FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump gestures beside U.S. first lady Melania Trump as they leave the U.S. Capitol building on the inauguration day of Donald Trump's second presidential term in Washington, U.S. January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

Former prosecutor and CNN legal analyst Elie Honig told CNN that the Wednesday Epstein file revelations raise two important questions about Trump’s involvement with the convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

“The two fundamental questions I think that are raised is what exactly was the nature of Donald Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein back then, and what exactly did Donald Trump know about Jeffrey Epstein’s criminality back then?" Honig explained.

Honig cited an email released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee with Epstein stating: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump …. (Epstein victim) spent hours at my house with him … he has never once been mentioned. Police chief etc. I’m 75 percent there.”

An emailed response from Epstein’s convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell replies: “I have been thinking about that.”

“Now, this email I think is the most important one. Let's start with the simplest part: ‘[Victim] spent hours at my house with him, with Trump.’ Okay, that is contradictory to much of what we've heard from Ghislaine Maxwell, who denied Donald Trump was ever at the house — for hours, by the way. So, what is Donald trump doing at the house? Was he, in fact, there?” asked Honig. “What is he doing there for hours? What is he doing with the victim for hours? I think those are really important questions.”

“The second part of this email is the whole ‘dog that hasn't barked’ part of it,” said Honig. “Now that actually goes back to a Sherlock Holmes story about a robbery where a guard dog doesn't bark, and the inference is, ‘well, the dog must have known the robbers.’ And this sounds like they're speculating about Donald Trump speaking to the police. Is he providing information? Because his name hasn't been mentioned, nor has he said anything publicly. So, it's important to think about the timing. This is 2011. This is after Jeffrey Epstein has pled guilty in Florida to a sweetheart deal before Donald Trump's running for president, but he's in the public eye. So I think this raises important questions about the relationship between Trump and Epstein and what Trump knew back then. “

“Why would they lie?” asked CNN anchor Sara Sidner.

“Yeah. On the one hand, you have two convicted criminals communicating here in Epstein and Maxwell — two people with no credibility. But on the other hand, they're communicating with each other back in 2011 on what they believe is private, through email. And, so, it does have the hallmark of credibility,” said Honig.

“I'll just say this: If this was a trial of some other co-conspirator, this type of email would be admissible in court because the theory is when you have two coconspirators communicating like this, they wouldn't have a reason to lie to each other.”