Newly Released DOJ Files Reveal Noam Chomsky Advised Jeffrey Epstein on Evading Media Scrutiny
Renowned linguist and political dissident Noam Chomsky counseled convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on how to navigate negative press coverage just months before Epstein’s 2019 arrest on sex trafficking charges. According to a newly released cache of Department of Justice documents, Chomsky corresponded with the financier regarding what Epstein termed “putrid” media attention, advising him that the most effective strategy was silence.
In an email exchange from early 2019, Epstein reached out to Chomsky seeking guidance on the intense public criticism he was facing. Chomsky, then 90, sympathized with the financier’s situation, writing, “I’ve watched the horrible way you are being treated in the press and public.” He counseled Epstein to avoid engagement, warning that a response would only fuel further coverage. “What the vultures dearly want is a public response, which then provides a public opening for an onslaught of venomous attacks,” Chomsky wrote. “It’s painful to say, but I think the best way to proceed is to ignore it.”
The correspondence highlights Chomsky’s view of the media climate at the time, which he described to Epstein as a “hysteria that has developed about abuse of women,” suggesting that “even questioning a charge is a crime worse than murder.” This advice was provided approximately 11 years after Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea in Florida for soliciting prostitution from a minor, and shortly before federal prosecutors charged him with operating a sex trafficking ring.
Background and Financial Ties
These revelations deepen the known association between the MIT professor and the disgraced financier. While Chomsky previously characterized their relationship as limited, earlier reports have established that the two met on multiple occasions in 2015 and 2016 to discuss politics and academics. Financial records scrutinized by the Wall Street Journal in 2023 further revealed that Epstein facilitated the transfer of approximately $270,000 to Chomsky. Chomsky has stated this money was a disbursement of his own funds from a joint account following the death of his first wife and that he merely sought Epstein’s technical assistance.
When first questioned about these ties, Chomsky remained defiant, telling interviewers that his private acquaintances were “none of your business” and asserting that “no one knew” the extent of Epstein’s continued criminal activities at the time of their meetings. He has maintained that his interactions were intellectual in nature and separate from Epstein’s crimes.
Objections and Apologies
Despite Chomsky’s initial dismissals, the release of these specific emails has prompted a shift in the family’s public stance. Valeria Chomsky, the linguist’s wife, recently issued a statement characterizing their association with Epstein as a “grave mistake.” She claimed they were deceived by Epstein and were “careless” in not conducting more thorough research into his background, contradicting earlier implications that the relationship was a calculated stance against “cancel culture.” Defenders of Chomsky argue that his advice was standard crisis management—”ignoring the noise”—and note that he was engaging with a figure who, at that time, had already served his sentence and was attempting to rehabilitate his public image within elite circles.
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