Newly released emails from convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, obtained by a US House committee, show Epstein discussing Donald Trump in several private messages. Epstein, a New York-based money manager who moved in elite political and business circles, was jailed on sex offence charges and later died in custody in 2019.

One 2011 exchange with British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate who was later convicted in the United States for sex trafficking and related offences, refers to long visits between Trump and a trafficking victim and questions why Trump had not surfaced publicly in the scandal. Further emails from 2015 and 2019 show Epstein tracking Trump’s media exposure and suggesting he had prior awareness of questionable activity. The documents contain no evidence of Trump arranging or taking part in abuse, and Trump continues to deny any wrongdoing.