Michael Wolff, 72, is an American journalist and columnist – as well as a prolific author of books on the wealthy and the famous.
Fire and Fury, the first of several books spanning Trump’s first stint as US president, came out in 2018, with descriptions of a dysfunctional White House and salacious details about the US commander-in-chief. Trump said it was “full of lies”.
The new batch of files related to Jeffrey Epstein shed light on a relationship that appears to indicate a correspondence between Wolff and the late convicted sex offender.
Attention has focused particularly on one of the emails, in which Wolff appears to give Epstein advice in relation to Trump, as Trump was campaigning for the White House for the first time.
Wolff wrote to Epstein in 2015 to notify him that CNN was planning to ask Trump, as a presidential candidate, about his relationship with Epstein.
Epstein replied: “If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?”
The two go on to discuss a strategy, with Wolff writing: “I think you should let him hang himself.”
In a separate email from October 2016, days before the US presidential election, Wolff offers Epstein a chance to sit for an interview that could “finish” Trump.
Responding to the release in a video posted to Instagram, Wolff said: “Some of those emails are between Epstein and me, with Epstein discussing his relationship with Donald Trump.”
“I have been trying to talk about this story for a very long time now,” he added.
In fact, Wolff disclosed before the latest presidential election in the US that he had interviewed Epstein “periodically” for Fire and Fury – and released tapes of those conversations.