CNN's John Berman was astonished by newly revealed emails written by Jeffrey Epstein suggesting that President Donald Trump "spent hours" with an alleged sex abuse victim.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released the contents of three emails written by the late sex offender Epstein referring to Trump, including one dated April 2, 2011, three years after he reached a controversial non-prosecution agreement that allowed him to avoid federal sex trafficking charges.
"We just don'thave the context surrounding anyof these emails," Berman told CNN's Kaitlin Collins, who broke the news live on air. "But that firstemail you read, the languageabsolutely jumps out to me."
In that email sent 14 years ago to co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, the disgraced financier referred to Trump, a former longtime friend.
“i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. (REDACTED) spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. police chief. etc. im 75 % there," Epstein wrote in the email.
Berman said the message was significant because it placed Trump at the scene of Epstein's potentially illegal activities.
"Here is one of thealleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein, a victim 'spent hours atmy house' with him, him being Trump – he has never once beenmentioned," Berman wrote. "Now, again, we don'thave the context surroundingthat, but this kind oflanguage from Jeffrey Epsteinhimself. How often has Donald Trump, what has Donald Trumpsaid about contact he may havehad or time he may haveallegedly spent with some of Epstein's alleged victims?"
Collins agreed the revelation was consequential because Trump has denied knowledge of his former friend's crimes, but another email from Epstein to author Michael Wolff in January 2019 states, "Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.”
"Trump has deniedthat he knew anything about what Jeffrey Epstein was doing andthe sex trafficking of youngwomen, and he said that hewasn't aware of that at thetime," Collins said. "Obviously, Trumphimself has not been accused ofany wrongdoing. It's veryimportant that we make thatclear here, but, of course,the question has been when itcomes to regards to the Justice Department and what they'vereleased about what they know.
"[Rep.-elect] Adelita Grijalva is beingsworn in today. She's the new House Democrat from Arizona, andshe's expected to be that 218thsignature, and so the pressurehas been building on not just Democrats but Republicans herein Washington to release moreinformation about what the Justice Department has, and solooking at that email, obviouslywill likely only increase thatpressure to do so."
The revelations also ramp up pressure on the White House and the president himself, Berman said.
"Oh yeah, it begs manyquestions to be asked, perhapsto the president or the WhiteHouse," he said.
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