U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi reacts while U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 15, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
CNN's Kaitlin Collins reports pressure is building in the White House and Congress over President Donald Trump administration's handing of the investigation into convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Collins was discussing the release of emails that revealed Trump spent “hours” at Epstein's house with one of his victims, according to Epstein himself. Another email revealed a conversation between Epstein and author Michael Wolff discussing using Trump’s knowledge of Epstein’s activity as leverage against him.
Collins said CNN has reached out to the White House for a response, but “they haven't issued a comment on the record or anything like that.”
“Obviously, we reached out to them to let them know because this has been something that they have been fielding for months now. I mean, there has been a real pressure cooker here in Washington. This is likely to only inflame that over the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files,” Collins said.
Collins said it did not help Trump that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch — a former personal Trump attorney — "went and interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell for two days before moving her" to a cushy new prison.
“Ghislaine Maxwell denied in that interview ever recruiting people from Mar-a-lago, but there has been a point of question about not just Trump and whether he has any involvement ... but also how the White House House has handled this, because Republicans, even some of his most loyal advocates, say that these files, these documents that the federal government has should be released."
A third email dated from April 2011, shows Epstein telling accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell that ‘I want you to realize that that dog that hasn't barked is Trump. “(Name redacted) spent hours at my house with him. He has never once been mentioned. Police chief, et cetera. I'm 75 percent there.”
Ghislaine Maxwell responded to Epstein saying, “I have been thinking about that[.]”
Collins reports the woman whose name redacted is Virginia Giuffre, according to House Republicans. Giuffre was one of Epstein's most prominent survivors and a huge advocate for survivors before dying by suicide earlier this year. That email could be related to Epstein's sweetheart deal in the form of controversial 2008 non-prosecution agreement that allowed him to avoid federal sex trafficking charges and a potential life sentence.
Still another email seems to reference Donald Trump kicking Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club, with Epstein writing to Wolff and saying: “Trump said he asked me to resign,” and adding that he was "never a member ever.” But Epstein also included the statement: “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine [Maxwell] to stop.”