--- title: White House Says Virginia Giuffre Is the Unnamed ‘Victim’ in Epstein Emails About Trump description: Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, alleged she was a victim of Epstein and was recruited by his associate while working at Mar-a-Lago. canonical: https://time.com/7333355/virginia-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-emails/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-11-12T17:38:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T08:12:53.144Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Says Virginia Giuffre Is the Unnamed ‘Victim’ in Epstein Emails About Trump og:description: Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, alleged she was a victim of Epstein and was recruited while working at Mar-a-Lago. og:url: https://time.com/7333355/virginia-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-emails/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta09fb3dfcf068229/6998cb8de1ba003f0498e1a1/virginia-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-emails.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Judge Orders Hearing Over Motion To Dismiss Epstein's Case Following Suicide og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Says Virginia Giuffre Is the Unnamed ‘Victim’ in Epstein Emails About Trump twitter:description: Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, alleged she was a victim of Epstein and was recruited while working at Mar-a-Lago. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta09fb3dfcf068229/6998cb8de1ba003f0498e1a1/virginia-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-emails.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Says Virginia Giuffre Is the Unnamed ‘Victim’ in Epstein Emails About Trump > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=64c0e145-8b2e-4e1d-826a-a4b58939afd4&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Newly-Surfaced Emails From Epstein Allege Trump Knew of His Conduct, as House Set to Vote on Files Release [Watch (HLS stream): Newly-Surfaced Emails From Epstein Allege Trump Knew of His Conduct, as House Set to Vote on Files Release](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zj2UqioJ.m3u8) (3:59)  _Published 2025-11-12. Emails released by the House Democrats on Wednesday show the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alleging that President Donald Trump “knew about the girls” and “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with one of them. Trump has long denied having any prior knowledge of Epstein’s conduct. Members of the House returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, setting the stage for a key vote to compel the release of all the government’s files related to Epstein after weeks of delays from Speaker Mike Johnson._ by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/) and [Callum Sutherland](https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/) Nov 12, 2025 5:38 PM UTC Emails released by the House Democrats on Wednesday show the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alleging that President Donald Trump “knew about the girls” and “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with one of them. Trump has long denied having any prior knowledge of Epstein’s conduct. Members of the House returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, setting the stage for a key vote to compel the release of all the government’s files related to Epstein after weeks of delays from Speaker Mike Johnson. by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/) and [Callum Sutherland](https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/) Nov 12, 2025 5:38 PM UTC The victim’s name blacked out in two of the emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate released by House Democrats on Wednesday is Virginia Giuffre, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told TIME in an email. “The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump. The ‘unnamed victim’ referenced in these emails is the late Virginia Giuffre, who repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions,” Leavitt wrote in a statement to TIME. TIME was unable to independently verify that Giuffre’s name is what was blacked out and marked “victim” in two of the three emails [released](https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases) Wednesday by Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. **Read more:** [_With Latest Epstein Emails, Democrats Dropped a Perfectly Timed Political Bomb_](https://time.com/7333256/epstein-emails-trump-takeaways/) Giuffre has alleged she was a victim of Epstein who was initially approached by the pedophile financier’s associate, [Ghislaine Maxwell](https://time.com/7305582/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-trump-doj/), while Giuffre was working at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Giuffre died by suicide in April and in a [book published posthumously last month](http://‘Never Tell a Soul What Goes on in This House’: Memoir of Late Epstein Victim Reveals Further Disturbing Details) described meeting Epstein when she was a teenager and being “loaned” out to his contacts. Giuffre wrote in her memoir that she met Trump in 2000\. “Trump couldn’t have been friendlier,” her memoir reads. In an email dated April 2, 2011, Epstein appears to have written to Maxwell: “i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump. \[VICTIM\] spent hours at my house with him .. he has never once been mentioned.” Maxwell replied: “I have been thinking about that…” Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison [sentence](https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-conspiring-jeffrey-epstein-sexually-abuse) for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors. Trump and his Administration have faced intense scrutiny over their handling of the Epstein case—as well as the President’s own years-long relationship with the late sex offender—in recent months as prominent supporters have called for Trump to release more Epstein case files. Trump told reporters on Air Force One on July 29 that Giuffre was [one of the people Epstein “stole”](https://time.com/7306371/trump-epstein-mar-a-lago-virginia-giuffre/) from the Mar-a-Lago spa, and that was part of Trump’s reason for eventually banning Epstein from the club. Giuffre had “no complaints about us, as you know – none whatsoever,” Trump said. “The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre. These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments, and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again,” Leavitt said. In an unusual step, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche [interviewed](https://time.com/7311830/epstein-blanche-interview-trump-transcript/) Maxwell over two days in late July at a federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida. “I never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way. The President was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects,” Maxwell said, according to a Department of Justice [transcript.](https://www.justice.gov/storage/audio-files/Interview%20Transcript/Interview%20Transcript%20-%20Maxwell%202025.07.24%20%28Redacted%29.pdf) Blanche asked Maxwell if she remembered recruiting a masseuse from Mar-a-Lago to give a private massage to Epstein. “I can’t ever recollect doing that,” she said. ## Transcript [00:00] We're going to get the 218 signature today. [00:02] That means by early December, [00:04] we're going to get a full vote on the Epstein filed. [00:07] And today, there were bombshell emails that came [00:10] out showing that Jeffrey Epstein [00:13] and Ghislaine Maxwell were had [00:15] emails about Donald Trump's [00:17] knowledge of what was going on. [00:19] So we need a full release of the files. [00:21] Finally, that's going to happen. [00:22] I mean, it's not surprising. [00:24] I mean, this is this is a world [00:25] that he was very much part of. [00:27] It's not clear to [00:28] what extent he was a part of that world. [00:30] But like, you know, they interacted with each other. [00:32] They seemed to be friends. [00:33] The guy who sort of let Epstein [00:35] off ended up in Trump's cabinet. [00:37] So it's not surprising at all [00:39] that there's more information that connects these two. [00:42] My sense is that it helps with [00:44] the ongoing interest and transparency. [00:46] Like most people want to see, uh, [00:49] full transparency and the fact [00:51] that days after Trump was [00:54] named was told he was in the Epstein files, [00:57] he then went and [00:58] fired these prosecutors who were are handling [01:01] the case at DOJ and [01:02] remove them from the building and their offices. [01:04] And it raises these questions like, [01:06] did they do that to take the documents? [01:09] And if so, what happens when [01:12] we vote for the release of the FBI files? [01:14] Are they going to be able to produce it all? [01:16] Why not release these files [01:18] when Democrats were in power before, [01:21] and why not before the election? [01:22] Well, obviously I don't know what you know, [01:24] what was there, but that's a good question, [01:25] because I also think that during the last administration, [01:28] all the files should have been released. [01:29] And so I would love to ask Merrick Garland and others, [01:32] why wasn't all why weren't [01:35] all these files released when we [01:36] had them in our possession? [01:37] What I know today is that Donald Trump is a president, [01:39] and he campaigned on releasing [01:41] all the FBI files, obsessed about it. [01:43] His vice president obsessed about it. [01:45] And now the white House [01:47] is involved in a massive cover up. [01:48] And we want to know why won't they release the files? [01:50] All of this can get solved right [01:52] now if they release all the files. [01:54] Did the president ever spend hours at [01:56] Jeffrey Epstein's house with a victim? [01:58] Uh, these emails prove absolutely nothing [02:01] other than the fact that [02:02] President Trump did nothing wrong. [02:05] And what President Trump has always said is that [02:07] he was from Palm Beach and so was Jeffrey Epstein. [02:10] Jeffrey Epstein was a member at [02:12] Mar a Lago until President Trump kicked him out, [02:15] because Jeffrey Epstein was [02:16] a pedophile and he was a creep. [02:18] In this email you refer to with the name of a victim that [02:22] was unredacted now and [02:24] has since been reported on in this room. [02:26] So I will go ahead and say it. [02:27] Virginia Guthrie. [02:28] And it was CBS's own reporting, [02:30] Ouija, that recently wrote that Miss Guthrie maintained, [02:34] and God rest her soul, [02:35] that she maintained that there was [02:37] nothing inappropriate she ever witnessed, [02:39] that President Trump was always extremely [02:41] professional and friendly to her. [02:43] And so I think it's a question [02:44] worth asking the Democrat Party. [02:46] And you should all go ask them after [02:48] this briefing of why they chose to redact [02:50] that name of a victim who has already publicly made [02:52] statements about her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, [02:55] is in is unfortunately no longer with us. [02:57] This administration has done more with respect to [03:00] transparency when it comes to [03:02] Jeffrey Epstein than any administration ever. [03:05] In fact, this administration, the Department of Justice, [03:08] has turned over tens of thousands [03:10] of documents to the American people. [03:13] We are cooperating and showing [03:14] support for the House Oversight Committee. [03:17] That's part of the reason you are seeing [03:18] these documents that were released today [03:20] because of the House oversight committees and [03:22] Republicans efforts to get these out to the public. [03:25] This administration also moved. [03:27] The Department of Justice also moved to [03:28] unseal grand jury testimony, which we know. [03:31] Unfortunately, a judge declined those those requests. [03:35] So this administration has done more than any. [03:37] And it just shows how this is truly [03:39] a manufactured hoax by the Democrat Party. [03:42] For now, they're talking about it all of a [03:44] sudden because President Trump is in the Oval Office. [03:47] But when Joe Biden was sitting in there, [03:49] the Democrats never brought this up. [03:50] This wasn't an issue that they cared about because they [03:53] actually don't care about the victims in these cases. [03:55] They care about trying to score [03:57] political points against President Trump. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7333355/virginia-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-emails/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7333355/virginia-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-emails/"},"headline":"White House Says Virginia Giuffre Is the Unnamed ‘Victim’ in Epstein Emails About Trump","datePublished":"2025-11-12T17:38:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T08:12:53.144Z","description":"Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, alleged she was a victim of Epstein and was recruited by his associate while working at Mar-a-Lago.","url":"https://time.com/7333355/virginia-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-emails/","keywords":["Donald Trump","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta09fb3dfcf068229/6998cb8de1ba003f0498e1a1/virginia-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-emails.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brian Bennett","jobTitle":"Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Callum Sutherland","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta09fb3dfcf068229/6998cb8de1ba003f0498e1a1/virginia-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-emails.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Judge Orders Hearing Over Motion To Dismiss Epstein's Case Following Suicide","caption":"Judge Orders Hearing Over Motion To Dismiss Epstein's Case Following Suicide","creditText":"Jeenah Moon—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7333355/virginia-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-emails/","name":"White House Says Virginia Giuffre Is the Unnamed ‘Victim’ in Epstein Emails About Trump"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Newly-Surfaced Emails From Epstein Allege Trump Knew of His Conduct, as House Set to Vote on Files Release","description":"Emails released by the House Democrats on Wednesday show the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alleging that President Donald Trump “knew about the girls” and “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with one of them. 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