The release of 20,000 documents relating to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has led to renewed speculation over the links between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
As Congress prepares to vote on the release of another tranche of Epstein files, experts say the documents indicate Russia may have obtained material to use to blackmail the US President.
The release by the US House of Representatives Oversight Committee last week included implications that the late financier sought to advise Russian politicians on how to understand Trump.
One email from June 2018, a month before the US President met Putin at a summit in Helsinki, indicated that Epstein had spoken about Trump with Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, before the latter’s death in 2017.
“[Churkin] understood Trump after our conversations,” said the email from Epstein, sent to former Norwegian prime minister Thorbjorn Jagland.
