CORRECTION to the Wolff citation. While Epstein is mentioned in “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” (page 28/location 533 [Kindle]), the incident involving the purchase of the Abe Gosman mansion by Trump for $41MM and subsequent resale to a Russian oligarch for $95 MM, while Epstein was allegedly finalizing the sale for $36 MM, is contained in the SECOND book: “Siege: Trump under Fire”, also by Michael Wolff. That said, I do recall seeing this bits and pieces of this info about year ago, attributed to Michael Wolff, and will try to find the original reference if I can. My apologies for being so careless. Shout-out to Joan Reports for keeping me honest.
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I was reading Annieli’s story on the Epstein — Deutsche Bank financial connection, posted here:
Jeffrey Epstein’s bank of choice for funding Sex Trafficking …
I was posting in the comments about other investigations in London and elsewhere outside US jurisdiction. In order to support my comment I was searching for the story links I’d read a couple of weeks ago, when I found a new story that knocked me back on my heels. It was because what I was reading, I’d read over a year ago.
What’d I see? The Daily Mail had done a deep dive back into Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House”, and re-interviewed him about Epstein. Wolff pointed out something he’d written about those two, in that book, that not only explains why they fell out, but what the disagreement led to.Wolff’s book was published in January of 2018.
REMEMBER THIS, it’s very important.
HERE’s the little tidbit that explains how and why Epstein and Trump fell out with one another — it’s ironic as all HELL.
- Basically, Trump screwed Epstein over on a deal, then ratted him out to the cops re: his sexual ‘proclivities’, which resulted in the case where Acosta gave him the sweetheart deal to make it go away. Trump apparently did ratted on Epstein, because Epstein was threatening to expose Trump’s financial fraud and possible money laundering.
- The property in question is the one that Trump sold to a Russian for $95MM, after he paid $41MM, snatching the property out from under Epstein, who’d been the high bid $36 MM and was in the process of finalizing the sale.
- Epstein shared the fact of the sale with Trump. Trump went behind his back and arranged with Deutsche bank to get 100% financing @ 5 MM more than Epstein’s bid.
- Epstein knew Trump was probably fronting for someone and threatened to expose him for fraud and possible money-laundering — BIG MISTAKE for Epstein, good thing for the young girls he was preying on.
- Epstein knew Trump didn’t have the money to pay for anything, but for SOME reason, Deutsche Bank advanced him the money and Epstein may know why.
And WHY is that? What was it and how does it intersect with the Epstein sex-trafficking case and the new financial investigation involving Deutsche Bank?
More details and links below the fold.
Here's what's astounding about this story: It's recounted in "Siege: Trump Under Fire", the new book by Michael Wolff. I have read that book (published last month) as well as the earlier book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House”, and I had forgotten this story (which did not seem so closely related to the rest of the mess). Then I read the story in the Daily Mail tonight, which sent me back to Wolff’s book ... damn, it was right there, all along. Per DM:
'Soon after negotiating the deal for the house in Palm Beach, Epstein took Trump to see it, looking for advice on construction issues involved with moving the swimming pool,' writes Wolff.
'But as he prepared to finalize his purchase for the house, Epstein discovered that Trump, who was severely cash-constrained at the time, had bid $41 million for the property and bought it out from under Epstein through an entity called Trump Properties LLC, entirely financed by Deutsche Bank.
I’m skirting the limits of fair use, so I won’t quote anything else here, except to re-iterate what Trump has been saying about his acquaintence with Epstein, recently. This is quite a different tune than the one he was singing in 2002 [this quoted is taken from “Raw Story”, which may or may not be a credible source; however, this quote from Tim O’Brien, author of TrumpNation ...” is reported and paraphrased all over the Netz].
Trump, ever the unrepentant, inveterate liar, has currently been insisting he wasn't friends with Epstein after he was arrested for sex trafficking again, recently. Trump on Epstein now:
I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Beach. I had a falling out with him a long time ago,” Trump told reporters. “I don’t think I’ve spoken to him for 15 years. I wasn’t a fan. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you. I was not a fan of his.
This is not inconsistent with Trump claiming that their falling out happened after Epstein sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl at Mar-a-Lago, alleged to be the daughter of a member, and (I am going to speculate wildly, here) it is not outside the realm of possibility that the person Trump was fronting for could have been this girl’s father. Epstein routinely recruited victims from Mar-a-Lago, according to girls who have accused him.
Whoever it was, was powerful enough to get Trump to back off Epstein, and mess him up. And we KNOW Trump does nothing for anyone else, voluntarily …
The bottom line:
- Epstein was so mad at Trump’s betrayal that he threatened to expose him to the press and the law.
- Since Trump screwed him over and exposed Epstein’s predilection for molesting and raping underage girls and his trafficking these same underage girls to rich/politically connected/important people around the world (in other words, Trump apparently KNEW enough to get a case initiated) according to the Daily Mail and Wolff, Epstein has a VERY GOOD REASON for singing like a Canary to tell everything he knows about Trump
- This theory establishes a DAMN good reason for Barr’s sudden interest in the case, that caused him to unrecuse. I’m going to keep digging into this; stay tuned.
The comment thread I was on in Annieli’s diary:
Diary link: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/7/23/1873890/-Jeffrey-Epstein-s-bank-of-choice-for-funding-sex-trafficking
Comment Thread: https://www.dailykos.com/comments/1873890/74498131#comment_74498131
« Updated to correct some language errors »
