Donald Trump was in no mood to answer questions about emails from Jeffrey Epstein which mention him.
On Wednesday, new email correspondence between Epstein and his long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
Emails between the convicted sex offender and the author Michael Wolff, who has written numerous books about Trump, were also released.
The emails include several showing Epstein mentioning Trump, including one exchange alleging that the US president “spent hours” with one of his victims.
The White House has accused the Democrats of “selectively leaking” the emails to “smear” Trump.
When the president then appeared in front of the press later in the day to sign a bill in the Oval Office, he was in no mood to answer any questions about Epstein’s emails.
After a bill signing, Trump didn’t acknowledge questions about the emails, with the press quickly hurried out of the Oval Office.
In the email alleging that Trump spent time with one of Epstein’s victims, the disgraced financier, who died in 2019 in prison, described the Republican as a “dog that hasn’t barked.”
He wrote to Maxwell in April 2011: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. Police chief. etc. im 75 % there.”
Maxwell replies: “I have been thinking about that…”
The White House has claimed the victim referenced in the email was the late Virginia Giuffre.
In a statement following the release of the emails, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.
“The ‘unnamed victim’ referenced in these emails is the late Virginia Giuffre, who repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions.
“The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre.
“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.”
Trump has strongly denied knowing about Epstein’s illegal activities.
The two knew each other in the 1990s and 2000s but had a falling out around 2004.