Newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein suggest former U.S. President Donald Trump “knew about the girls,” but the White House on Wednesday dismissed the disclosures as a “Democratic smear campaign.”

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three emails referencing Trump, including one from 2011 in which Epstein told Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump had “spent hours” at his home with a sex trafficking victim. Republicans said Democrats were “selectively leaking” to tarnish Trump ahead of political negotiations.

The emails are part of more than 23,000 documents turned over by Epstein’s estate. What Trump allegedly “knew” remains unclear.

Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting federal sex trafficking charges, wrote to journalist Michael Wolff that “of course [Trump] knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.” Another 2011 message noted Trump’s silence about the financier’s activities, calling him “the dog that hasn’t barked.”

The White House said the victim referenced in the emails was Virginia Giuffre, who had accused Epstein and others of abuse but publicly stated Trump was never involved in any misconduct and had been “friendly” toward her when she worked at his Mar-a-Lago club.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Trump had banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago years ago “for being a creep to female employees.”

Ghislaine Maxwell, now serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, told the Justice Department in July that she had never seen Trump act inappropriately, saying, “The President was a gentleman in all respects.”

Republicans later released 20,000 additional pages from Epstein’s estate, accusing Democrats of trying to distract from domestic political issues as Trump prepares for the 2026 campaign season.