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By Kate Plummer
Senior US News Reporter
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President Donald Trump has been accused of spending Thanksgiving with Jeffrey Epstein in 2017, though there is scant evidence to support this claim.
Writing on X, Democratic Representative Sean Casten of Illinois posted a November 23, 2017, email exchange between modelling manager Faith Kates and Epstein, the convicted sex offender and disgraced financier who died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting sex trafficking charges.
In the emails, the pair discussed Epstein's Thanksgiving plans and referenced Trump, though the messages did not specify that Trump was spending Thanksgiving with Epstein.
Read More on Politics
Casten wrote on X: "Trump spent his first Thanksgiving after getting elected President with Jeffrey Epstein. 2017."
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White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told HuffPost, "These emails prove literally nothing."
Newsweek contacted the White House and Casten's campaign for comment by email outside normal business hours.
Why It Matters
Files related to Epstein continue to cause headaches for the Trump administration as bipartisan groups have called for greater transparency in the case and the further publication of documents and evidence in the government's possession.
Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein, saying their friendship ended in the early 2000s. But the recent release of thousands of documents has brought fresh scrutiny to the president's relationship with Epstein.
What To Know
On Wednesday, U.S. lawmakers released more than 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein's estate.
In the emails, published as part of the new disclosures, Kates wrote, "Where are you having thanksgiving?"
Epstein replied, "eva," an apparent reference to his former girlfriend Eva Andersson-Dubin. Kates responded, "That means glenn check out his red hair!!!!" Andersson-Dubin is married to investor and philanthropist Glenn Dubin.
When Kates asked, "Who else is down there," Epstein replied: "david fizel. hanson. trump."
According to White House records and news reports from the time, Trump spent his 2017 Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach resort.
The newly released documents also included emails between Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell in which Epstein called Trump "that dog that hasn't barked." In an email to author Michael Wolff, Epstein said Trump "knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop."
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee later released additional emails said to show Epstein's correspondence with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social in response to the newly released documents: "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. Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.
"The Democrats cost our Country $1.5 Trillion Dollars with their recent antics of viciously closing our Country, while at the same time putting many at risk—and they should pay a fair price. There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!"
House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, said in a statement: "The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover. These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the President."
What Happens Next
The House is set to vote soon on whether to publicly release the full set of Epstein-related government records after a petition to force a vote surpassed the required 218-signature threshold on Wednesday.
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