Emails released by Democrats in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday suggest that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein said Donald Trump knew about Epstein's sexual abuse of underage girls.

Despite being documented in meetings with Epstein — who committed suicide while awaiting trial in 2019 — Trump has constantly denied any wrongdoing. Trump and Epstein were friends for about 15 years, reportedly falling out in 2004 over a property deal.

According to the Democrats, an exchange took place between author Michael Wolff and Epstein's former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year prison sentence due to various charges, including the sex trafficking of a minor.

"In private correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein wrote in 2011 that Donald Trump, 'spent hours at my house' with a victim of sex trafficking," the statement by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee reads, also citing another email with Wolff, from 2019, in which "Epstein stated explicitly that Donald Trump 'knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop'."

White House rejects 'fake narrative'

Meanwhile, the White House accused the Democrats of pushing a "fake narrative." "The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

She said the release of the emails was a hoax designed to downplay the importance of the upcoming vote to end the longest U.S. government shutdown ever.

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

US President Donald Trump himself labeled the publication of the emails as a "deflection."

"(The Democrats) will do anything at all to deflect on how badly they've done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects," Trump posted on his Truth Social account.

"Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap," he added.

Democrats demand answers

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said the emails "raise serious questions" about the current US president's knowledge of Epstein's crimes.

Four months after the US Justice Department effectively closed the case saying there was no more information to share, the criticism around Epstein and his connections with Trump continue to be discussed in the US, despite the US president having not been accused of any wrongdoing about the case.

Democratic representatives in the House have been trying to secure a vote that would result in the publication of the full Epstein case files.

They obtained the emails after subpoenaing the financier's estate earlier this year.

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko