former treasury secretary Larry Summers in December 2018 that “trump – borderline insane. dersh, a few feet further from the border but not by much” – an apparent reference to his one-time attorney, Alan Dershowitz.

Summers said: “Will trump crack into insanity?”

“This is not a new phenomenon for him. in the past he was told not to come out of his apt. thats how he got through near personal bankruptcy. is strength is remarkable. he is pounded 24/7,” Epstein said. “I hope someone close to him gets indicted, but not sure, otherwise the pressure of the unknown will force him to do crazy things.”

Asked for comment on Wednesday, a White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, told the Guardian: “These emails prove literally nothing.”

Earlier that day, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said Democrats had “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump”. Leavitt also said that the unnamed victim mentioned in these emails was Virginia Giuffre, whom she remarked “repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever”.

“Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre,” Leavitt said. “These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments, and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again.”

Asked for comment about the exchange that mention “girls”, Jackson, the White House spokeswoman, said: “These emails prove literally nothing. Liberal outlets are desperately trying to use this Democrat distraction to talk about anything other than Democrats getting utterly defeated by President Trump in the shutdown fight. We won’t be distracted, and the entire administration will continue fulfilling the promises the president was elected on, including Making America Affordable Again.”

The justice department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.