Epstein email offering ‘photos of Donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen’ adds to scrutiny of Trump ties

Epstein email offering ‘photos of Donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen’ adds to scrutiny of Trump ties

Newly released documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate include a 2015 email in which the financier offered a reporter “photos of Donald and girls in bikinis” in his kitchen, adding fresh attention to Donald Trump’s long-scrutinised relationship with Epstein. The message appears in a cache of more than 20,000 pages of emails and records turned over to the House Oversight Committee and made public this week.

According to reporting by ABC News, Epstein wrote to then New York Times reporter Landon Thomas Jr. on 8 December 2015, asking: “would you like photso [sic] of donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen.” Thomas replied, “Yes!!” but later told the Times that Epstein never sent such images and that he has never seen them. It remains unclear whether the photos existed at all.

Part of a broader trove of Epstein–Trump references

The bikini-photo offer is one of several newly disclosed emails in which Epstein discussed Trump with journalists and associates. In other messages released by House Democrats, Epstein wrote that Trump had spent “hours” at his home with a woman later described as a trafficking victim, and claimed in a 2019 email that Trump “knew about the girls” and had asked Ghislaine Maxwell to stop. These are Epstein’s assertions in private correspondence, not findings by a court.

The broader cache also shows Epstein trading media strategy with author Michael Wolff and corresponding with public figures such as former Treasury secretary Larry Summers and various diplomats, underlining how he continued to cultivate influence long after his 2008 sex-offender conviction.

Trump’s response and political fallout

Trump and the White House have rejected the significance of the new material. The president has called the release “the Jeffrey Epstein hoax” and accused Democrats and the media of using the files to distract from domestic political problems, including the recent government shutdown.

Republicans on the Oversight Committee, while also publishing thousands of pages from Epstein’s estate, have accused Democrats of cherry-picking emails to smear Trump. Democrats say the documents raise serious questions about what Trump knew about Epstein’s conduct and when, and have pushed for a broader release of federal records related to Epstein.

For now, the bikini-photo email sits alongside a growing list of private comments by Epstein about Trump. The messages have intensified public and political debate, even as they leave key questions unresolved about the accuracy of Epstein’s claims and the true extent of Trump’s knowledge of his activities.