The latest batch from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s e-mails illustrates the extraordinary scope of his contacts with powerful people, ranging from a top Trump adviser to Britain’s ex-prince Andrew.
The US House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on trying to force release of evidence gathered on Epstein by law enforcement over the years — including the identities of the men suspected of participating in his alleged sex trafficking ring.
However, a slew of e-mails released this week have already opened new windows to the extent of Epstein’s network.
Photo: AFP
These include multiple references to US President Donald Trump, who is calling the push for more transparency a “hoax” — while simultaneously demanding a probe of Epstein’s links to others, including former US president Bill Clinton.
Documents already released by Democrats in US Congress include e-mail exchanges running from 2009 to 2019, when Epstein died in detention while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
These are just three of the prominent men — and one woman — found in the e-mail threads.
One exchange in the typo-strewn e-mails confirms that contact between Epstein and Andrew, who was stripped of his royal title last month, did not definitively end in late 2010, as his brother King Charles III has stated.
As late as March 4, 2011, Epstein wrote to Andrew with several questions addressed to long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking after Epstein’s death.
“Please make sure that every statement or legal letter states clearly that I am NOT involved and that I knew and know NOTHING about any of these allegations. I can’t take any more of this my end,” Andrew wrote.
Two days later Epstein wrote back: “you ok? these stories are complete and utter fantasy.”
Epstein had a long e-mail correspondence in 2018 with Steve Bannon, an adviser to Trump in his first term and a chief ideologue of the hard-right “Make America Great Again” movement.
In July 2018, Epstein suggested he help Bannon spread his far-right ideas in Europe.
Epstein: “It’s doable, but time consuming, there are many leaders of countries we can organize for you to have one on ones.”
“Agree 100% How do I do that???” Bannon asked.
“We can talk about at your convenience,” Epstein said.
“How is life among the lucrative and louche?” asked Larry Summers, who served as treasury secretary under former US president Barack Obama, in an e-mail to Epstein on Oct. 27, 2017, during Trump’s first term.
“When we meet I will endeavor to mesmerize you with stories of D.C. so wild !!!” Epstein replied.
Epstein asked what people attending a conference with Summers think of Trump.
“Hard to tell. General view Donald is a clown, increasingly dangerous on foreign policy,” Summers said.
Epstein in December 2018: “trump — borderline insane.”
Epstein also traded e-mails with Kathryn Ruemmler, a lawyer who served as an adviser to Obama until 2014. Their exchange began that year and ran until 2019.
“I am about to go on stage. The first part of my presentation is about Trump,” Ruemmler wrote in May 2016.
“Con man, says it all,” Epstein replied.
In August 2018 he wrote to her: “I know how dirty donald is. my guess is that non lawyers ny biz people have no idea.”
That December Epstein wrote: “you might want to tell your dem friends that treating trump like a mafia don, ignores the fact that he has great dangerous power.”
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that is part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears. The proposals are “undergoing thorough review” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which acts as a lender and an overseer of the project to ensure it meets international environmental and governance standards, the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways said in a statement on Monday in response to queries from Bloomberg. The agency said it would announce the winning bidder once ADB
IN ABSENTIA: The MP for Hampstead and Highgate in London, a niece of deposed Bangladesh prime minister Sheik Hasina, condemned the ‘flawed and farcical’ trial A court in Bangladesh yesterday sentenced British Member of Parliament Tulip Siddiq to two years in jail after a judge ruled she was complicit in corrupt land deals with her aunt, the country’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina. A judge found Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, guilty of misusing her “special influence” as a British politician to coerce Hasina into giving valuable pieces of land to her mother, brother and sister. Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, was given seven years in prison and considered the prime participant in the case. The trial had been carried out in absentia: Neither Hasina, Siddiq,
RSS