- - What Epstein's emails reveal about the rich and famous who sought his advice

Josh Meyer, USA TODAYNovember 15, 2025 at 2:06 AM

0

WASHINGTON – The emails came at all hours of the day and night from the world’s rich and powerful. They all wanted advice from disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, especially after his former friend Donald Trump became president.

Political advice, sure. And, of course, to tap into Epstein’s much-touted − albeit murkily obtained − financial acumen.

But there was so much more that the bold face names sought from Epstein – and what he gave them in response − according to a USA TODAY review of the bombshell revelations in the more than 20,000 pages of Epstein emails released Nov. 12 by the House Oversight Committee.

Epstein died in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in April 2019.

“Who is your colonoscopy man?” friend and writer Michael Wolff asked on May 30, 2017, after Epstein nixed a Manhattan breakfast meeting because he was having the procedure. At the time, Wolff was writing a book about Trump's 2016 campaign and his ascension to the White House.

COLOGNE, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 28: Michael Wolff during the reading of his book 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House' ( Feuer und Zorn - Im Weissen Haus von Donald Trump ) at the lit.cologne on February 28, 2018 in Cologne, Germany. (Photo by Ralf Juergens/Getty Images)

Department store scion Jonathan Farkas, the husband of Trump’s ambassador to Malta, asked Epstein on May 8, 2017 what he thought of a woman he was seeing that was not his wife.

“careful she is nottrustworthy at ALLL,” Epstein said in one of his typically cryptic, typo-riddled and shorthand responses.

“a 2 timer?” asked Farkas?

“worse,” Epstein said.

“Jeffrey please help me here is she a hooker,” Farkas asked.

Epstein’s response: “alcoholic . drugs. unstable . consumate liar. CAREFUL”

As an aside in the conversation, Farkas mentioned that his wife Somers “got an appointment from Trump” on a White House commission “because she bundled,” presumably in reference to collecting Trump presidential campaign contributions.

SOUTHAMPTON, NY - JULY 21: Jonathan Farkas and Somers Farkas attend Hamptons Magazine's 40th Anniversary Bash by Lawrence Scott Events presented by Compass at Southampton Arts Center on July 21, 2018 in Southampton, New York. (Photo by Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images for Hamptons Magazine)'Annoyed shows caring., no whining showed strentgh'

Epstein bantered regularly with Lawrence Summers, or Larry as he called the former Harvard president and treasury secretary under Bill Clinton. One of their favorite topics was Trump, and his transition from real estate mogul to candidate and then president.

“How plausible is idea that trump is real cocaine user?” Summers asked Epstein on Oct. 2, 2016.

“zero. !” Epstein replied. “do you want to have dinner with rothchild in new york. thurs. , woody?”

The Rothchild, or more likely someone from the Rothschild banking family, was never revealed. The Woody was almost certainly the same Woody mentioned elsewhere in the emails: Woody Johnson, the billionaire businessman, prominent Trump campaign fundraiser and owner of the New York Jets. (Trump appointed Johnson ambassador to Britain in his first term.)

But Summers also wanted relationship advice from Epstein, whose 2006 arrest amid allegations of trafficking in sex with underage girls was back in the news thanks to a bombshell investigative series in the Miami Herald. So was Epstein’s shockingly lenient 2008 plea deal with a prosecutor named Alex Acosta who was, by the time of their emailing, a member of Trump’s Cabinet as labor secretary.

In a March 16, 2019 email, Summers complained that an unidentified woman with whom he was involved was favoring another man.

“I said what are you up to. She said “I'm busy”. I said awfully coy u are,” Summers wrote Epstein, saying the woman had blown off their weekend plans in favor of “guy number 3.”

“I said ok I got to go call me when u feel like it. Tone was not of good feeling,” Summers added. “I dint want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend without benefits.”

Epstein wrote back minutes later with praise for Summers’ response.

“shes smart. making you pay for past errors,” Epstein wrote. “ignore the daddy im going to go out with the motorcycle guy, . you reacted well. . annoyed shows caring. , no whining showed strentgh.”

When Summers emailed the November before that to say he was going radio silence on another woman, Epstein replied: “She’s already begining to sound needy :) nice.”

(The periods at the end of Epstein's quotes at the end of sentences have been added by USA TODAY. Epstein didn’t waste his time ending most of his sentences with periods.)

Senior White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers speaks during an interview with Reuters in Washington June 24, 2010.'Thank you a million times, Jeffrey'

There was virtually never a stated reason why all of these bigwigs – mostly men but also women – assumed Epstein would be able to provide insight into whatever was on their minds.

Epstein had no college degree; his first job was as a math and physics teacher at the elite Dalton School in Manhattan.

Despite that unconventional start, and with no transparent or easily explainable path to riches, Epstein emerged as a globe-trotting fixer who spent his time shuttling between luxury homes, private jets and his Caribbean island. His financial empire was opaque, seemingly built largely on connections, secrecy and the perception of influence.

Oftentimes, they went back and forth about the day’s headlines, especially when it came to Trump. On occasion, they hinted at, or outright asked, for money.

“Larry has told me that you and a friend would like to contribute to my project (hallelujah and thank you a million times, Jeffrey) and that I ought to... write up a proposal asking for 500,000,” Summers' wife, Lisa New, wrote in an Oct. 27, 2014 email.

New, an American Literature professor at Harvard, wanted to do “post-production and distribution of a whole historical period of American poetry” from 1914 to 1945, including three TV episodes for her "Poetry in America" PBS series.

New also gave Epstein advice on literature.

On Nov. 25, 2018, she recommended "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov, which is about a 30-something married scholar and his sexual obsession with a 12-year-old girl.

Also, she said without a trace of irony given Epstein’s legal troubles, “I would recommend reading My Antonia by (Willa) Cather next time you're on a long plane trip.”

“The prose is gorgeous, and the book has-- come to think of it-- similar themes to Lolita in that it's about a man whose whole life is stamped forever by his impression of a young girl,” she wrote.

Epstein’s private plane, which ferried VIPs and young girls to his private island and other redoubts, was nicknamed by others "The Lolita Express" after his legal troubles burst into public view.

U.S. prosecutor Kathryn Ruemmler arrives at federal court on the first day of jury selection in the Enron trial in Houston January 30, 2006. Former company executives are facing conspiracy and fraud charges connected to the downfall of the energy giant. REUTERS/Lee Celano'Trump is truly stupid'

Obama administration White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, who had famously taken down energy giant Enron as a star Justice Department prosecutor, talked about Trump a lot with Epstein.

"Trump is truly stupid," Ruemmler wrote in a July 21, 2017 email. In another, she said, he was “so gross.”

In one email to Ruemmler, Epstein downplayed Trump’s wealth, saying, "Donald doesn't really own very much, he rents out his name."

In another, Epstein wrote Ruemmler that, "You see, I know how dirty Donald is." That was in response to one of many news articles the two shared with each other, this one about Trump’s "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" as outlined in a New York Times column in August 2018.

More: 'I am the one able to take him down.' What Jeffrey Epstein said about Donald Trump.

Epstein also liked to introduce his various friends and acquaintances to each other as part of his relentless campaign to cultivate relationships with the rich, powerful and merely famous.

It was in that spirit that Epstein introduced Wolff to one of his former defense lawyers, Kenneth Starr, for help with research. Starr had been the independent counsel leading the exhaustive “Whitewater” investigation into Bill and Hillary Clinton in the 1990s.

“With thanks to Jeffrey, I’m delighted to come into your orbit, and look forward to our conversation,” Starr wrote to Wolff, in an email shared with Epstein.

'An opportunity to come forward'

While many of those communicating with Epstein hoped to benefit from their conversations, some – like Wolff – also offered to help the disgraced financier in return.

“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,” Wolff emailed Epstein on Oct. 29, 2016, right before Election Day. “Interested?”

There’s no indication in the emails that Epstein responded, or that he acted on Wolff’s request.

Transparency Note:

Michael Wolff was a freelance USA TODAY contributor from 2012 to early 2017. USA TODAY had no knowledge of any relationship between him and Jeffrey Epstein, nor any actions beyond his submissions for publication. We are committed to integrity and transparency, as we uphold our editorial standards and maintain the trust of our readers.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jeffrey Epstein's emails show an advisor to the rich and famous

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Breaking”