In the shadowy world of high-stakes politics and public relations, reputation is everything. Now, a bombshell email unearthed from the trove of newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents reveals just how radioactive his name had become—and the desperate, behind-the-scenes attempts to shield a future president from the fallout. The email, sent in the heat of the 2016 presidential primary, shows a direct plea from a PR firm to a major newspaper: “It would be wonderful if you can remove [Trump’s] name.”
The stunning revelation comes from a mountain of court documents finally unsealed as part of the long-running legal battle involving Ghislaine Maxwell and Virginia Giuffre. The email, dated January 4, 2016, was sent by Ronn Torossian, the founder of the high-powered firm 5WPR, to a journalist at the New York Post. At the time, the Post had an online article listing Epstein’s network of powerful associates, and one name on that list was causing a major headache for a client: Donald Trump.
“As you can imagine, he is a client,” Torossian wrote, before making the direct request to have Trump’s name scrubbed from the piece. The email also chided the newspaper for being “overly aggressive” in its coverage of the then-candidate, betraying a clear objective to sanitize Trump’s public image as he was gaining momentum on the political campaign trail.
This email is more than just a glimpse into aggressive public relations; it’s a timestamped piece of evidence showing that long before Epstein’s 2019 arrest and death, his associations were viewed as a critical liability. For a presidential hopeful, being publicly linked to the disgraced financier was a PR nightmare in the making.
The history between Trump and Epstein is complex. The two were known to be friends and were frequently photographed together in the 1990s and early 2000s. In a now-infamous 2002 magazine interview, Trump called Epstein a “terrific guy” and commented that he “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
However, the friendship reportedly soured, and Trump eventually banned Epstein from his exclusive Mar-a-Lago club after Epstein allegedly made a pass at a member’s teenage daughter. It is crucial to note that Trump himself has never been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein’s sex trafficking ring.
But in the court of public opinion, especially during a presidential race, even a past association can be damning. The 2016 email from 5WPR shows a clear-eyed understanding of this danger. The request to the New York Post was an attempt to retroactively erase a connection and scrub the digital record, hoping to disconnect their client from a name that was already synonymous with scandal.
This single email is a microcosm of the revelations trickling out from the thousands of pages of Epstein documents. They are painting a damning picture of a world where wealth and power were used to silence victims and protect reputations. While the focus has been on identifying those involved in Epstein’s crimes, this email reveals another layer: the machinery of influence working tirelessly in the background to manage, spin, and erase inconvenient truths. It’s a stark reminder that in the orbit of figures like Epstein, the cover-up is often a story in itself.
