A newly released batch of emails has revealed how Jeffrey Epstein tried to push himself forward as a source of ‘insight’ on Donald Trump in a message he urged associates to pass to Vladimir Putin.
Weeks before the US president met his Russian counterpart in Helsinki in 2018, Epstein wrote to Thorbjorn Jagland, a former Norwegian prime minister who was leading the Council of Europe at the time.
The disgraced financier told him: ‘I think you might suggest to putin that lavrov can get insight on talking to me.’ His message referred to Sergei Lavrov, who has been Russia’s foreign minister for more than two decades.
Epstein claimed in the exchange that he had once discussed Trump with Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, before Churkin’s death in 2017.
The late sex predator wrote: ‘Churkin was great. He understood trump after our conversations. it is not complex. he must be seen to get something its that simple.’
The emails are part of thousands of pages of correspondence released this week, offering a glimpse into Epstein’s wide network of international contacts and his interest in Trump’s foreign policy during the first term of his presidency.
Jagland told Epstein he would meet an aide to Lavrov the next day and would raise the idea of a connection, though it is not known if anything came of it.
One of the email chains includes a reaction to the Helsinki summit, where Trump was widely criticised for appearing to side with Putin over US intelligence agencies.
On July 16, 2018, former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers wrote to Epstein: ‘Do the Russians have stuff on Trump? Today was appalling even by his standards.’
Trump and meeting during their meeting in Helsinki in 2018. Weeks before the meeting, Epstein emailed officials to offer insight into Trump
Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on November 13. A US official wrote to Epstein to question whether Russia had ‘stuff’ on Trump following their meeting in Helsinki
A photograph of Trump and Epstein in Florida in 1997. Thousands of pages of material from the latter’s estate has been made public
Epstein answered the next morning, writing: ‘My email is full with similar comments. wow. Im sure his view is that it went super well. he thinks he has charmed his adversary..
‘Admittedly he has no idea of the symbolism. He has no idea of most things.’
Epstein also called Trump’s performance ‘predictable’.
The emails also show Epstein urging Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, to spend more time in Europe if he wanted influence on the continent.
He said: ‘If you are going to play here, you’ll have to spend time, europe by remote doesn’t work.’
Epstein also told Bannon he could arrange meetings between him and foreign leaders and warned him that he had to stay long enough to avoid disappointing them.
He said: ‘The fear is that you gin up their hopes and emotions and then abandon them. I think you want to be an insider, not an outsider flying in and out.’
Other messages released by investigators show Epstein using his contacts around the world to trade thoughts about Trump or to signal his own importance.
In December 2016, soon after Trump won the election, Epstein wrote to billionaire Tom Pritzker: ‘Can you belive MBS sent me a TENT carpets and all,’ referring to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Pritzker answered: ‘A tent? Hmmm… I think that is code for ‘I love you’. Or, maybe code for ‘go pound sand’. Better check your [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] urban dictionary.’
Epstein also used his ties to help others navigate the incoming administration.
Two weeks before Trump’s inauguration, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, a businessman from the United Arab Emirates, asked Epstein whether he should attend the event after receiving an invitation via Trump ally Tom Barrack.
Donald Trump at the White House on November 10. Emails have shown how Epstein used his ties with the president to help others navigate his first administration
Epstein at a launch party in May 2005. In emails, he gave Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon advice on how to maintain influence in Europe
Epstein said it would be crowded but useful for making contacts. Sulayem then asked: ‘Do you think it will be possible to shake hand with trump.’ It is not known if Epstein responded.
The emails form part of an expanding archive of Epstein’s communications that investigators are publishing as part of a broader inquiry into his dealings and influence before his death in federal custody in 2019.
In one of the emails, Epstein tells a contact: ‘i am the only one able to take him down’, in reference to Trump and calls him ‘borderline insane’ in another.
In an email to his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein claimed that Trump spent ‘hours’ with a victim of sexual abuse. He also offered to provide a journalist with images of Trump and ‘girls in bikinis in my kitchen’.
In response to the release of the documents, the White House has denied that Trump knew about Epstein’s crimes and accused members of the Democratic Party of peddling false narratives.
Trump has always denied any wrongdoing.