The recently declassified files of Jeffrey Epstein have once again sparked old rumors related to US President Donald Trump and his behavior, especially what was reported about his relationship with his former secretary, Madeleine Westerhout.
Text messages dating back to 2019, exchanged by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, revealed an indication that Trump did not spend the holidays in 2018 with his family, preferring to stay with his personal secretary, Madeleine Westerhout.
In those letters, Epstein explicitly linked Trump’s absence from his family to Westerhout, which surprised Bannon. These messages coincided with previous claims by Trump biographer Michael Wolff, who claimed that Trump remained in the White House during the government shutdown for the same reason.
On the other hand, the White House responded to the content of these letters that Epstein sent to Bannon, which included hints about unconfirmed rumors of a supposed relationship between the president and an aide during his first term.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Newsweek magazine that this rumor is “scandalous and false,” stressing that it has been proven incorrect.
For her part, Madeleine Westerhout categorically denied having any relationship with Trump, after a similar allegation contained in a previous batch of Epstein files published by House Democrats last year. Westerhout described these allegations as “ridiculous and defamatory,” in a statement to The Mirror newspaper last November.
This issue is of particular importance in light of the US Department of Justice’s publication on Friday of more than three million pages based on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Trump signed into effect on November 19, 2025.
The documents contained approximately 2,000 video clips and 180,000 images, bringing the total material disclosed to approximately three and a half million pages, in compliance with the letter of the law. The Ministry of Justice warned that these files may contain false materials, documents or videos that were incorrectly presented.
In additional details, text messages dating back to December 2018 and January 2019 revealed that Epstein asked Bannon about Westerhout, with the latter describing her as a receptionist and a “good girl.”
In a later letter, Epstein wrote that the two things Trump feared during that period were a letter from his ex-wife mocking him, and an exposure of his record, to which Bannon responded that being away from family during the holidays was an important indicator. When Epstein explained that the issue was related to Madeleine, Bannon showed signs of surprise, before Epstein asked him to pay attention to what was happening.
It is noteworthy that Westerhout worked as Trump’s secretary and director of Oval Office operations during his first term until 2019, before she was dismissed from the White House, after reports indicated that she bragged to journalists, during an informal and off-record dinner, about her strong relationship with Trump compared to his daughters Ivanka and Tiffany.
In a statement issued by the Ministry of Justice last week, it explained that clear instructions were given to reviewers to limit the blocking operations to protecting victims and their families, while blocking some pornographic images, whether commercial or not, considering that all women appearing in them are treated as victims.
The statement confirmed that the names of prominent figures or politicians were not withheld in any of the published files. The Ministry also stressed that some documents may include incorrect or sensational allegations, and that everything submitted to the FBI by the public was included among the materials covered by the law, while emphasizing that the allegations directed against Trump are baseless.
Officials are still publishing additional documents related to the investigation into the Epstein case, and no new criminal charges have yet been registered in connection with this case since the files began to be published.
