 "The clamour for releasing the Epstein files has overshadowed Trump’s desperate bid to highlight the success of his first six months in power because it’s not his rivals but his own base, which is up in arms. File image")
Infamous sex offender and British financier Jeffrey Epstein once threatened to “take down” US President Donald Trump after their friendship fell apart, recently released emails have revealed. While Trump and Epstein’s friendship came to an end in the mid-2000s, he remained intently focused on Trump for years afterwards.
In more than 20,000 pages of Epstein’s email and other messages that were released by the House Democrats on Wednesday, Epstein often appeared to be insulting Trump and to hold damaging information on him. Multiple messages show influential people pressing Epstein for insights into Trump and the British financier casting himself as the ultimate Trump translator.
He often described himself as someone who knew him intimately and was “the one able to take him down.” The scandalous emails have re-energised Democratic attacks on Trump and his Justice Department for failing to publicly disclose more information from the investigation of Epstein.
The emails date to at least 2011, when Trump was a reality TV star toying with the idea of running for the presidency. The messages reflected that Epstein was trying to rehabilitate his image after his conviction and incarceration for soliciting prostitution from a minor. These messages continued through the spring of 2019, when Trump was president, and the DoJ at that time was building a criminal case against Epstein.
The messages reflect that Epstein would take down Trump
The emails hinted that Epstein or his advisers believed they had inside — and potentially damaging — knowledge of Trump’s far-flung properties and business dealings. Some of these messages suggested that Epstein thought Trump knew more about his personal conduct than the president has publicly acknowledged.
However, none of the emails came from Trump or anyone purporting to speak on his behalf. The president reacted to the emails, soon after they were released to the public. “The Democrats are using the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax to try and deflect from their massive failures, in particular, their most recent one — THE SHUTDOWN!” he wrote.
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View AllAccording to The New York Times, the emails were obtained from the Epstein estate in response to a subpoena from a congressional committee. They offered a clear window into his day-to-day communications with friends and associates.
In 2011, Epstein wrote to his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell , who was later convicted of helping orchestrate Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation, that Trump was the “dog that hasn’t barked.” He said that Giuffre had “spent hours at my house with him” — Trump — yet Trump “has never once been mentioned.”
Epstein was referring to one of his victims, Virginia Giuffre, who, in a 2016 deposition, said that Trump never had sex with her or even flirted with her. Back in 2012, Epstein emailed one of his lawyers, Reid Weingarten, and suggested that he get someone to dig into Trump’s finances, including the mortgage on Mar-a-Lago and a $30 million loan Epstein said that Trump had received.
Apart from this, the controversial British financier expressed his disdain for Trump. Meanwhile, White House has dismissed the emails, describing them as a ‘fake narrative’.