Trump’s son-in-law invited Epstein to 2013 observer party, emails show

By Gizem Nisa Demir

ISTANBUL (AA) - US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner invited the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to a high-profile 2013 New York Observer anniversary gala that listed Trump, Harvey Weinstein, and a slate of prominent media and political figures as guests, according to newly published emails.

The emails were released last week by the House Oversight Committee.

The March 2013 correspondence, sent four years after Epstein completed a 13-month jail sentence for child sex crimes, came from the New York Observer, which Kushner owned at the time.

The message, addressed to “Dear Mr. Jeffrey Epstein,” promoted publisher Jared Kushner as “New York’s youngest powerhouse publisher” and described the March 14 event as a celebration of “the cities [sic] best, brightest and most influential in culture, media and finance.”

“Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be by his side to toast you all,” the invitation read. It concluded with an attached formal card stating that “Jared Kushner, Publisher,” and “Joseph Meyer, CEO… cordially invite you to join them at THE NEW YORK OBSERVER.”

- 'I know how dirty donald is': Epstein

The guest list included Donald Trump and her daughter Ivanka Trump; Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, now serving a 16-year sentence for rape; Weinstein’s then-wife Georgina Chapman; former NBC host Matt Lauer; Sen. Cory Booker; Katie Couric; Katie Holmes; Blake Lively; New York Jets owner and former US Ambassador to the UK, Woody Johnson; former NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly; and former Observer editor Ken Kurson, who was pardoned by Trump in 2021.

Several invitees have previously appeared in Epstein’s social orbit or in images linked to his contact networks. It remains unknown whether Epstein ultimately attended the Observer gala.

Additional emails released by House investigators show Epstein referencing Trump directly. “I know how dirty donald is,” he wrote in one message. In another, he claimed he “gave” Trump “my 20-year-old girlfriend in 93.”

After Epstein’s 2019 arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges, Trump told reporters: “I had a falling-out with him a long time ago. I haven’t spoken to him in fifteen years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.”