Handwritten notes that Jeffrey Epstein wrote on legal pads during his 35-day stay at a Manhattan federal jail in 2019, before his death, show him trying to leverage what he claimed to know about Donald Trump, according to a New York Times investigation published June 16, 2026 and reported by The Independent, the New York Post and The Telegraph. According to the Times, Epstein's lawyers discussed with federal prosecutors whether he could offer information on other cases, and he was particularly preoccupied with what he might have on Trump, then in his first term.
In the notes, Epstein wrote, “Trump is a total con artist – smoke & mirrors,” and “Never had money.” According to The Independent, he also claimed that former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg “knows all,” suggested Trump's “college transcripts” be released, and wrote “Not a stable genius.” These are Epstein's own assertions, not established facts. The Independent reported that the notes did not appear to raise any new allegations against Trump, and the New York Post said Epstein was unable to deliver anything of substance. Outlets describe the notes' provenance differently: The Independent calls them previously unreleased notes obtained by the Times, while The Telegraph says the report was based on Justice Department documents.
The notes also describe harsh jail conditions, including Epstein's claim that guards told his cellmate that “if he beat the s*** out of me, they wouldn't file a report.” The White House said Trump has “been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein.”
The notes surfaced amid the broader fight over the Epstein files, in which the administration has been accused of withholding records most relevant to the Trump-Epstein relationship (see Trump-Epstein Relationship & Files Controversy, A CBS Review Finds the Epstein Release Has Only a Handful of Emails From His Early-2000s Account, From the Years He Was in Touch With Trump).
Correction (October 2, 2026): The entry dated the report June 17; the Times investigation and the first reports on it were published June 16. It quoted “smoke and mirrors” as a separate phrase; the note reads “Trump is a total con artist – smoke & mirrors.” It also called the notes authentic documents; the reporting establishes only that the Times obtained them, and outlets describe their source differently, so that claim was removed.