President Donald Trump said Saturday night that he is preparing to sue author Michael Wolff, accusing him of conspiring with deceased sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein in an effort to derail his political career.
Trump made the remarks while speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One, just one day after the Department of Justice released its latest batch of Epstein-related files. Asked about the document dump and whether critics would now be satisfied, Trump instead turned his attention squarely on Wolff.
“Well they should be, because it looked like this guy Wolff, who’s a writer, was conspiring with Epstein to do harm to me,” Trump said. He added that while he had not personally reviewed every document, he had been briefed by what he described as “some very important people.” According to Trump, the material does more than clear his name. “Not only does it absolve me, it’s the opposite of what people were hoping — you know, the radical left,” he said.
Trump went on to sharply criticize Wolff, calling him a “third-rate writer” and accusing him of working with Epstein to damage him politically. “Wolff… was conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to hurt me politically or otherwise, and that came through loud and clear,” Trump said. “So we’ll probably sue Wolff on that.”
Moments later, Trump escalated his comments, saying he would “certainly” sue Wolff and was also considering legal action against the Epstein estate. “Maybe” he would pursue that option as well, he added.
“That’s not a friend,” Trump said, referring to Epstein and alleging that Epstein had schemed with Wolff to try to take him down.
The comments follow revelations in the newly released Epstein files, which include a 2018 reference indicating that Epstein asked Ken Starr to help Wolff with indicting a “sitting pres.” That disclosure has drawn renewed attention to Wolff’s past communications with Epstein.
Those documents build on earlier revelations. Last November, a 2016 message from Wolff to Epstein was made public in which Wolff told Epstein he could “help finish” Trump by releasing damaging information on the eve of the presidential election. Additional emails from 2015, released at the same time, showed Wolff discussing how Epstein could use alleged access to Trump as political leverage.
In one email, Wolff wrote to Epstein: “If [Trump] says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house … then that gives you valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him.”
Following the release of those emails last fall, Wolff issued a video response. In that statement, he did not address questions about his apparent ethical conduct or his relationship with Epstein. Instead, Wolff suggested that the disclosures might point toward what he described as a potential “smoking gun” involving Trump and Epstein.
Wolff is best known for his 2018 bestseller Fire and Fury, a book focused on the inner workings of Trump’s first administration. Trump has long criticized the author and dismissed his reporting as inaccurate.
With the latest Epstein files now public, Trump’s comments signal that he intends to go on offense, framing the revelations not as damaging to him, but as evidence of what he claims was a coordinated effort by Epstein and Wolff to sabotage his presidency.
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