A newly released series of letters about disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sparked fresh speculation about the late financier’s relationship with US President Donald Trump, but experts say their significance goes beyond the White House.
The never-before-seen emails are increasing pressure on the Trump administration to release the U.S. government’s files on Epstein, with a vote expected in Congress as early as next week. President Trump has rejected suggestions that he has something to hide, insisting that he knew Epstein but ended their relationship in the early 2000s.
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But the newly released emails also raise ethical questions about the role played by renowned author Michael Wolff, who appears to have advised Epstein on how to deal with Trump.
In House Oversight Committee conversations released by Democrats, Mr. Wolf, known for his best-selling book about the first Trump presidency, appears to have shared classified information with Mr. Epstein before a presidential debate on CNN in December 2015, advising him on how to use his ties to Mr. Trump.
“I hear CNN plans to ask President Trump about his relationship with you tonight, either on air or in a scrum afterwards,” Wolf wrote.
“If we were to give him an answer, what do you think it should be?” Mr. Epstein replied.
“I think he should hang himself. If he says he hasn’t been on a plane, hasn’t been home, that gives him valuable PR and political currency,” Wolff told Epstein.
“You could hang him in a way that could potentially benefit you, or if it really looked like he could win, you could help him and create debt. Of course, if asked, you could say that Jeffrey is a great guy who made a bad deal and is a victim of political correctness that will be outlawed in the Trump administration,” Wolff added in response to Epstein.
Al Jazeera contacted Wolff for comment but did not receive a response.
In a podcast conversation with news outlet The Daily Beast, Wolf said at the time that he was trying to develop a relationship with Epstein to better understand Trump, but acknowledged that “in hindsight” his comments could be seen as “embarrassing.”
Mr. Wolf, 72, is best known for his four books, including “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump Presidency,” which reveal the inner workings of the first president.
Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, said determining whether what Mr. Wolf did with Mr. Epstein was appropriate will depend on how the role of the writer is understood.
Kirtley told Al Jazeera: “There are reporters, there are commentators, there are authors of books, and the way they operate varies somewhat.”
“If you want to be a publicist or an agent, those are perfectly legitimate career choices. But unfortunately, I don’t think those are compatible with journalism, because the public has a right to assume and believe that you act independently,” she continued.
“As the saying goes, you cannot serve two masters. Your interest must either be in the public interest or serve another interest.”
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Experts say reporters often face ethical and professional dilemmas when building relationships with sources, especially in fields where insider information is highly sought after, such as Wolff’s study of the relationships between various figures in the first Trump administration.
But the privilege of having close relationships with sources, especially influential sources, can also raise difficult questions about the proximity to the very centers of power that reporters should scrutinize.
Edward Wasserman, a journalism professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said such relationships need to maintain certain boundaries and balance the usefulness of the information to get the public’s attention.
“I think the public has a right to be skeptical of this cozy relationship with intelligence sources,” Wasserman told Al Jazeera. “But journalists’ answer is that this is in the public interest and there is a redemptive aspect to this. It allows for a relationship where people can confide in reporters and reporters can share that information with the public.”
Still, there is the potential for troubling reversals in such relationships, where journalists may be tempted to treat their sources favorably if they believe they will be rewarded for their information.
Another journalist who corresponded with Epstein in emails released Wednesday, a former New York Times financial reporter named Landon Thomas Jr., also appeared to have close ties to the convicted sex offender and told Epstein about a writer named John Connelly who was researching Epstein.
“I’ve been getting calls from John Connolly, this guy who’s publishing a book about you. He seems very interested in your relationship with the news media. I told him you’re one hell of a guy :),” Thomas Jr. said in an email dated June 1, 2016.
“He’s also digging,” Thomas Jr. said in another email to Epstein on Sept. 27, 2017, adding, “I think he’s also digging into Trump stuff. For what it’s worth, anyway…”
Public broadcaster NPR reported that Thomas Jr. was no longer working for the Times by January 2019, but it was revealed that the reporter had asked Epstein for a $30,000 donation to a New York City cultural center. The New York Times previously said the conduct was a clear violation of the company’s code of ethics and that it took action as soon as it learned of the incident.
In Wolff’s case, Wasserman also noted that his direct involvement in issues related to Trump, Epstein and the media called into question the writer’s ability to report on these issues in a reliable manner. These questions may be especially poignant amid a scandal that, for many in the United States, is emblematic of the close ties between figures at the highest levels of power.
“The problem is that Wolf was providing advice on how to engineer this situation and how to play it in a way that favors Epstein. And the problem I have with that is that he’s probably going to retain the right to report on the outcome of that,” he said.
It also remains unclear whether Mr. Wolff’s relationship with Mr. Epstein resulted in the kinds of revelations that journalists typically point to when justifying close relationships with sources.
“It seemed important to me that in this exchange, Wolff did nothing to clarify the core mystery of whether Trump had a sexual relationship with what happened between Epstein and these young women,” Wasserman said.
“And there’s nothing in this where Wolf is asking that,” he added.
