WASHINGTON – The late Jeffrey Epstein said years ago that he sent $10,000 in baby food to Donald Trump after he lost a bet about the pregnancy of the current president's then-wife.

The decades-old wager was part of a series of revelations included in newly released emails from congressional Democrats, as part of their investigations into Trump's connections to the disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker.

"When we bet that Marla Maples was pregnant, I lost and sent him 10,000 dollars of baby food," Epstein wrote in a message on Dec. 8, 2015, to a reporter. Maples is the mother of Tiffany Trump, the president's 32-year-old daughter.

While the email didn't implicate Trump in any wrongdoing, it offered another glimpse into the pair's past dynamic. It was part of a trove of evidence that has come to light in recent days revealing new depth to then-citizen Trump's relationship with Epstein, who in 2019 died by suicide in a jail cell while awaiting trial.

The president has forcefully denied knowing about Epstein's alleged sex trafficking during their lengthy friendship. The White House has characterized the new email dump, which came as Democrats were intensely divided over ending the longest government shutdown, as a political "smear."

"These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters this week.

The unearthed communications also suggest Trump knew more than he has indicated at the time about Epstein's interactions with young girls who later said they were trafficked.

The controversy comes as the House of Representatives is set to vote next week on a bill that would force the Department of Justice to release all relevant and legally available information about its probes into Epstein. More Republicans have signaled support for the measure, though it faces a challenging future in the Senate.

Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: $10K in baby food? The bet Epstein said he lost to Trump

Reporting by Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect