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Business and personal
45th and 47th President of the United States Tenure
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Donald Trump, the 45th and 47thpresident of the United States, developed a social and professional relationship with financier and sex offenderJeffrey Epstein that began in the late 1980s and continued into the early 2000s.[1][2][3][4] During Trump's prior careers as abusinessman andmedia personality beforeentering politics in 2015, he and Epstein visited each other's real estate properties regularly.
Trump and Epstein socialized frequently throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, including attending parties at Trump'sMar-a-Lago resort in Florida and Epstein's residence. Flight logs released during an associate's trial confirm that Trump flew on Epstein's private jet multiple times in the 1990s, and according to Epstein, Trump first had sex withMelania Knauss in his private jet. Trump and his representatives claim he had a falling out with Epstein around 2004 and ceased contact. In 2007, after Epstein was said to have sexually harassed a teenage daughter of another Mar-a-Lago member, Trump revoked his Mar-a-Lago membership.
Since Epstein's 2019 arrest forsex trafficking of minors and hisdeath in prison shortly thereafter, their former relationship has come under further scrutiny, particularly during and after Trump's elections as President in2016 and2024. Trump has denied any knowledge of Epstein's criminal activities and distanced himself from the deceased financier in the years before Epstein's arrest and death. Trump promoted unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about the circumstances and suggested Epstein was murdered. Media attention and public pressure has mounted in 2025, asTrump's administration has not releasedfiles relating to Epstein, despite Trump promising to do so duringhis 2024 presidential campaign.
AlthoughVirginia Giuffre revealed that Epstein andGhislaine Maxwell had recruited her from Mar-a-Lago into a sex trafficking ring, she did not accuse Trump himself of wrongdoing. In 2025, the now convicted sex offender Maxwell claimed she never witnessed Trump behave inappropriately. Although Giuffre did not accuse Trump of abuse, her recruitment from his property and his past association with Epstein have repeatedly brought his name into discussions. While no criminal wrongdoing has ever been established against Trump in connection with Epstein's crimes, recent document releases have fuelled renewed questions about his conduct. Asexually suggestive birthday note, allegedly written by Trump to Epstein in 2003, included a crude drawing; Trump has denied the legitimacy of it.
Since the 1970s, at least 28 women haveaccusedDonald Trump of sexual misconduct,[5] for acts that have included rape, kissing and groping without consent; looking under women's skirts; and walking in on naked teenage pageant contestants. Trump has denied all of the allegations. He has a history of insulting andbelittling women when speaking to the media and on social media,[6][7] and has madelewd comments about women, disparaged their physical appearance, and referred to them using derogatory epithets.[7][8][9]
Jeffrey Epstein cultivated anelite social circle[10] andprocured many women and children whom he and his associates sexually abused.[11] In addition to his own sexual abuse of the victims, Epstein directed other persons to abuse the girls sexually. Epstein used paid employees to find and bring minor girls to him. Epstein worked in concert with others to obtain minors not only for his own sexual gratification, but also for the sexual gratification of others. His close associateGhislaine Maxwell was later implicated asprocuring or recruiting underage girls in addition to being, for an extended period, Epstein's chief girlfriend.
Trump said that his friendship with Epstein started in the late 1980s. The two men were neighbors and would visit each other's properties.[12][1] On the July 16, 2025 episode ofErin Burnett Outfront, Jack O'Donnell, who served as COO of Trump Plaza and Casino from 1987 to 1990, claimed in an interview with CNN reporterErin Burnett that, among other things, "In my mind, [Epstein] was his best friend, you know, [throughout] the time I was there for four years."[13][14][13][14] They would often visit the casino floor together, with O'Donnell also recounting one occasion where he reprimanded both Trump and Epstein when they brought in some girls who were under the New Jersey legal gambling age of 21.[13][14] O'Donnell previous wrote about this incident in his 1991 bookTrumped!, though Epstein's name would be omitted by the book's publisher.[13]
In 1990, Epstein bought a mansion two miles north ofMar-a-Lago, which Trump had purchased five years earlier in 1985.[15] In 1992, Trump invitedNBC to film a party he threw for himself and Epstein at Mar-a-Lago, where they joined various NFL cheerleaders. In the NBC video, Trump was filmed at a Mar-a-Lago party whispering in Epstein's ear, prompting Epstein to start laughing. NBC News revealed footage of the party in July 2019, showing Trump, Epstein and the cheerleaders. At one point during the video, Trump appears to tell Epstein: "Look at her, back there ... She's hot."[16][17][18][15]
Also in 1992, Florida businessman George Houraney said that he had brought 28 people he described as "girls" to the property at Trump's request in order to host a private "calendar girl" event exclusively for Trump and Epstein.[4][19] In 1997,Jill Harth dropped a sexual misconduct lawsuit against Trump from the "calendar girl competition" where she alleged Trump took her into a bedroom and forcibly kissed, fondled, and restrained her from leaving.[15]
ModelStacey Williams said that, upon arriving at theTrump Tower in 1993, Trump and Epstein touched her while trading smiles. She toldThe Guardian in 2024 that "It became very clear then that he and Donald were really, really good friends and spent a lot of time together." She described the incident as a "twisted game" between Trump and Epstein.[4]
Epstein attended Trump's wedding toMarla Maples in thePlaza Hotel. Later that year, Epstein went to a Harley-Davidson Cafe with Trump and his children. There are photographs of both interactions.[20]
Trump flew inEpstein's private plane seven times between 1993 and 1997, according to flight logs released in 2021.[a][21][23][3] According to Epstein, Trump first had sex withMelania Knauss in his private jet.[4]
Maria Farmer, the first person to report Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to law enforcement, encountered Trump late at night in Epstein's Manhattan office in 1995. Farmer was then in her mid-20s. She described Trump as leering at her in a way that felt threatening until Epstein entered the room and warned him off, saying: "No, no. She's not here for you." Trump and Epstein then left the room, and Farmer overheard Trump say he had assumed Farmer was a teenager.[24]
In 1997, Trump inscribed a copy of his bookTrump: The Art of the Comeback to Epstein, writing: "You are the greatest!"[25]
Epstein and Trump were photographed together at Mar-a-Lago and at aVictoria's Secret Angels event in New York in 1997, and there is video of Epstein and Trump chatting at aVictoria’s Secret Fashion Show in New York in 1999.[20] In 2000, Trump and Melania were pictured alongside Epstein and Maxwell.[4]
Trump's name was listed in Epstein's partially redacted "black book" of contacts.[21] His name also appeared in a number of court documents related to Epstein that were released in 2024. Trump was not accused of any crime in any of the documents.[12]
As a teenager,Virginia Giuffre worked as a locker room attendant in the spa at Mar-a-Lago. There, she met Maxwell, who recruited her as Epstein's masseuse.[3][26][27]
Trump told reporters on July 28, 2025:
"For years, I wouldn't talk to Jeffrey Epstein... Because he did something that was inappropriate. He hired help and I said, 'Don't ever do that again.' He stole people that worked for me. I said, 'Don't ever do that again.' And he did it again. And I threw him out of the place. Persona non grata. I threw him out and that was it."[28]
The next day, asked by reporters whether any of those workers were "young women" and whether Giuffre was included, Trump replied affirmatively:
"Everyone knows the people that were taken, and ... taking people that work for me is bad. ... yes, they were [young women] ... [workers] were taken out of the [Mar-a-Lago] spa, hired by him [Epstein]. ... I told him, I said, 'Listen, we don't want you taking our people, whether it was spa or not spa. I don't want him taking people.' And he was fine. And then not too long after that, he did it again and I said, 'Out of here.' ... Yeah. He, he stole her [Giuffre]. And by the way, she had no complaints about us as you know."[29]
Despite Trump's 2025 recollection that he expelled Epstein from the club "not too long" after Epstein hired Giuffre in 2000, Epstein had remained a member of Mar-a-Lago until 2007.[30]
Giuffre's family reacted with shock and said Trump's comments raised questions about what he knew and when, and reiterated that anyone in Epstein's orbit, including Trump, should be investigated.
In 2002, speaking toNew York magazine, Trump said "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy." He also stated that "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."[19][12]
According toThe Wall Street Journal, in 2003, Trump sent a birthday letter to Epstein that included a drawing of a naked woman.[3] The letter was collected by Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, for a leather-bound photo album sometime before 2006, and was among the documents examined by the Justice Department which investigated Epstein and Maxwell years ago. The letter, which bore Trump's signature, featured several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, apparently hand-drawn in a heavy marker.The Wall Street Journal described Trump's "squiggly" signature below the woman's waist as mimicking pubic hair.[31] According to theJournal, the letter contained an imagined dialogue in which Trump tells Epstein that "We have certain things in common, Jeffrey" and Epstein replies "Yes, we do, come to think of it." The dialogue concludes with Trump saying: "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret."[12][32] Trump immediately denied having written the letter and sued theJournal for defamation.[33] Democrats on theHouse Oversight Committee released a letter matching this description, and apparently signed by Trump, on September 8, 2025.[34][35] The entirebirthday book was made public the following day.
In 2004, Trump and Epstein competed to buy theMaison de L'Amitie at itsforeclosure auction. Trump outbid Epstein, renovating the house and selling it four years later at a profit.[36][37] Some media reports have described the outbidding as the end of the Trump–Epstein friendship, with phone records indicating that the two ceased communicating after the fact.[38][3][4] As of Epstein's 2019 arrest, Trump had not confirmed that the bidding caused the end of his friendship with Epstein.[1][b]
Epstein was investigated by Palm Beach police in April 2005 for soliciting an underage girl for sexual purposes, leading to a June 2006 indictment by a grand jury of one count of solicitation of prostitution. The FBI began investigating in July 2006, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office indicted him in June 2007.[42] He pled guilty in June 2008.[3][43] The plea deal was approved by U.S. attorneyAlexander Acosta,[44] an appointee of PresidentGeorge W. Bush. Acosta would go on to be appointed asLabor Secretary by Trump nearly a decade later.
In 2007, after Epstein was said to have sexually harassed a teenage daughter of another Mar-a-Lago member, Trump revoked his Mar-a-Lago membership.[45][46] The girl had been working as a masseuse in the spa.[47] The 2016 bookFilthy Rich detailed that the teen had told her father "while relaxing at Mar-a-Lago, she’d been approached and invited out to Epstein’s house. The girl said that she had gone and that Epstein had tried to get her to undress. The girl’s father had gone directly to Trump, who—in no uncertain terms—told Epstein that he was barred from Mar-a-Lago."[48] Mar-a-Lago's registry shows Epstein was a member until October 2007, according to the 2020 bookThe Grifter's Club.[49]The New York Times reports that Trump gave the same explanation to associates, and that in 2009, Brad Edwards, an attorney for a number of Epstein’s victims, was told something similar by Trump.[50]
"When he [Trump] first heard the rumour," House SpeakerMike Johnson told CNN on September 4, 2025, "he kicked him out of Mar-a-Lago. He was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down."[51][52] On September 7, Johnson retracted his claim.[53]
In 2015, Trump adviserRoger Stone publishedThe Clintons' War on Women in which he quoted a Mar-a-Lago member who remembered Trump having said that Epstein had "beautiful young girls" in his Palm Beach swimming pool. Trump allegedly said: "'How nice,' I thought, 'he [Epstein] let the neighborhood kids use his pool.'"[54]
In April 2016, an anonymous woman using the pseudonym "Katie Johnson" filed a lawsuit in California accusing both Trump and Epstein of forcibly raping her when she was 13 years old at underage sex parties at Epstein's Manhattan residence in 1994.[55][56] The case was dismissed the following month. A second version of the lawsuit was filed in New York in June by the same woman as "Jane Doe" claiming to have been raped and sexually assaulted by the pair at four 1994 parties when she was 13.[57][58] The lawsuit was refiled in September,[59] and on November 2, Doe was scheduled to appear at a press conference at the office ofLisa Bloom before abruptly canceling; Bloom said Jane Doe had received multiple threats.[60][61] The lawsuit was withdrawn two days later.[62]
In a tape recorded in 2017 and published in 2024 by Trump biographerMichael Wolff, who was doing research for his 2018 bookFire and Fury, Epstein said that he had been Trump's "closest friend for 10 years". He also criticized the first Trump administration and said that Trump was "a horrible human being" who would do "nasty things to his best friends, his best friends' wives, anyone who he first tries to gain their trust and uses it to do bad things to them".[4][23]
In 2019, after Epstein was arrested under sex trafficking charges, Trump said that he had not been in contact with Epstein for 15 years. In 2020, on the topic of Maxwell's criminal prosecution, Trump said that "I do wish her well. I'm not looking for anything bad for her".[63][3] Trump later doubled down on his wish to Maxwell, stating that "I'd wish a lot of people well. Good luck. Let them prove somebody was guilty."[64]
According to documents reviewed byThe Wall Street Journal in 2023, Epstein attempted to meet Trump associatesThomas Barrack andPeter Thiel in 2016.[65]
In September 2025, theHouse Oversight Committee released a 2003 birthday book created by Maxwell for Epstein's 50th birthday, titledThe First Fifty Years.[66]
The album included a note allegedly signed by Trump, featuring a drawing and a typewritten message. Trump denied writing or signing the note and his legal team has disputed its authenticity.[67][68]
Coverage of the release described the disputed note as adding renewed public and media attention to Trump's past association with Epstein.[69]
During Maxwell's 2021 trial, a woman who said that she was groomed as a minor by Maxwell testified that Epstein had introduced her to Trump at the age of 14. She did not accuse Trump of any illegal behavior or explain why she was introduced to him.[70]
Elon Musk tweeted in June 2025 that Trump "is in theEpstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public". He deleted the post shortly afterwards, stating that it "went too far".[71][72]
Trump's relationship with Epstein received significant media attention in 2025 due to the unwillingness of theTrump administration to release files relating to Epstein, despite Trump's earlier promises to do so during the 2024 campaign.[73] Trump received significant amounts of blowback from the media, the public, and even many of his supporters for this decision. While Trump has attempted to distance himself from Epstein and downplay their association, some of the MAGA movement's most fervent supporters grew increasingly vocal in demanding the release of Epstein-related files, leading to visible fractures within his support base.[74][75][76]
After U.S. Attorney GeneralPam Bondi and other Trump officials had for months teased the imminent release of incendiary information (the "Jeffrey Epstein client list") from FBI records of the investigation into Epstein's sex trafficking operation, Bondi stated in a memo released in July 2025 that there was no evidence that Epstein had such a list or that he had blackmailed prominent individuals. The memo also confirmed that Epstein had committed suicide while in custody.[77] The announcement caused an uproar among some of Trump's most fervent supporters who had bought into the conspiracy theory that Epstein was at the center of "a cabal of powerful men and celebrities, largely Democrats" and that the government had covered it up.[78] In social media posts, Trump said the continuing demands for release of the files were a hoax perpetrated by Democrats, and that his supporters pressing for release were "stupid", "foolish", and "past supporters".[79][80]
In 2024, Epstein's brotherMark said that he did not know why Epstein and Trump's friendship ended. He stated that Epstein had said in a tape that he "stopped hanging out with Donald Trump when he realized Trump was a crook".[81] In July 2025, Mark Epstein made further statements, emphasizing their closeness, refuting Trump's assertions that he "was not a fan" and Steven Cheung's statement that "The President was never in Epstein's office…" in relation to the accusation of one of Epstein's victims who mentioned having had a "disturbing" encounter with Trump in Jeffrey's office, in 1995. Mark also declared he didn't know anything about his brother's crimes until 2006.[82]
Deputy Attorney GeneralTodd Blanche met with Ghislaine Maxwell on July 24 and 25, 2025 at the U.S. attorney's office in Tallahassee.[83][84] Maxwell told Blanche (according to the transcript released a month later)[85][86] that Trump and Epstein were not "close friends" (contradicting Epstein previously stating he was Trump's closest friend)[87] and that she was "sure" thatBill Clinton "absolutely never went" to Epstein's island,Little Saint James, given that "I don't believe he hadan independent friendship, if you will, with Epstein.”[88][87]
On September 23, 2025, a statue of Trump and Epstein titledBest Friends Forever (also known asWhy Can't We Be Friends?)[89] was briefly installed at theNational Mall indowntownWashington, D.C. Created by an anonymous art group aliased "The Secret Handshake", the sculpture was created in protest of the relationship of Trump and Epstein and the closely associated sexual misconduct allegations against Trump. The sculpture had permits to stay on display until September 28, but was dismantled by theUnited States Park Police within 24 hours of installation. On October 2, it was reported that the statue had been temporarily reinstalled on the National Mall.[89]
According to [the facts for the] ruling by US District Judge Kenneth Marra in February 2019: 'In addition to his own sexual abuse of the victims, Epstein directed other persons to abuse the girls sexually. Epstein used paid employees to find and bring minor girls to him. Epstein worked in concert with others to obtain minors not only for his own sexual gratification, but also for the sexual gratification of others.'
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{{cite web}}:|author= has generic name (help)Donald Trump insisted Wednesday that his only dealing with Russia was when he sold a mansion to a Russian billionaire for nearly $100 million. [Includes short video.]
(...) Epstein spoke at length about Trump with the author Michael Wolff in August 2017, two years before being found dead in his jail cell. Wolff was researching his bombshell bestseller Fire and Fury at the time. (...) [Updated June 5, 2025]
[The book has 352 pages total. 1941-1942 is the numeration given by consulting the text online.]
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