Posts on social media claim the White House said "Jeffrey Epstein was talking about a different Donald Trump" in emails released Nov. 12, but the posts are based on satire.

The House Democrats released new emails from Epstein on Nov. 12, including one where he alleges Trump "knew about the girls," and another saying Trump spent hours with one of the victims.

The release came as Congress reconvened to reopen the government, and a bipartisan effort to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files gained enough signatures.

A headline from a UK spoof and satire website widely shared on social media says the White House responded by saying Epstein was talking about a different Trump. But that is not how the White House responded to the email release. Here is what they did say:

What did White House say in response to the Epstein emails?

Shortly after the emails were published, the White House issued an emailed statement, in which White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, the "selectively leaked emails ... create a fake narrative to smear President Trump."

Leavitt was also asked about the emails at her press briefing later that afternoon.

"These emails prove absolutely nothing other than that President Trump did nothing wrong,” she said at the press briefing.

Trump took to Truth Social to call the controversy, as he has before, a hoax.

“The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects,” Trump said. “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.”

Did the White House really say 'Jeffrey Epstein was talking about a different Donald Trump.'

No. USA TODAY found no evidence that this claim is true.

UK spoof and satire site NewsThump posted an article with the headline, "'Jeffrey Epstein was talking about a different Donald Trump' insists White House," that was widely shared on social media. The photo of Leavitt used in the article was not from the Nov. 12 press briefing.

Contributing: Bart Jansen, Erin Mansfield, Joey Garrison, Josh Meyer, USA TODAY

Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at KCrowley@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X (Twitter), Bluesky and TikTok.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Did the White House say, 'Epstein was talking about a different Donald Trump?' No.

Reporting by Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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