The big names who appeared in the new Epstein email dump

In one of his seemingly numerous email exchanges, former Treasury Secretary and former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers shared what he believed was an important idea with Jeffrey Epstein.

“I’m trying to figure out why the American elite thinks that murdering your baby with beatings and neglect must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard, but 10 years ago you flirted with some women and you can’t work in a network or think tank,” Summers wrote. “DO NOT REPEAT THIS IDEA.”

Summers shared her vision, which referenced the Michelle Jones case, with Epstein, the now-deceased pedophile billionaire, in October 2017, nearly 10 years after Epstein won a favorable settlement in an investigation into his sexual abuse of underage girls. Summers declined to comment on the recorded email. He previously expressed regret over his association with Epstein.

Summers’ email was one of thousands released by the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. The document dump included explosive statements from Epstein that President Donald Trump “knew about the girls” and spent “hours at my house with” an anonymous victim. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the emails “a hoax manufactured by the Democratic party.” [sic] Party.” They also reveal several prominent people who stayed in Epstein’s favor, offering him support, advice or, in Summers’ case, sharing jokes about the #MeToo movement with a man who had served time in prison for having sex with girls too young to consent.

Michael Wolff, journalist and author of “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” previously acknowledged being in constant contact with Epstein. Epstein served as an important source for Wolff about Trump and his first term for “Fire and Fury” and published several podcast episodes about his conversations with Epstein that included audio of their talks.

New York State Sex Offender Registry via News

What Wolff left out was that he was also giving Epstein advice on how to reject the allegations against him. In 2016, Wolff shared his advice on how to counter a book about Epstein written by thriller author James Patterson and journalists John Connolly and Tim Malloy. He advised Epstein to divert attention from himself and use the book as an opportunity to tell the story about Trump, essentially throwing him under the bus.

“[Y]You need an immediate counternarrative to the book,” Wolff wrote. “I think Trump offers an ideal opportunity. “It’s an opportunity to make the story about something other than yourself and, at the same time, it allows you to frame your own story.”

Wolff also suggested defaming Connolly in a lawyer’s letter for having “an obsession with Epstein, such that his former employer, Vanity Fair, has refused to allow him to write about Epstein for the magazine.”

Epstein did not follow Wolff’s advice and instead kept his head down. Wolff did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But Wolff wasn’t the only journalist in Epstein’s inbox to offer suggestions. New York Times financial reporter Landon Thomas, Jr., who counted Epstein as a source since writing a now-famous profile of him in New York Magazine in 2002, and who later reported on Epstein’s 2008 sentencing for sex crimes, was also in constant contact, including providing information that appears to go beyond a reporter-source relationship.

In 2017, before the publication of Patterson’s book, Thomas emailed Epstein to keep him informed about what Patterson’s co-authors were asking. “I got another call from Connelly…”, a reference to Patterson’s co-author, the subject of the email read.

“Researching again, unclear if this is another book or an expanded paperback version,” Thomas wrote. “He was asking me all kinds of questions about why you hired Ken Starr. I told him I had no idea; I think he’s also looking into something related to Trump. Anyway, for what it’s worth…”

This was not the first time Thomas kept Epstein abreast of Connolly’s reporting. “You keep getting calls from this guy who’s writing a book about you: John Connolly. He seems very interested in your relationship with the media. I told him he was a great guy :),” he wrote in 2016.

Thomas also appeared to try to get Epstein to make public information he allegedly had about Trump.

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“I’m a little surprised that our reporters haven’t contacted you regarding the Trump/women story,” Thomas said in an email on May 16, 2016. “I think it went pretty well. How are you?”

“Me too,” Epstein responded.

“Will the other things ever come out?” -Tomás asked.

In 2015, Thomas approached Epstein to lament how he had become a source for other reporters seeking to learn more about Epstein.

“Do you want a photo?[sic] of Donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen,” Epstein responded.

Thomas was forced to resign from the New York Times in 2019 after revealing to editors that he had solicited Epstein for a $30,000 donation to a Harlem cultural center. Thomas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Others who reached out to Epstein included New Age guru Deepak Chopra, Woody Allen’s wife Soon-Yi Previn, magician David Blaine, right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, conservative lawyer Ken Starr, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and left-wing linguist and activist Noam Chomsky. Most of these conversations included sharing gossip, discussing political developments, and responding to news links. Previn, Thiel and Chomsky did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In Epstein’s mailbox appears a letter from Blaine to Citizenship and Immigration Services recommending approval of a nonimmigrant work visa for an unnamed “incredible model.” A spokesman for Blaine did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chopra responded positively to an email from Epstein in which he shared an article about a case alleging that he and Trump sexually abused a 13-year-old girl and that he had been abandoned. “Okay, see you this Saturday at 11:30 pm?” Chopra responded.

“I am always mindful of doctor and patient privilege,” Chopra said in a statement. “However, in this case, I hope that the whole truth will come to light after proper and ongoing investigations. I am happy to share everything I know with authorized officials. Otherwise, there will only be endless speculation without knowing the context.”

“Hi Jeff, I think Trump’s momentum has stalled,” Barak wrote days before the 2016 election. “Hillary could be on track to win, but by a much smaller margin and probably still controlled by the GOP in the Senate.”

Barak distanced himself from Epstein in 2019, telling the New York Times“He wasn’t vilified by American society, so how would I know?” He added: “I never participated in any party or event with women or anything like that.”

Summers also routinely asked Epstein what he thought about Trump and who he would nominate after winning in 2016.

“I remember telling you that I have met some very bad people, none as bad as Trump,” Epstein responded. “Not a single decent cell in his body.”