WASHINGTON − House Democrats will be releasing more Jeffrey Epstein documents "likely later today," a California lawmaker said Nov. 12, after the bombshell release of an email in which the disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker wrote that President Donald Trump "spent hours at my house" with one of his victims.

"We want to know why Donald Trump spent the entire campaign saying he would release the files and now that he's in the White House, there's a massive cover-up going on," Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in an interview with MSNBC. "The survivors deserve the truth."

The initial tranche of Epstein emails, released earlier on Nov. 12, mentions Trump multiple times. Epstein, who died by suicide while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019, was a longtime friend of Trump's before the two had a falling out.

Garcia told MSNBCs Ana Cabrera that the Democrats on the committee just received "all of these e-mails, a total of about 23,000 documents, actually a few days ago" from Epstein's estate and are going through them as fast as they can to see what they are able to release.

Garcia did not say how many additional documents might be released or when, or what they might say.

But he said those documents already released raise "quite serious" questions about potential Trump knowledge of − or involvement in − Epstein's alleged sex-trafficking ring with longtime associate and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

"There's communication between Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, obviously making some claims about Donald Trump spending significant time, hours, with possibly one of the victims," Garcia said.

"There's also disturbing e-mails there about Trump and Jeffrey Epstein that people can read for themselves," Garcia said.

Another newly released Epstein email to author Michael Wolff on Jan. 31, 2019, said "of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop."

Garcia called on the Department of Justice "to do the right thing and release the files" it has in its possession on Jeffrey Epstein, which the committee has subpoenaed.

"And so we're not going to rest until we get the truth about the full files and what powerful men committed horrific acts against these women and, in some cases back then, children and girls," Garcia said.

An initial promise to release the Epstein files

The Justice Department under Trump initially said it would release everything it had on Epstein.

But it released a statement with the FBI in July saying it would no longer do so after conducting "an exhaustive review" that determined that "no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted."

Garcia said the explosive allegations about Trump's alleged links to Epstein in the documents released Wednesday show the importance of what is in the records being withheld by the Justice Department.

"The information that we're getting from the Epstein estate is only because Democrats fought to get that subpoena," Garcia told MSNBC.

White House calls new allegations 'a smear'

The White House called the release of emails a "smear" and said they were selectively released to falsely implicate Trump in Epstein's wrongdoing.

"The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. "These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump's historic accomplishments. And any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again."

Asked for his response to that, Garcia said, "My response is simple. Then release all the files."

"If they have nothing to hide at the White House or the Department of Justice, then all we want is for them to release the full files," Garcia said.

Trump attended parties and flew on Epstein’s plane during the 1990s. But Trump later ousted Epstein from his club and forcefully denied knowing about the sex trafficking.

The Democratic revelations came as the House prepares to swear in a new lawmaker from Arizona, Democrat Adelita Grijalva. She is expected to provide the final signature needed to force a vote on legislation that would release all Justice Department records about the Epstein investigation.

Contributing: Bart Jansen

Michael Wolff was a freelance USA TODAY contributor from 2012 to early 2017. USA TODAY had no knowledge of any relationship between him and Jeffrey Epstein, nor any actions beyond his submissions for publication. We are committed to integrity and transparency, as we uphold our editorial standards and maintain the trust of our readers.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: More Epstein emails coming soon, Dem says, after bombshell Epstein-Trump document release

Reporting by Josh Meyer, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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