Michael Wolff and Jeffrey Epstein (Credit: public domain)
Discredited journalist Michael Wolff actively encouraged convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to blackmail then-presidential candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 election cycle, according to newly released emails.
The explosive emails, part of a trove released by the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, show Wolff plotting to use Epstein’s alleged ties to Trump as leverage to either derail his campaign or create a “debt” for personal gain.
Wolff, infamous for his error-riddled “Fire and Fury” book that painted a sensationalized and widely debunked portrait of Trump’s White House, emailed Epstein in December 2015, warning him about potential CNN questions on Trump’s relationship with the sex trafficker.
“I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you — either on air or in scrum afterwards,” Wolff wrote to Epstein.
The next day, he advised, “I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt.”
As Trump’s poll numbers surged, Wolff ramped up the pressure.
In January 2016, he told Epstein, “The more Trump looks real, or perish the thought, inevitable, the more reporters are going to focus on this, so, as you will not be surprised, you need a strategy.”
By February, after Epstein noted an increase in reporter interest, Wolff replied, “Yeah, you’re the Trump bullet.”
Wolff added that The New York Times had contacted him about Epstein and Trump, and the Hillary Clinton campaign was “digging deeply,” urging Epstein to “preempt” the story.
Just before the election, Wolff emailed with the subject “Now could be the time,” saying, “There’s an opportunity to come forward this week and talk about Trump in such a way that could garner you great sympathy and help finish him. Interested?”