‘You’re The Trump Bullet’: US Journalist Suggested Epstein Blackmail US President, Generate ‘Debt’

Last Updated:November 13, 2025, 22:26 IST

Michael Wolff urged Jeffrey Epstein to undermine Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, as revealed in emails released by US lawmakers, sparking controversy and partisan accusations.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) holds up a photo of US President Donald Trump with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a meeting of the the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. (IMAGE: REUTERS)

Renowned American journalist and author Michael Wolff, who has written extensively about US President Donald Trump, had encouraged American financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to intimidate Trump and potentially undermine his first campaign for the White House in 2016.

Democratic US lawmakers on Wednesday released a series of emails between Epstein, his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and Wolff, some of which referenced Trump directly.

House Republicans, in response, released more than 20,000 pages of documents and accused Democrats of attempting to “create a fake narrative to slander President Trump."

In one email from 2015, Wolff informed Epstein that broadcaster CNN planned to ask Trump about his relationship with Epstein.

“I think you should let him hang himself," Wolff wrote of Trump in the email.

A year later, in October, Wolff asked Epstein whether he wanted to “talk about Trump in a such a way that could garner you great sympathy and help finish him."

Another email from January 2019 shows Epstein telling Wolff that Trump “knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop."

Epstein could be the “bullet" that ended Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential bid if he chose to publicly discuss their past ties, Wolff suggested in a January 2016 email. He warned that “the more Trump looks real, or perish the thought, inevitable, the more reporters are going to focus on this," adding that Epstein needed “a strategy."

By February 2016, Epstein wrote to Wolff saying he was being contacted by more reporters as Trump’s poll numbers climbed.

“Yeah, you’re the Trump bullet," Wolff replied.

Michael Wolff is a well-known American journalist and author whose reporting on Donald Trump has drawn both significant attention and controversy. He has written three bestselling books on Trump and his inner circle: Fire and Fury (2018), which chronicled the first year of the Trump presidency; Siege (2019), which examined the pressures facing the administration during its mid-term turmoil; and Landslide (2021), which detailed the final months of Trump’s presidency and the chaotic aftermath of the 2020 election.

Wolff’s books relied heavily on on-background conversations with aides, advisers, and people in Trump’s orbit, and while widely read, they were also criticised by some for factual inconsistencies — a charge Wolff has repeatedly defended.

Shankhyaneel Sarkar

Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a Chief Sub-Editor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over seven years of experience during which he has covered se...Read More

Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a Chief Sub-Editor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over seven years of experience during which he has covered se...

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News world ‘You’re The Trump Bullet’: US Journalist Suggested Epstein Blackmail US President, Generate ‘Debt’

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