Overview
- Congressional investigators released hundreds of emails, including a June 24, 2018 message in which Jeffrey Epstein urged Thorbjorn Jagland to tell Vladimir Putin that Sergei Lavrov could gain “insight” on President Trump by speaking with him.
- In the same exchange, Epstein claimed he had previously advised Russia’s former UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin on handling Trump, and Jagland replied he would raise the idea with Lavrov’s office.
- Reporting on the tranche notes there is no confirmation that any suggested contact with Russian officials actually happened.
- Other messages capture Epstein and associates, including Larry Summers, criticizing Trump’s performance at the 2018 Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin.
- The White House said the emails prove Trump did nothing wrong, and House Republicans identified a redacted victim referenced in a separate email as Virginia Giuffre.