Michael Wolff's Dangerous Game of Chicken With The First Lady

How Michael Wolff's Four-Book Exposé—Fueled by Jeffrey Epstein's Secret Recordings—Has Infuriated The Third Mrs. Trump

In the annals of American political journalism, few authors have wielded as much destructive power—or attracted as much controversy—as Michael Wolff. His four-book chronicle of the Trump era, spanning from "Fire and Fury" (2018) to "All or Nothing" (2025), reads like a gothic novel of power, paranoia, and personal destruction set against the marble halls of Mar-a-Lago and the West Wing.

But it was Wolff's bombshell revelation in October 2024, just days before the presidential election, that transformed him from provocative chronicler to lightning rod of historical proportions. Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex trafficker who died in federal custody in 2019, had been one of Wolff's primary sources—providing over 100 hours of recorded conversations between 2017 and 2019 that would form the backbone of Wolff's most damning allegations.

"I was Donald's closest friend for ten years," Epstein allegedly told Wolff, referring to the period from approximately 1988 to 200…