{"id":7439,"date":"2025-11-13T22:42:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T22:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/11\/13\/i-am-the-one-able-to-take-him-down-what-jeffrey-epstein-said-about-donald-trump-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T22:42:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T22:42:56","slug":"i-am-the-one-able-to-take-him-down-what-jeffrey-epstein-said-about-donald-trump-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/11\/13\/i-am-the-one-able-to-take-him-down-what-jeffrey-epstein-said-about-donald-trump-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I am the one able to take him down.&#8217; What Jeffrey Epstein said about Donald Trump. &#8211; USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<div xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n<p>WASHINGTON \u2013 \u201cDirty.\u201d \u201cF&#8211;king crazy.\u201d \u201cBorderline insane.\u201d A Mafia don but with the \u201cgreat dangerous power\u201d of being America\u2019s president and commander in chief.<\/p>\n<p>In the years before his death in what was ruled a suicide, that&#8217;s how <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/11\/13\/donald-trump-jeffrey-epstein-congress-emails-live-updates\/87245782007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> described his longtime friend and former confidant <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/news\/politics\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">Donald Trump<\/a>, according to a trove of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/11\/12\/trump-jeffrey-epstein-emails-house-democrats\/87228977007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">convicted sex offender\u2019s texts and emails<\/a> just released by the House Oversight Committee.<\/p>\n<p>But perhaps the most intriguing thing Epstein said about Trump in the 20,000-plus pages of emails provided by his estate was this: &#8220;I am the one able to take him down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/picture-gallery\/news\/politics\/2025\/09\/23\/trump-epstein-statue-national-mall-photos\/86317316007\/\" data-t-l=\"\u2691g:l|l|c|view gallery:inline promo\" aria-label=\"View Gallery - Trump, Epstein hold hands in sculpture on National Mall 'In Honor of Friendship Month'\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/09\/24\/USAT\/86332863007-1-3.png?crop=1827,1029,x0,y107&#038;width=660&#038;height=372&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/09\/24\/USAT\/86332863007-1-3.png?crop=1827,1029,x0,y107&#038;width=1320&#038;height=744&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp 2x\" decoding=\"async\" alt width=\"660\" height=\"372\" previous-src=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/09\/24\/USAT\/86332863007-1-3.png?crop=1827,1029,x0,y107&#038;width=660&#038;height=372&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp\"><svg><use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/#gnt_svg_camera\" \/><\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n<p>House Democrats released emails Nov. 12 from Epstein saying\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/news\/politics\/donald-trump\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">Trump<\/a>\u00a0&#8220;spent hours at my house&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/OversightDems\/status\/1988600468990484626\/photo\/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\">with one of the disgraced financier&#8217;s victims<\/a>\u00a0and that he &#8220;knew about the girls.&#8221; Democrats said the emails raise questions about what Trump knew about Epstein&#8217;s crimes, which included allegedly sexually abusing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdny\/pr\/jeffrey-epstein-charged-manhattan-federal-court-sex-trafficking-minors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\">potentially hundreds of women and girls<\/a> and trafficking them to other wealthy men.<\/p>\n<p>The White House and Trump himself have tried to spin the document release \u2212 and a later one by Republicans \u2212 as being a giant nothingburger. &#8220;These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/11\/13\/donald-trump-jeffrey-epstein-congress-emails-live-updates\/87245782007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">President Trump did nothing wrong<\/a>,&#8221; Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Nov. 12.<\/p>\n<p>A USA TODAY review of those documents shows that Epstein had significant concerns about Trump&#8217;s behavior and character.<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;you see, i know how dirty donald is&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>On Feb. 8, 2017, three weeks after Trump first took office, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers told Epstein that, &#8220;It&#8217;s ok.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>So far, Summers said of the new president, &#8220;He didn\u2019t wreck (the) world and avoided scandal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Epstein, in a shorthand and typo-ridden response, said, &#8220;recall ive told you ,, I have met some very bad people ,, none as bad as trump. \u00a0not one decent cell in his body.. so yes- dangerous.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure><img fetchpriority=\"high\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/11\/13\/USAT\/87248282007-20100624-t-120000-z-1909688638-gm-1-e-66-o-1-ucr-01-rtrmadp-3-usasummers.JPG?width=660&#038;height=445&#038;fit=crop&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/11\/13\/USAT\/87248282007-20100624-t-120000-z-1909688638-gm-1-e-66-o-1-ucr-01-rtrmadp-3-usasummers.JPG?width=1320&#038;height=890&#038;fit=crop&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp 2x\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Senior White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers speaks during an interview with Reuters in Washington June 24, 2010.\"><\/figure>\n<p>On Aug. 23, 2018, Epstein was emailing back and forth with a friend, Kathryn Ruemmler, about Trump&#8217;s legal and criminal exposure, apparently in connection with an ongoing &#8220;hush-money&#8221; investigation in New York.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt makes no difference whether it was his money. Issue is failure to disclose,\u201d said Ruemmler, the former Obama administration White House counsel. \u201cPlus, fact that he has lied his ass off about it makes clear that he knew it was illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cyou see, i know how dirty donald is,\u201d Epstein replied. \u201cmy guess is that non lawyers ny biz people have no idea. what it means to have your fixer flip.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Days earlier, Trump\u2019s longtime fixer and personal lawyer <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2018\/08\/21\/michael-cohen-former-trump-lawyer-feds-reach-plea-deal\/1053562002\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">Michael Cohen pleaded guilty<\/a> to fraud and campaign finance violations, implicating Trump in his payments to two women for their silence over alleged affairs with the then-presidential candidate just before the 2016 election. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2024\/05\/30\/donald-trump-verdict-criminal-hush-money-trial\/73891042007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">Trump would eventually be convicted<\/a> of falsifying business records to cover up they payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.<\/p>\n<figure><img fetchpriority=\"high\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/11\/12\/USAT\/87229002007-usatsi-26782243-2.jpg?width=660&#038;height=440&#038;fit=crop&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/11\/12\/USAT\/87229002007-usatsi-26782243-2.jpg?width=1320&#038;height=880&#038;fit=crop&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp 2x\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A protester holds up a photo of the future President Donald Trump with financier Jeffrey Epstein at a rally in Augusta, Georgia, on Aug. 2, 2025. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting a federal sex trafficking trial.\" previous-src=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/11\/12\/USAT\/87229002007-usatsi-26782243-2.jpg?width=660&#038;height=440&#038;fit=crop&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp\"><\/figure>\n<h2>&#8216;Gambino was never the commander in chief&#8217; \u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>In December of 2018, Epstein was dishing with Reid Weingarten, a prominent white-collar defense attorney who represented him during Epstein\u2019s federal investigation into alleged sex trafficking.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cyou might want to tell your dem friends that treating trump like a mafia don, ignores the fact that he has great dangerous power,\u201d Epstein wrote Weingarten on Dec. 20, 2018. \u201cTightening the noose too slowly, risks a very bad situation. \u00a0\u00a0. Gambino was never the commander in chief \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0there was little gambino could do as the walls closed in. not so with this maniac.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That was a possible reference to Gambino crime family kingpin John Gotti, the infamous \u201cTeflon Don\u201d who was sent to prison for life by New York federal prosecutors after decades of escaping justice.<\/p>\n<p>Weingarten replied that Epstein was making \u201cNot a stupid point\u201d and that Trump \u201cis starting to behave very erratically.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/picture-gallery\/news\/nation\/2025\/07\/22\/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-associate-photos\/85328583007\/\" data-t-l=\"\u2691g:l|l|c|view gallery:inline promo\" aria-label=\"View Gallery - Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell: Life among the rich and famous\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/07\/22\/USAT\/85328632007-8529.jpg?crop=3599,2025,x0,y0&#038;width=660&#038;height=372&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/07\/22\/USAT\/85328632007-8529.jpg?crop=3599,2025,x0,y0&#038;width=1320&#038;height=744&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp 2x\" decoding=\"async\" alt width=\"660\" height=\"372\" previous-src=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/07\/22\/USAT\/85328632007-8529.jpg?crop=3599,2025,x0,y0&#038;width=660&#038;height=372&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp\"><svg><use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/#gnt_svg_camera\" \/><\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Epstein\u2019s response?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cborderline insane, and corroberated by some that are close.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Epstein, who\u2019d had a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/11\/12\/trump-epstein-friendship-timeline-key-events\/87232756007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">falling-out with Trump<\/a> more than a decade earlier, was not believed to be close to Trump during his presidency.<\/p>\n<p>Two weeks before Trump\u2019s first-term inauguration in January 2017, Epstein confided to a New York Times reporter that Trump\u2019s unpredictability would be a factor when dealing with nuclear-armed despots like Russia\u2019s Vladimir Putin and North Korea\u2019s Kim Jong Un.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201cDonald is f&#8211;cking crazy,\u201d Epstein wrote Jan. 2, 2017, fully spelling out the curse word. \u201cI told you that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On March 24, 2018, New York Times reporter Landon Thomas Jr., texted Epstein to say Trump \u201cis scaring the sh-t out of me now. He could well tank global economy. \u2026 Maybe it&#8217;s time for you to jump in now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Epstein responded: \u201che feels alone, and is nuts !!! , I told everyone from day one. evil beyond belief mad, and most thought i was speaking metaphorically, its obvious he could crack. stormy daniels. ? lies after lies aflter lies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;i am the one able to take him down&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>In December 2018, the FBI and Justice Department were investigating Epstein on sex trafficking charges after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/topics\/jeffrey-epstein\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\">bombshell revelations in the Miami Herald<\/a> about his sweetheart plea deal a decade earlier. That plea agreement was overseen by the top federal prosecutor in Miami, Alex Acosta, whom Trump had later appointed secretary of labor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will all blow over! They&#8217;re really just trying to take down Trump and doing whatever they can to do that&#8230;!\u201d an unidentified person wrote to Epstein on Dec. 3, 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cyes thx,\u201d Epstein replied. \u201cits wild. because i am the one able to take him down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Epstein was first <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/07\/31\/trump-epstein-spa-workers-stealing-poaching\/85466336007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">charged in 2006 with solicitation of prostitution<\/a> in Florida. In 2008, Acosta and his prosecutors agreed to a controversial plea deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution on sex trafficking charges despite a draft indictment\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/07\/25\/nx-s1-5478620\/jeffrey-epstein-crimes-timeline-legal-case\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\">outlining 60 criminal counts<\/a> against him.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/picture-gallery\/news\/politics\/2025\/10\/29\/trump-epstein-protests-california-dc-united-kingdom\/86969189007\/\" data-t-l=\"\u2691g:l|l|c|view gallery:inline promo\" aria-label=\"View Gallery - American, British protesters tie Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/10\/29\/USAT\/86968942007-20250902-t-172103-z-836391847-rc-2-sjga-0-eyrk-rtrmadp-3-usatrumpepstein.JPG?crop=2969,1670,x0,y154&#038;width=660&#038;height=372&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/10\/29\/USAT\/86968942007-20250902-t-172103-z-836391847-rc-2-sjga-0-eyrk-rtrmadp-3-usatrumpepstein.JPG?crop=2969,1670,x0,y154&#038;width=1320&#038;height=744&#038;format=pjpg&#038;auto=webp 2x\" decoding=\"async\" alt width=\"660\" height=\"372\"><svg><use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/#gnt_svg_camera\" \/><\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On July 6, 2019, seven months after claiming he was the one who could take down Trump, Epstein was <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/bb41822a39a147ccb03501acf049b58c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\">arrested on federal sex trafficking charges<\/a>\u00a0after his private plane touched down in New Jersey.<\/p>\n<p>Federal prosecutors in New York had concluded they weren\u2019t bound by the terms of his earlier non-prosecution deal. Six days later, amid public outrage over the Epstein plea deal, Acosta resigned as labor secretary.<\/p>\n<p>A month after that, on Aug. 10, guards found <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/a947e0d85d31496eb5bd9ff4994c9718\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\">Epstein dead in his cell<\/a>\u00a0at a federal jail in New York City where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Investigators concluded he killed himself.<\/p>\n<p>Trump, who was in office when Epstein was arrested, said during his 2024 presidential campaign that he\u2019d open the government\u2019s Epstein files. He is now seeking to prevent their release.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2013 \u201cDirty.\u201d \u201cF&#8211;king crazy.\u201d \u201cBorderline insane.\u201d A Mafia don but with the \u201cgreat dangerous power\u201d of being America\u2019s president and commander in chief. In the years before his death in what was ruled a suicide, that&#8217;s how Jeffrey Epstein described his longtime friend and former confidant Donald Trump, according to a trove of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}