Trump hits back at Democrats over Epstein emails, says only stupid Republican would fall into trap amid US govt shutdown

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday hit back at Democrats after they released emails from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein which revealed multiple references to him in private correspondence, and claimed that they were attempting to divert attention amid the ongoing shutdown.

According to the emails released, the communications suggested that Trump ‘knew about the girls’.

“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,” said Trump in a post on Truth socials

Stating that only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap, trump added, “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.”

Referring to the ongoing US government shutdown, the longest in American history, the President further stated that 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.

The Epstein emails sparked a fresh slugfest between Democrats and GOP leaders as the House of Representatives was expected to vote to end the shutdown, which has left federal workers unpaid and millions of Americans without SNAP benefits.

Democrats cited exchanges between Epstein and author Michael Wolff and Ghislaine Maxwell.

In a 2019 email to journalist Michael Wolff, Epstein added that Trump had "spent hours at my house" with one of his victims, whose name is redacted.

Ghislaine Maxwell was an associate of Epstein, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in helping him with the sexual abuse of underage women.

Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt accused the Democrats of having “selectively leaked emails” to “create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”

She added that the release of the mails was "hoax" designed to take the shine off an upcoming vote to end the longest-ever US government shutdown, which Trump has claimed as a victory for Republicans.

"These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump's historic accomplishments," Leavitt said.

"Any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again."