Ezra Cohen-Watnick

Ezra Cohen-Watnick is a U.S. intelligence official who served as Senior Director for Intelligence Programs on the National Security Council under President Trump's first term, before being removed by National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster in 2017 amid controversy over his handling of sensitive intelligence material. He subsequently served as National Security Advisor to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and later as acting Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and as acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations.

His name appears in the DOJ-released Epstein files in the context of an FBI interview (document EFTA00259527). Witness Charles Johnson told FBI agents that Cohen-Watnick had been fired from the NSC for leaking classified or sensitive material, that he worked closely with Steve Bannon, and that Arthur Schwartz -- a political operative -- had bragged about receiving information directly from Cohen-Watnick. Cohen-Watnick was also at the center of the 2017 "unmasking" controversy, in which he and fellow NSC staffer Michael Ellis were alleged to have shared intelligence reports with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes to support the claim that Obama administration officials had unmasked the identities of Trump associates in surveillance intercepts. Cohen-Watnick's appearance in the Epstein files is through third-party witness testimony about his alleged conduct rather than through direct contact with Epstein or Maxwell.