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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Jeffrey Epstein Tried to Cozy Up to Russian Officials

Jeffrey Epstein Tried to Cozy Up to Russian Officials

February 8, 2026 at 12:12 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

CNN: “It was June 2018 – about a year after Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin had suddenly died. Churkin had been someone Epstein met with regularly in New York, according to new documents released by the Department of Justice, and Epstein had even offered to help Churkin’s son, Maxim, get a job at a wealth management firm in New York.”

“Now Epstein was looking to talk with a different Russian official: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. On June 24, 2018, Epstein emailed Norwegian politician Thorbjørn Jagland, then the secretary general of the Council of Europe, ‘I think you might suggest to putin, that lavrov, can get insight on talking to me. vitaly churkin used (to) but he died. ?!’”

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Filed Under: Foreign Affairs

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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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