In a dramatic turn of events on Wednesday, the Republican members of the House Oversight Committee unveiled a trove of documents, including emails involving the late Jeffrey Epstein and key media figures. This move came swiftly on the heels of the White House’s accusation against congressional Democrats for allegedly leaking selective emails linked to Epstein.
The released documents shed light on correspondence between Epstein and Michael Wolff, a magazine writer turned biographer. The emails reveal Wolff’s repeated attempts to engage with Epstein, often discussing strategies to rehabilitate Epstein’s tarnished public image.
One notable exchange from February 2016 highlights Wolff informing Epstein about inquiries from the New York Times and the Hillary Clinton campaign. Wolff advised Epstein to consider taking preemptive action, suggesting that distancing from Donald Trump could be beneficial. “NYT called me about you and Trump,” Wolff wrote. “Also, Hillary campaign digging deeply. Again, you should consider preempting.”
Epstein, a controversial figure at the center of a bipartisan investigation by the House Oversight Committee, was the subject of further strategic discussions with Wolff a month later. As James Patterson’s true-crime book “Filthy Rich,” which detailed Epstein’s exploits, was about to be released, Wolff proposed that adopting an anti-Trump stance might offer Epstein some political protection he currently lacked.
This ongoing investigation into Epstein’s dealings continues to unravel complex networks of influence and communication, capturing public and political attention alike.
A month later, they discussed strategy ahead of the release of James Patterson’s “Filthy Rich” — a true-crime book about Epstein, who was the author’s neighbor in Palm Beach. He suggested to Epstein that “becoming an anti-Trump voice gives you a certain political cover which you decidedly don’t have now.”
Wolff also took a swipe at the bestselling crime novelist.
Read some of the emails between Epstein and Wolff:
“Patterson can be counted on to produce a bestseller, and while he isn’t regarded as a serious writer, he’ll surely be unloading a lot of tabloid copy,” the emails continue. “Because this will be tied to the election, the Trump-Clinton angle will amp up the attention 10-fold, in fact, possibly, a hundred fold. Possibly more than anything you’ve encountered before.”
Michael Wolff speaks at the former Newseum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, April 12, 2017, as he moderates a conversation with Counselor to President Donald Trump Kellyanne Conway during “The President and the Press: The First Amendment in the First 100 Days” forum. (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
At another point, Wolff asked for introductions to two people, Tom Barrack, a business leader and chair of Trump’s first inaugural committee, and Kathy Ruemmler, a former federal prosecutor, as he was researching his book about Trump’s first 100 days in office. He said he needed an “off-the-record perspective on White House procedures.”
He also asked whether former President Bill Clinton would confirm he had never been to Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Little St. John. Clinton has publicly denied ever going there, and Epstein’s longtime companion and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell has also denied seeing him there.
The two planned to meet as recently as May 2019, months before Epstein died in a federal jail cell while awaiting trial.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Wolff’s team for comment.
Some of the new documents included a short video of a dog and what appeared to be chew toys modeled after Trump and 2016 presidential rival Hillary Clinton. Others appear to be slides from an adviser who was looking to uplift positive search engine results about Epstein after his child trafficking conviction.
Ghislaine Maxwell holds her umbrella high enough over her head to expose her face. Maxwell left for her prison job before sunrise and was still walking with an umbrella covering her face. During her lunch break she walked back to her cell carrying some folders and a clear backpack with headphones dangling down on Sept. 20, 2025. (Matthew Symons/Mirrorpix/Mega)
House Democrats’ earlier release included a short but cryptic email from Epstein to Maxwell, who is in prison for helping him groom and traffic girls. The disgraced financier mentioned Trump by name.
“I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump,” Epstein wrote in a message dated April 2, 2011. “[VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him…he has never once been mentioned. Police chief. etc. I’m 75% there.”
The released document had a name redacted and replaced by the word “VICTIM” in all capital letters. Officials later revealed the victim to be prominent Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who died of suicide earlier this year.
Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre speaks at a press conference following a hearing where Jeffrey Epstein victims made statements at Manhattan Federal Court on Aug. 27, 2019, in Manhattan, New York. Giuffre died of suicide earlier this year. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Giuffre was Epstein’s most outspoken victim but had not accused Trump of wrongdoing. She had previously worked at Mar-a-Lago, where Epstein allegedly poached her before he and Maxwell trafficked her for years.
“The ‘unnamed victim’ referenced in these emails is the late Virginia Giuffre, who repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday. “The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre.”
Trump himself weighed in on Truth Social, accusing the Democrats of trying to draw attention away from their role in the standoff over a government shutdown.
Ghislaine Maxwell told federal prosecutors that she doesn’t believe that Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
“The Democrats cost our Country $1.5 Trillion Dollars with their recent antics of viciously closing our Country, while at the same time putting many at risk — and they should pay a fair price,” he wrote. “There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”
Epstein got a sweetheart deal in 2008 for child sex crimes but was arrested again in 2019 on more serious trafficking charges. He died before the case went to trial. Maxwell was convicted of grooming and procuring girls and young women for him but is appealing and continues to claim her innocence.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
