What specific emails between Noam Chomsky and Jeffrey Epstein were released by the House committee, and what do they say?
Executive summary
The House Oversight Committee’s November 2025 document release included an intermittent string of emails and an undated letter attributed to Noam Chomsky that show contact with Jeffrey Epstein from roughly 2015–2017 and a handful of dated messages and notes that sketch a relationship spanning politics, vacations and introductions to third parties [1] [2] [3]. The corpus includes a chummy birthday note from Chomsky’s wife, an apparent letter of support praising Epstein’s connections and intellectual exchanges, brief topical notes about Trump and travel, and references in other Epstein messages to phone calls involving Chomsky and foreign figures [4] [5] [1] [6].
1. The documents released: scope and provenance
The materials at issue were part of a roughly 20,000–23,000 page tranche of records the House Oversight Committee disclosed in November 2025, a mixed set of emails, texts, photos and assorted documents from Epstein’s estate that Republican and Democratic committee members released in overlapping batches [2] [3]. Among those pages were intermittent email exchanges between Epstein and Chomsky dated in reporting to the period around 2015–2017, plus an undated “letter of support” that many outlets reproduced as apparently authored by Chomsky [1] [5].
2. What the apparent letter of support says
The undated letter attributed to Chomsky addresses “to whom it may concern” and is effusive in tone: it says Chomsky met Epstein “half a dozen years” earlier, describes “regular contact” and praises Epstein as a “highly valued friend and regular source of intellectual exchange and stimulation,” crediting him with teaching Chomsky “about the intricacies of the global financial system” and arranging high‑level introductions — for example, calling a Norwegian diplomat during a discussion about the Oslo accords and arranging a meeting with former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, according to multiple reports that reproduced the text [4] [5] [7] [2].
3. Dated emails and short exchanges: politics, travel and birthday notes
The released emails show short, informal exchanges: Valeria Wasserman Chomsky sent Epstein an email in January 2017 apologizing for missing his birthday and writing “Noam and I hope to see you again soon and have a toast for your birthday,” a message highlighted in several outlets [8] [4] [5]. Other messages in the record include a June 25, 2016 note about Caribbean travel [1], an August 2015 quip from Epstein warning Chomsky only to fly to Greece if he felt well and joking about sending a plane for a “lefty friend” [9], and a Boxing Day exchange in which Chomsky commented about President Trump’s public statements and their consequences [1]. The chain is characterized in reporting as intermittent rather than continuous correspondence [1].
4. Mentions and cross‑references in Epstein’s broader files
Chomsky also appears in other Epstein messages: an Epstein email in September 2018 claims Epstein spoke with Chomsky alongside Brazilian politician Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Epstein‑side texts discussed phone calls involving Chomsky and foreign leaders, as reported from the same release [3] [10] [6]. In addition, the documents surfaced in wider journalism that links Chomsky to occasional offers of Epstein residences and third‑party introductions contained elsewhere in the files [5] [4].
5. Responses, context and limits of what the documents prove
Chomsky’s public responses and prior reporting provide context: he previously told The Wall Street Journal that his meetings with Epstein were “none of your business” and that, at the time, Epstein had served his sentence and that yielded “a clean slate” under U.S. norms [11], and other statements have called the association “a major error of judgement” [9]. Reporting also notes Chomsky acknowledged receiving funds linked to an account associated with Epstein while settling marital assets but insisted “not one penny” came directly from Epstein — a point cited in coverage though details and provenance of funds remain contested in public reporting [12] [11]. Importantly, independent authentication questions and provenance caveats about the undated letter and how the documents were compiled are matters reporters note; the committee released the material but outlets differ in how they describe authorship, dating and the broader significance of casual versus substantive ties [5] [2]. The released emails, as reported, show intermittent social and intellectual contact and an apparently effusive undated recommendation attributed to Chomsky, but they do not, in the documents cited here, alter the established criminal record of Epstein nor supply evidence of wrongdoing by Chomsky beyond the nature of the correspondence as described in these sources [5] [2].