The Truth About Trump And The Epstein Files
If there's a "really big bomb" it might not be what Elon Musk wants
It’s not the inevitable implosion of the Musk/Trump bromance that’s cathartic, so much as the no-holds-barred manner of it. No one thought these two men were the most balanced, rational people at their best, but the crudeness of the crossfire has surely got to make all of us feel better about one thing: Musk might be the richest man in the world, and Trump the most powerful, and yet I wonder if a lot of us woke up this morning feeling relieved not to be either of them.
At the risk of damping down the fire and fray with a few cool facts, we probably need to address the question of the moment: is there any merit to Elon Musk’s bombastic assertion, made Thursday, that the reason Trump hasn’t released the Epstein files because he’s in them? (By Saturday morning, Musk had deleted his posts on the topic).
(I know the talking point on X seems to be that if there was anything damaging, the Democrats would have released it.)
Here’s my take.
It’s not news that Trump is in the “Epstein Files” because it’s well known the two men were friendly before they suddenly weren’t, for whatever reason around 2004, and that in the 1990s Trump was reportedly on Epstein’s plane seven times. (Incidentally at this point, thanks to Epstein’s talent at self-promotion, the joke is that there are more people in a certain zip code in Manhattan who are in the files, than not in them. And let’s not forget that in the last decade of his life, one person whom he met with was…Elon Musk).
What’s arguably more interesting is snippets I’ve reported (and so has Michael Wolff) that suggest the possibility that Epstein believed - or at least claimed to Wolff - it was Trump who blew the whistle on Epstein to law enforcement. (Which, if true, is a news bomb, but not one that, as I can see, would be remotely helpful to Musk).
Here’s part of a piece I wrote in November in response to what Wolff reported about Epstein’s claims about Trump’s alleged whistle-blowing on his podcast Fire and Fury .
You can read it in its entirety here.
I phoned up Sam Nunberg, who, as many of you know was Trump’s first political operative and therefore around him all the time, to ask if back in 2013/2014/2015 if he had any memory of Trump talking about Epstein.
Sam said that the only time Trump brought up Epstein to him was when, in around 2014, reports surfaced that Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a woman with long blonde hair, whose photograph had appeared in the Daily Mail standing with Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew, had named Alan Dershowitz and Prince Andrew among the men she’d alleged she’d been pimped out to by Epstein. Dershowitz denied it, ultimately causing Virginia to say she “was mistaken” and Prince Andrew would later settle a lawsuit with Giuffre with no admission of anything.
But Nunberg raised the topic with Trump because of the claims against Alan Dershowitz whom Trump knew. Trump told Sam that he hadn’t spoken to Epstein in years
“He told me that Epstein had tried to pick up a daughter of a member of Mar-a-Lago, and he kicked him out of the club, and he never spoke to him again” Sam said.
That actually makes sense. Mar-a-lago may be a club, but it’s a club molded in the personality of its owner. Members are personally known to Trump and he treats them like a family. For Epstein to behave like that, could be ruinous to Trump’s business.
“He never mentioned anything about a house,” Sam said.
That’s interesting because there have been many reports over the years, never confirmed or mentioned by Trump, that the two fell out over an ocean-front mansion in Florida both men wanted, and Michael gets into some of the nitty gritty on that, giving Epstein’s account of it:
In 2004 Epstein had the high bid on a house in Palm Beach. I think the bid was thirty six million dollars, and then he brought Trump along to give him some advice about moving the swimming pool…But then Trump went around Epstein's back and bid forty million dollars for the house…
Epstein was pissed, of course, and he began to threaten lawsuits, and he began to threaten press exposure….
OK. Let’s unpack this.
First off the idea that Epstein could or would have sued Trump for going around his back and outbidding him seems absurd because the house was part of a bankruptcy and was sold at a public auction. Trump was on the phone, and Epstein, who was in the room dropped out. So, sure it was irritating for Epstein to lose….but grounds for a lawsuit?
Next, the idea of Epstein threatening Trump with press exposure? Not impossible - In 2003 Epstein had been part of a consortium of billionaires (and Michael) who tried and failed to buy New York Magazine.
But in terms of who had the better press relationships, that would have been a David and Goliath situation: only one guy had the team at Page Six on speed-dial and it wasn’t Epstein.
Next Michael says:
And that was the point at which Epstein's own legal problems, the problems with the girls began. And certainly, in Epstein's telling, this all happened because it was Trump who first dropped the dime on him…
So, that is fascinating. Epstein believed that Trump “dropped the dime” on Epstein and thus the investigation into him was started. In other words, he believed Trump went to the cops and told them about Epstein’s proclivities for under-age girls.
I went back to Sam Nunberg today. He reiterated that he highly doubted Epstein’s version of events to Michael Wolff. “In 2015, when I brought it up to him, Trump actually asked me to dig around on Epstein,” Sam told me, “in case it would be helpful in running against Hillary Clinton or any other candidates.”
What is true and is less talked about is the detail that Melania Trump was as much part of Epstein’s social circle, as the man she’d go on to marry.
In fact Melania met Trump through Paolo Zampolli, now the US Special Envoy for Global Partnerships (whatever that is), but then the founder of ID models. Zampolli was an extrovert who knew Epstein well. When I reported the original Vanity Fair piece on Epstein, published in 2003, I remember that Zampolli’s biggest client at the time was Victoria’s Secret, owned by Epstein’s benefactor Leslie Wexner. It’s a small detail, but it shows you how, within, a certain set, it’s all wheels within wheels, and everyone is connected.
I have also previously reported that in 1992, before Trump settled down with Melania, he and Epstein were palling about together during the afternoon in the foyer of New York’s Plaza Hotel (which Trump then owned) when both of them approached an attractive young woman visiting from Texas and shook her hand.
Her name was Melanie Walker.
She’s relevant because Epstein took her under his wing, paid for her education, and she became a neuroscientist, neurosurgeon and a top adviser to Bill Gates at his Foundation and after that at the World Bank. Along the way she became close friends with Prince Andrew. (It was Walker who years later encouraged a relationship between Gates and Epstein, which, as we know, didn’t turn out so well for Gates).
If you want to read more about Walker’s unusual story, you can read my piece in Rolling Stone about it HERE.
This morning I reached out to another woman both Trump and Epstein knew: Anouska de Georgiou, a British blonde former model who has spoken publicly about her horrendous experiences with Epstein, to whom she was introduced as a teenager by Ghislaine Maxwell.
But when Anouska was twenty years old Maxwell also introduced her to Trump. The three of them reportedly spent a whirlwind weekend in Palm Beach, during which time, I remember being told by my British New York friends that Anouska was offered a large ring by Trump (He was single at the time). That was never confirmed but there were reports that Trump housed her when they returned to New York.
BUT - and it’s an interesting but - the only public comments De Georgiou has ever made about Trump have been warm. The London Times has quoted her saying: “We went for dinner a few times. We’re friends now and I attended his wedding. He’s adorable. He has been so kind to me.”
This morning I reached out to De Georgiou and asked if she wanted to elaborate further given Musk’s assertions. (De Georgiou now runs the Kintsugi Foundation, a transitional residential facility in Los Angeles). She was friendly but said she didn’t want to talk about Trump at this time.
So, while this is all tabloid-level gossip, is it the “really big bomb” that Elon wants? Possibly not.
Best quote of the day, to my mind, goes to Sam Nunberg, referring back to what I wrote at the top of this piece.
“It’s insane. The guy (Musk) makes me look normal,” said Sam.
Exactly how I feel.
Ever think it's all a ruse? I think Trump might have some shady dealings in his past, but he's a smart enough guy to cut ties when he sees a risk being higher than reward. That's what I think happened with Epstein, and Musk is just using the fact that Trump already was a known contact and "in his files". But for their relationship to sour so quickly makes me think it's all a show for some reason or other. Or perhaps a distraction. But it's not the main event.
I've ALWAYS said that no Democrat would release the files because their friends are also in them. I've said it to MAGA folks, and they act like they can't hear me.