Blurred lines

Chronicler of the powerful who got close to his subjects

- Ed Pilkington

In 2003 David Carr, the New York Times’s late media columnist, disclosed a $50m bid to buy New York magazine that had been orchestrated by the writer and journalist Michael Wolff.

Among the big hitters whom Wolff had helped assemble for the deal was the billionaire media tycoon Mort Zuckerman, the not-yet-convicted sex offender and Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, and the not-yet-convicted sex trafficker and financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The deal never came off. But it was illuminating for what it revealed about Wolff’s own journalistic ambitions. Wolff told Carr he hoped the sale would go ahead because it would give New York magazine, through its new owners, “incredible, undreamed-of access to the kinds of circles that it should be a part of”.

Such a blurring of the lines between journalism and its subject matter - the aim being to be “part of” rich and powerful circles, not just report on them - was classic Michael Wolff. This week the world got a glimpse of just how far the bestselling author has been prepared to go in blurring those lines in pursuit of access.

Among the documents released by congressional Democrats from Epstein’s estate on Wednesday were email exchanges between Wolff and the disgraced financier.

One of the email threads, dating from 15 December 2015, bore the subject line: “Heads up”. In it Wolff warned Epstein that later that day, at a televised debate for the Republican presidential primary, Donald Trump was likely to be quizzed about his years-long social relationship with the financier. By then, Epstein had pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting prostitution with a minor.

Epstein responded to Wolff’s alert by asking for personal advice. “If we were able to craft an answer for him [Trump], what do you think it should be?” he wrote.