Mega Edition: How Jeffrey Epstein Tried To Slide His Tentacles Into The 2016 Trump Campaign (8/20/25)

Jeffrey Epstein was a man who got around New York city and it didn't matter what political party you belonged to. All that mattered to him was that you were willing to play ball. Unfortunately for the rest of us, there were plenty of people who were willing to sell their soul to increase their power or status, even if that meant ignoring what and who Jeffrey Epstein was. Afterall, the only sin in that world is the sin of being poor.

In this episode we dive into the new article from The Wall Street journal about two of the top bundlers for the Trump campaign in 2016 and their connection to Jeffrey Epstein.




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How Jeffrey Epstein Tried to Tap Into Trump’s Circle - WSJ

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up everyone, and welcome back to the Epstein Chronicles.
There's a new piece out in the Wall Street Journal
that's talking about Donald Trump's twenty sixteen campaign and how
some of his biggest financial backers were tied to Jeffrey Epstein.
Not only tied to Epstein, but Epstein was inviting them

(00:21):
out to meetings with a Russian diplomat. And once again,
this is just an example of why people shouldn't try
and use this topic as a political cudgel. None of
these people care about you. None of these people cared
that Jeffrey Epstein was a sexual predator. Not Donald Trump,
not Peter Thiel, not Bill Clinton, none of them. So

(00:42):
I have no idea why it would shock people to
find out that big time money bundlers that were backing
the Trump campaign were also in bed with Jeffrey Epstein.
This is how it works, and neither side of the
political aisle is insulated from being corrupt. Today's art is
from the Wall Street Journal and the authors are Khadija

(01:04):
Safdar and David Benoit. Now this is a monstrous article,
so we're gonna chop it up into a couple of pieces.
During the twenty sixteen presidential campaign, Jeffrey Epstein began setting
up meetings with people close to Donald Trump. He introduced
some of them to another of his associates, a top

(01:26):
Russian diplomat. Epstein was a big fan of Russia. He
had a lot of girls coming over from Eastern Europe
and certainly was somebody who traveled over to Russia quite
a bit. Although Trump was a sizeable underdog to Hillary Clinton,
Epstein began saying in twenty sixteen that he thought Trump
could win, and the convicted sex offender bragged about how

(01:50):
many people in Trump's orbit that he knew. According to
people that he met with at the time, Epstein scheduled
lunches with venture capitalist Peter Thiel and real estate investor
Thomas Barrock in twenty sixteen, according to documents reviewed by
The Wall Street Journal. At the time, both were high
profile financial backers of Trump's campaign. So I have the

(02:13):
same question for these clowns that I had for Kathlyn
Ruemler and the rest of them. Why are you hanging
out with a convicted sex offender? Why are you taking
meetings with him? Why are you taking lunches with them?
And why are you talking with them about who might
be the next president. How many more examples do you,
folks need that the financial sector is at the center

(02:34):
of all of our problems. Epstein invited Teal and Barack
to separate meetings with Vitally Cherkin, Russia's ambassador to the
United Nations. Cherkin, who died in an apparent heart attack
in early twenty seventeen, had at least eight meetings scheduled
with Epstein between twenty fifteen and Cherkin's death. The document

(02:56):
show Epstein had his fingers in many pies, folks. People
who don't think he was busy over in Eastern Europe
haven't been paying attention. We all know he liked vulnerable women,
women from war torn nations, women from broken homes, and
women that are suffering from poverty. These were his favorite
targets and the grounds that he liked to hunt on.

(03:18):
And how do we know that, Well, he's told us himself.
The documents, which include thousands of pages of emails and
schedules from twenty thirteen to twenty seventeen, don't make reference
to any meetings or conversations between Trump and Epstein. The
documents also make no mention of any scheduled meetings with
Hillary Clinton or her husband Bill Clinton. Epstein had a

(03:42):
history of using relationships like stepping stones to get closer
to powerful people and to try to restore his reputation
in the years after he became a convicted sex offender
in two thousand and eight. He had been friendly with
both Trump and Bill Clinton in the nineteen ninety and
early two thousands. Now, look, that's all you really need

(04:04):
to know to know how screwed up our whole entire
system is. And I know there's people out there that'll
try and talk about how well Donald Trump ended his
relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and throw him out of moral ago. Yeah, well,
what about up till that point. I know it's uncomfortable
for people that are in their bunker. But the question remains,

(04:25):
what did Trump know and when did he know it?
And not for nothing? But Donald Trump was the president
for four years, right, he could have declassified anything he
wanted about Jeffrey Epstein. But did we see any of
that occur? No, he did not, So please miss me
with the whole Donald Trump is the savior of women
who have been human trafficked because that gaslighting BS certainly

(04:47):
doesn't work with me. I'm under no allusions to who
these politicians are Trump or otherwise. The documents don't specify
Epstein's purpose in scheduling meetings with Trump's associates or the
Russian ambassador. Even some of the people who met with
him in twenty sixteen said they don't know why he
arranged the meetings when he did. Epstein died in twenty

(05:10):
nineteen in jail awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges,
and who the hell knows why Epstein was setting up
these meetings. However, I think it's a safe bet that
whatever the purpose was, it was going to benefit Jeffrey Epstein. THEIL,
who had several interactions with Epstein starting in twenty fourteen

(05:30):
according to documents, said his October twenty sixteen meeting with
Epstein and Cherkin featured nothing memorable. But this dude's going
to go and hang out with a convicted sex offender
and just act like everything's cool. Sorry, Peter Thiel, it's
not cool. I was rather naive, THEOL said in an interview,
and I didn't think enough about what Epstein's agenda might

(05:53):
have been. Nothing about how he molested girls, nothing about
how he was a human trafficker. But I didn't know
what his agenda might have been. In other words, for
the layman out there, I didn't know that it was
gonna cause me a headache. And that's all they care about. Remember,
all of these people, they just come out with these
kandas statements after the fact because they're in the public

(06:15):
eye now and people are all over them. But if
they really cared, they wouldn't have hung out with Epstein
in the first place, especially after he was a convicted
sexual predator. Barack, founder of Colony Capital and longtime Trump
ally declined to comment. Of course he did. Coward Trump
ass punk. None of these people were Trump campaign officials,

(06:36):
and in fact President Trump banded Epstein from mar A Lago,
A Trump spokesman said in a statement. Yeah, that was
after years of them palin around. Look, I'm not saying
that Donald Trump was out here diddling girls with Jeffrey Epstein,
but to try and sugarcoat their relationship does a disservice
to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein. And we're not gonna

(06:56):
do that shit here. I'll leave that to other people.
If folks want to play politics with this issue, that's
their business. But the fact of the matter is this,
both sides of the aisle, and all of these scumbags
who everybody so called looks up to, well, none of
them care about you, and they're all laughing at you
on a regular basis. What you don't think They're sipping

(07:17):
their eight hundred million dollar wine with their pinky in
the air, laughing at the rest of us. Oh, they
most certainly are folks. They most certainly are. Epstein's scheduled
meetings with Cherkin haven't previously been reported. The Journal couldn't
verify whether every meeting on Epstein's calendar took place. Robert

(07:38):
Mueller's two year Special Council investigation and bipartisan Senate investigation
found that Russia attempted to meddle in the election to
benefit Trump, but neither established that anyone affiliated with Trump's
campaign knowingly conspired with those efforts. Well, I didn't see
any evidence to prove that Trump was knowingly conspiring. Now,

(08:00):
I know that there was a big push for that
to happen, but we have to deal with reality. And
Robert Mueller, after many, many months and a lot of
money spent, couldn't put the pieces together. And I told
all of you back then that if you wanted to
go after Trump, the best way to do it would
be to go after his financials. Like every other rich

(08:22):
person on this planet. Dude's been cutting corners and shitting
on the rest of us his whole life. But the
whole entire Russia thing I never bought from the beginning.
And you know why, because big accusations require big evidence,
and if Robert Mueller didn't find that evidence and didn't
present it, then where is it. So I always thought

(08:42):
that that was a fool's errand to try and go
after Trump over that. Cherkin isn't mentioned in the Mueller
or Senate reports. Russia has denied it interfered in the election.
Spokesman for Russia's embassy in Washington and its UN mission
didn't respond to requests for comment. Well, they're busy, probably,
you know, dropping bombs on people and engaging in genocide.

(09:04):
They don't have time to talk to the Wall Street Journal.
Epstein and Trump spent time together in the nineteen nineties
and were photographed at social events. Both men have said
they subsequently had a falling out that happened before Epstein
pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in two
thousand and eight, served time in a Florida jail and

(09:27):
registered as a sex offender. If you want to call
it spending time in jail, I guess. When Epstein was
arrested in twenty nineteen, Trump said he hadn't talked to
Epstein for about fifteen years. I was not a fan
of his. I can tell you that, Trump said at
the time. And look, I'm not saying that Trump was
involved with Jeffrey Epstein. I'm not saying that he was

(09:49):
on the island. I'm not saying that he was there
molesting girls. We haven't heard that from none of these survivors.
My point is, politics in general is corrupt as hell,
and none of these people that were fighting about on
a regular basis are worthy of us fighting over them.
They're all criminals, they're all crooks, and none of them
care about us. Epstein bragged many people that he had

(10:14):
ties to Trump and Bill Clinton and knew both of
them well. Both Trump and Clinton took trips on Epstein's
private jet. Flight record show contacts for both men were
in the now public address book Epstein used. So there's
no doubt that this whole entire circle was connected. And
this whole circle was small. Remember there was a time

(10:36):
when Donald Trump was friends with the Clintons. So all
of these so called elites in New York were rubbing
shoulders together for a long ass time. And not only that,
but they got so close. At least Clinton and Epstein
did that. Epstein gave Bill Clinton the seed money to
get the Clinton Global Initiative off the ground. And if

(10:57):
you don't believe me, just ask Jeffreyetstein's lawyers. They'll tell you.
In August twenty sixteen, when Trump was considered a long shot,
Epstein scheduled a lunch with Barock, then an informal adviser
to Trump's campaign and the fundraiser. Barack would later be
named the head of the inauguration committee. Barrock was acquitted

(11:19):
in a twenty twenty two trial after federal prosecutors charged
them with lobbying Trump on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.
Epstein had known Barrock for years, and Barock's name was
also in his book of contacts. Barrock's name doesn't show
up until the summer of twenty sixteen, and the documents
and schedules reviewed by the Journal that's when Epstein planned

(11:43):
the lunch that included Barack, Chirkin and at whot Barock,
the former Prime Minister of Israel. The documents show nothing
to see here, folks, just a group of guys getting
together to go play pickleball. Barack appears twice in Epstein's
schedules for that September, including for an open house plan
for a large group at Epstein's New York townhouse on

(12:05):
a Sunday afternoon. Also on the guest list was Cherkin, Barock,
and filmmaker Woody Allen, or as we like to call
them here on the podcast Fellow Travelers. Barrock didn't respond
to a request for comment. He previously told The Journal
that he often met Epstein on trips to New York
and discussed politics with interesting people at his townhouse. A

(12:26):
spokeswoman for Allan previously said he went to Epstein's social
events with his wife. And that's a favorite excuse of
a lot of these clowns. Right, Oh, I was there,
but I was with my wife, as if that means
anything to anybody considering how gross these dudes are anyway,
and honestly, how many of their wives have had to
sign non disclosure agreements. My guess is a lot of them.

(12:48):
That's how degenerate most of these scumbags are. All right, folks,
that's gonna do it for this one. In the next episode,
we're gonna pick up with part two and continue the
discussion of the information that goes with this episode can
be found in the description box. What's up, everyone, and
welcome back to the Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're

(13:11):
gonna pick up where we left off with the Wall
Street Journal article talking about Trump's associates and their meetings
with Jeffrey Epstein. This article was published by The Wall
Street Journal and it was authored by Kadija Saftar and
David Benoit. The Russian diplomat, Cherkin had been Russia's envoy

(13:34):
at the UN since two thousand and six. He was
a top government spokesman, first for the Soviet Union and
then Russia, a diplomat sent the negotiate peace accords in
the Bosnian War, and the staunch defender of President Vladimir
Putin at the UN for years. During the twenty sixteen campaign,
Cherkin told reporters that he had met twice with Trump,

(13:56):
the first time in eighty six and that he really impressed.
Epstein cultivated contacts at the UN and often hosted businessmen
and foreign officials at his townhouse. We've talked about this
at length. He was a favored son, if you will,
of the UN. He had ties to all sorts of officials,

(14:18):
had all sorts of meetings with officials from the UN,
and also donated to the UN. In one two thousand
and nine email, Epstein cited a meeting with one of
Putin's people. Most of the people who spoke to the
journal said they met with Epstein for reasons related to
his wealth or connections. His first scheduled meeting with Jerkin

(14:41):
shows that he was introduced to Epstein as a friend
of Terry rod Larsen, a Norwegian diplomat who was a
frequent guest at Epstein's townhouse. The document show Rod Larsen
didn't respond to requests for comment. And it's not like
Terry rod Larson is not some kind of big diplomat
with the UN. When this dude was a mover and

(15:02):
a shaker, a guy that could get things done, and
certainly a guy that Epstein would love to have in
his pocket. And guess what, that's exactly where he had him.
In September of twenty sixteen, the document show Epstein was
scheduled to meet with another old Trump acquaintance, Nicholas Rebis Senior.
Reebis had been CEO of Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts

(15:24):
in the nineties. He then later worked with Brock's Colony Capital.
In early twenty sixteen, he was named as one of
the backers of a political action committee supporting the Trump campaign.
Epstein and Ribbys were a scheduled to meet several times
from twenty eleven to twenty and seventeen. The document show

(15:45):
Reebis had only a passing connection and had no business
relationship with Epstein. A former spokesman for Ribbis said Silicon
Valley ties. In July twenty sixteen, feel the Silicon Valley
investor and pay Pal co founder, spoke at the Republican
National Convention that nominated Trump. That October, Epstein invited him

(16:07):
to lunch with Cherkin. Epstein's assistant labeled it an important lunch. Oh,
I'm sure it was. Got to get those hooks sunk
in right. Gotta make sure that Jeffrey Epstein has the
right people to manipulate so he can get off the
sex offender's list like he did down in the USVII.
Feel had more than half a dozen meeting schedule with
Epstein at his townhouse between twenty fourteen and twenty sixteen,

(16:32):
including with other guests such as Alan and former Obama
White House counsel Katherine Rumler. The document show, Rumler has
said she had a professional relationship with Epstein and regrets it.
Oh yeah, I'm sure it was all professional. I'm sure
that miss Ruemler wasn't benefiting at all personally from a
relationship with Epstein. Meanwhile, this dude is a convicted sex offender.

(16:56):
Keep that in mind. This wasn't happening years before he
was invicted. This piece of human trash was already convicted
of soliciting a minor, which we all know is bullshit.
And if you think guys like Peter Thiel and the
rest of these so called smartest men in the room
had no idea, then I don't know what to tell you.
For years, several Epstein acquaintances had emailed Theal suggesting that

(17:20):
he meet Epstein document show. In March twenty fourteen, fellow
billionaire and venture capitalist Ried Hoffman, a major donor to Democrats,
emailed Theel to introduce Epstein and a range a meeting
at Theel San Francisco home. It is all WWE style wrestling,
all these dudes that are out here talking about how

(17:40):
they hate each other, how this sidees evil, that sides evil. Meanwhile,
when the lights go down, they're all breaking bread together
and talking about how we're all stupid as fuck for
falling for their bullshit. Meet one of the guys who
invented derivatives, Jeffrey Epstein, Hoffman wrote, echoing an inaccurate claim

(18:01):
Epstein sometimes made. Hoffman wrote that Epstein was mostly fun,
very interesting guy. You may find them perverse, but very
smart on biology, computation, and macro economics. Literally none of
those things. The dude was an idiot, somebody who was
a faker, and somebody who just had all of these

(18:22):
people fooled because they wanted some of his money. Let's
just call it what it is. These people are willing
to sell their souls for a few bucks, all of them,
every last one of these political operatives, every last one
of these people running around with Epstein. They can all
go get fucked. Hoffman said he regrets all his interactions
with Epstein and that he made the introduction to help

(18:45):
fundraise for MIT. Epstein indicated he would be more likely
to donate to MIT in collaboration with other tech leaders.
He said in an email in the intro, I use
the claims that Epstein asked me to do, including how
he characterized himself. I trusted MIT's vetting and did not
do my own. That's his excuse, That's what he wants

(19:08):
you to believe. Mister Reid Hoffman, mega donor and backer
of the Democratic Party, he had no idea, folks, no
clue that Epstein was such a scumbag. And he's real,
real Sorry. No he's not. He's not sorry, just like
Peter Thiel's not sorry, just like none of these people
are sorry. The only thing that they're sorry about is

(19:29):
that they got called out. MIT said it was a
mistake to accept gifts from Epstein and that it was
the result of collective and significant errors in judgment. When
asked recently about the emails and other documents, Thel said
he had ignored earlier messages proposing meetings with Epstein, but
agreed to meet with Epstein and Hoffman in twenty fourteen.

(19:52):
Hoffman and thel had known each other since they were
students at Stanford University. Deil said he doesn't rememt ever
coming up in interactions with Epstein and Hoffmann, and that
it is a preposterous notion that he would help fundraise
for a university, given that he created a fellowship in
twenty ten that pays students to skip or drop out

(20:15):
of college. While I'm not saying that he signed on,
the fact that he was taking these meetings is a
problem unto itself. Why are you taking meetings with a
known sexual predator? That should be the question of the day.
Deel said Epstein lured him into further interactions, mostly by
offering introductions to other people. He was a crazed networker

(20:38):
and law on substance. In one on one conversations, he said,
it was all smoking mirrors. There is no doubt it
was all smoking mirrors. That's exactly what it was. Epstein
was out here pulling the old hokey doke on everybody,
and all these idiots they all bought it. You know
why they bought it because they wanted to in circle.

(21:01):
Epstein met with and donated to Democrats more often than Republicans,
according to the documents and campaign donation records. The Journal
has reported that his schedules include meeting several people who
had served in the Clinton and Obama administrations. In his townhouse,
Epstein hung a painting that depicted Bill Clinton wearing a

(21:23):
blue dress and red heels. They're all corrupt. Okay, this
is what I'm talking about. For those of you out
there who still think that either side is going to
save us from people like Epstein. I hate to be
the bearer of bad news, the harbinger of doom, but
they're not. Nobody's coming to save us, folks. That's the
God's honest truth. We're gonna have to do it ourselves,

(21:46):
and until we quit fighting amongst each other, that is
not gonna happen. In twenty nineteen, a spokesman for Bill
Clinton said the former president had cut off ties more
than a decade before and didn't know about Epstein's life crimes.
The spokesman said then that Bill Clinton took four flights
on Epstein's plane and once visited the townhouse, each time

(22:08):
with his secret service team and for reasons related to
the Clinton Foundation's work. The spokesman declined to comment for
this article. Yeah, well, somebody needs to make him respond.
Bill Clinton has done nothing but lie about his relationship
with Jeffrey Epstein from the very beginning, and nobody's had
the courage to call this guy out. Meanwhile, he's out

(22:30):
here being hugged and kissed and cherished and put up
on a pedestal by the political demagogues that are running
around yelling into the wind. It's all absurd. Then those
same people have the audacity to get up there and
tell you they care about women's rights. They're all about
me too. Well, guess what. None of them were around

(22:51):
during the Maxwell trial. Where were you all? I didn't
see any pink hats. I didn't see anybody out there
marching and protesting. I wonder why. Public record show Epstein
donated to Hillary Clinton's two thousand campaign for the Senate,
and tax records indicate he donated twenty five thousand dollars
in two thousand and six to what is now the

(23:13):
Clinton Family's Global Philanthropic Foundation. A spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton
declined to comment. After his conviction, Epstein maintained connections with
some former members of Bill Clinton's cabinet, including Lauren Summers,
who served as Treasury secretary, and Bill Richardson. Who served
as Energy secretary, while Bill Richardson is also credibly accused

(23:36):
of taking part in the abuse. Anybody care about that?
Anybody kicking down any doors and setting up commissions over that? Now?
Why should they? Instead, they're going to bring him on
board to help with negotiations for Britney Griner. What a
fantastic world. He also met with Clinton alumni leaving the
Obama administration, including Roumler and the current head of the

(23:58):
Central Intelligence Age and see William Burns. Can somebody please
explain to me what junior soprano aka Joe Biden is doing.
Why do we have William Burns as the head of
the CIA when he has these ties to Ebstein? Does
he not care? Does Joe Biden not care about the survivors?
Isn't that the commentary that people like to make. Well,

(24:20):
isn't the same to be said about a man who
appoints this guy as the head of the CIA? I mean,
I guess if you're in your bunker and you're playing
your game of politics, everything's a okay. But for the
rest of us who are demanding accountability and who are
demanding justice, nothing about it's okay. And the fact that
the legacy media isn't going crazy about the fact that

(24:42):
the head of the CIA was one of Epstein's puppets
tells you all you need to know about the legacy media.
Still to this day, they play games when it comes
to Jeffrey Epstein. Summers has said he regrets being in
contact with Epstein after his conviction. A spokeswoman for this
CIA said Burns, who was then in the state Department,

(25:03):
didn't know anything about Epstein other than he was billed
as a financial expert. The head of the CIA had
no idea who Jeffrey Epstein was. Imagine that shit. That's
what the spokesman of the CIA has to say. It
is amazing to be that they get away with it.
Nobody prods deeper, Nobody asks for them to expound on that.
Oh why should they. By the way, y'all hear about

(25:26):
alex Acosta. Epstein planned a dinner with Richardson, who had
endorsed Hillary Clinton, at his townhouse in September twenty sixteen,
the document show. The former New Mexico governor said he
didn't meet with Epstein in twenty sixteen and that he
doesn't know why his name appears in the schedule. He
said he gave to charity a two thousand and six

(25:47):
donation that Epstein made to his gubernatorial campaign. Why didn't
anybody ask him about Virginia and the allegations that she
has made against them? Why are these outlets so scared
to ask that question the sixteen election. Early on November ninth,
twenty sixteen, Trump was declared the election's winner. Epstein told

(26:07):
associates he was pleased with Trump's win, boasting that he
knew several potential cabinet members. No matter who won, Epstein
was the winner, right. He knew all these people from
the financial sector that make up the cabinet of every
single president. How many times have I told you, folks,
every president that shows up shows up with a whole

(26:28):
ass host of people from the financial sector. So everybody
who's out here talking about the wef, talking about Bigfoot,
talking about all sorts of wild demons, I got news
for you, folks. You want evil, go take a look
at the financial sector. In the weeks that followed, Epstein
planned more meetings with Churkin and with Churkin's son, Max Cherkin,

(26:51):
than a business school student in New York. Max Cherkin
later went on to work at one of Russia's largest banks,
Sure Bank. According to his LinkedIn profile, Max Cherkin and
officials at Spurbank didn't respond to requests for comment. In
January twenty seventeen, Epstein's assistant forwarded Epstein a message from

(27:13):
Max Cherkin that read would like to ask you to
let Jeffrey know that I'm back in NYC. And at
his disposal, they were scheduled to meet two days later.
Epstein had his final schedule meeting with Vitally Cherkin on
January tenth, twenty seventeen. The following month, the diplomat died
on the eve of his sixty fifth birthday. The New

(27:35):
York City Fire Department set it responded to a report
of a cardiac condition, but later autopsy results were kept
private because of his diplomatic status. Trump, by then was president,
issued a White House statement saying you was saddened by
the news and praising Cherkin as an accomplished diplomat. Three
days after Cherkins's death, Epstein sent an email to Thiel,

(27:58):
as you read my Russian ambassador for and died. Life
is short, start with dessert, so I hope that this
pulls the curtain back a little bit more and shows
you that it doesn't matter what letter is next to
somebody's name. All of these people in the financial sector,
no matter who they're working with or for when it
comes to this level of power, are corrupt. They're dealing

(28:20):
with all kinds of degenerate people on the world stage,
they're dealing with all kinds of strong men, and they
themselves are funding all sorts of bullshit. Meanwhile, at the
same time, these same people are ruining everybody's lives by
putting people into financial slavery. So when you hear me
going on and on and on about the financial sector,

(28:40):
this is the reason why they all knew. They're all corrupt.
And for people like this, it is always profits over people,
all right, folks, that's gonna do it for this one.
All of the information that goes with this episode can
be found in the description box.