NEWS
A Timeline of the Untold Story of Trump’s Friendship With Jeffrey Epstein
By his own admission, President Trump was friendly for at least 15 years with Jeffrey Epstein, the multimillionaire financier and convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019.
Their relationship is now under scrutiny after the Trump administration decided to withhold parts of the files from the sex trafficking investigation into Mr. Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Mr. Trump in May that his name appeared in the Jeffrey Epstein files, as part of a broader briefing on the re-examination of the case against Mr. Epstein. It was not clear in what context Mr. Trump’s name appeared.
Mr. Epstein had many connections to rich and powerful people that both the right and the left suspect of being involved in the financier’s criminality. Ms. Bondi agreed to release some materials, including flight logs from Mr. Epstein’s private jets, but she held back others, including what officials described as child sexual abuse material.
The Department of Justice’s review of the files “revealed no incriminating ‘client list,’” the department wrote in an unsigned July memo. “There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”
Facing continued pressure on the matter, Mr. Trump directed Ms. Bondi to seek the release in court of “any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval” in the Epstein investigation, an order that fell short of the complete disclosure of material that the president’s critics have demanded.
Mr. Trump had previously instructed Ms. Bondi to release only “credible” information, and suggested he was concerned that innocent people could be unfairly smeared if the full files were released. He has condemned questions about his handling of the case as a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats and called Mr. Epstein a “creep.”
Mr. Epstein was convicted of paying teenage girls money to perform sex acts. He hanged himself in his cell in 2019, according to local and federal authorities. Ms. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2021 of conspiring with Mr. Epstein for nearly a decade to aid in his abuse.
Here’s what we know about Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein.
1980s to early 2000s: Trump and Epstein are friendly
According to Mr. Trump’s telling, he and Mr. Epstein were friends for more than a decade, beginning in the 1980s. Several women who said they interacted with both men during those years have come forward with accusations.
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Mr. Trump told New York magazine in 2002. “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. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Throughout those years, they were spotted together at parties.
In 1992, Mr. Trump threw a raucous party with N.F.L. cheerleaders at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. NBC’s footage of the party shows Mr. Trump socializing with Mr. Epstein. At one point in the footage, Mr. Trump can be seen dancing amid a crowd of young women. Later, he appears to be pointing at other women while whispering something in Mr. Epstein’s ear, causing him to double over laughing.
Months later, when Mr. Trump hosted a party at Mar-a-Lago for young women in a so-called calendar girl competition, Mr. Epstein was the only other guest, according to George Houraney, a Florida-based businessman who arranged the event.
Mr. Houraney’s girlfriend and business partner at the time, Jill Harth, later accused Mr. Trump of sexual misconduct on the night of the party. In a lawsuit filed in 1997, Ms. Harth said that Mr. Trump took her into a bedroom and forcibly kissed and fondled her. Ms. Harth dropped her suit after a related case filed by Mr. Houraney was settled by Mr. Trump, who has denied her allegations.
In 1993, Mr. Epstein brought Stacey Williams, a model, to Trump Tower in Manhattan to greet Mr. Trump, according to Ms. Williams. As he and Mr. Epstein chatted, Mr. Trump groped her, she said. Mr. Trump has denied her account.
In 1997, Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein attended a Victoria’s Secret “Angels” party together in New York.
In 1997, Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein attended a Victoria’s Secret “Angels” party together in New York.
The Wall Street Journal reported that in 2003, Mr. Trump gave a letter with a birthday greeting to Mr. Epstein, including a sketch of a naked woman and a reference to secrets the two men shared.
The Wall Street Journal reported that in 2003, Mr. Trump gave a letter with a birthday greeting to Mr. Epstein, including a sketch of a naked woman and a reference to secrets the two men shared.
Mr. Trump denied writing the letter purportedly bearing his signature, and The New York Times has not reviewed it. The Times reported that his name appeared on a contributor list for a book compiling birthday greetings from Mr. Epstein’s friends.
1993 to 1997: Trump flies on Epstein’s private jets seven times
During the time they were friends, Mr. Trump’s name appeared seven times in Mr. Epstein’s flight logs.
Mr. Trump flew on Mr. Epstein’s private jets four times in 1993; once in 1994; once in 1995; and once in 1997, according to flight logs released as evidence in Ms. Maxwell’s trial. The flights were between Palm Beach and New York, including a stop in Washington, D.C.
The president has acknowledged traveling on Mr. Epstein’s plane, but insisted he never accompanied him to his private island or engaged in any wrongdoing with the financier.
In fact, Mr. Trump has accused other politicians of being more deeply associated with Mr. Epstein. Of former President Bill Clinton, Mr. Trump said: “Got a lot of problems coming up in my opinion with the famous island with Jeffrey Epstein.”
Mr. Trump’s name and phone number were also included among the rich and powerful people written down in Mr. Epstein’s “little black book.”
2000: Mar-a-Lago plays a role in Epstein’s case
Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s private club, played a key role in allegations against Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell.
Virginia Giuffre, a victim of Mr. Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring who said she was “passed around like a platter of fruit” as a teenager to rich and powerful predators, was recruited into Mr. Epstein’s employment while at Mar-a-Lago, according to her account.
Ms. Giuffre, who was 16 at the time, said she was reading a massage therapy manual when she was approached by Ms. Maxwell and invited to become Mr. Epstein’s traveling masseuse. She said the two of them then groomed her to perform sexual services for wealthy men.
Ms. Giuffre accused Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell, a British socialite, of forcing her to have sex with Prince Andrew of Britain. He flatly denied the accusations, but he relinquished his royal duties in 2019.
A widely published photograph showed Prince Andrew with his hand around her waist. He said he had no memory of the occasion.
Ms. Giuffre died by suicide in April.
2004: Trump and Epstein have a ‘falling out’ over a property fight
Two years after Mr. Trump called Mr. Epstein a “terrific guy,” the two men became rivals over an oceanfront Palm Beach mansion that had fallen into foreclosure. In a power struggle detailed by The Washington Post, Mr. Trump ultimately outbid Mr. Epstein for the property.
There is little public record of the two men interacting after that real estate battle. Mr. Trump would later say in 2019 that he and Mr. Epstein had a “falling out” and hadn’t spoken in 15 years; the president declared himself “not a fan” of his former friend.
Not long after the property auction, the police in Palm Beach fielded a tip that young women had been observed going in and out of Mr. Epstein’s home.
A few months later, in March 2005, the police received a more substantive complaint, from a woman who said her teenage stepdaughter had been paid by Mr. Epstein to give him a massage while she was undressed, according to a police report. That led to an investigation that later identified at least a dozen potential victims.
An F.B.I. and Florida police investigation led to his indictment in 2006. Two years later, he pleaded guilty in state court to two felony charges, including soliciting a minor, in a deal that avoided federal charges that could have meant far more serious prison time.
2019: Epstein is charged with sex trafficking
The case against Mr. Epstein might have ended quietly there.
But The Miami Herald in 2018 unearthed new allegations against him and exposed the widespread nature of Mr. Epstein’s crimes. The Herald detailed how he was able to manipulate the criminal justice system to shut down an F.B.I. investigation and win immunity for any of his “potential co-conspirators.”
The Herald identified about 80 women who say they were molested or otherwise sexually abused by Mr. Epstein from 2001 to 2006.
In 2019, Mr. Epstein was arrested by federal agents in the New York area, accused of trafficking girls, some as young as 14, and engaging in sex acts with them.
Facing decades in prison, local and federal authorities say he hanged himself in a jail cell while awaiting trial.
2019 and 2020: Trump urges an investigation, but expresses sympathy for Maxwell
Over the years, Mr. Trump at times seemed to promote the idea that rich and powerful people had engaged in nefarious behavior with Mr. Epstein, and might soon face justice.
“I want a full investigation, and that’s what I absolutely am demanding,” Mr. Trump said of the Epstein case in 2019.
But he also expressed sympathy for Ms. Maxwell, whom he knew socially.
“I do wish her well. I’m not looking for anything bad for her,” Mr. Trump said in interview with Jonathan Swan, then of Axios, on HBO in 2020.
2024: Trump expresses mixed feelings about releasing files
While running for office in 2024, Mr. Trump expressed mixed feelings about whether he would release files in the Epstein case.
“I guess I would,” he told Fox News, before beginning to back off that claim. “I think that less so because you don’t want to affect people’s lives if it’s phony stuff in there, because it’s a lot of phony stuff with that whole world. But I think I would.”
2025: Trump lashes out at critics
Upon taking office, Mr. Trump appointed leaders of the Justice Department and F.B.I. who had promised right-wing base they would be getting to the bottom of the Epstein investigation.
But after leading on Mr. Trump’s base, the Justice Department and the F.B.I. said that the Epstein files did not contain the kind of evidence that would justify investigating other people. The video recordings of child sexual abuse material found by investigators were not videos that Mr. Epstein recorded of crimes by himself or his friends, but material he downloaded, Ms. Bondi said.
Still, Mr. Trump has repeatedly lashed out at those who questioned him.
He rebuked his own supporters as “weaklings” for continuing to talk about Mr. Epstein’s case and accused them of falling for a “scam” perpetrated by Democrats.
“I don’t understand why they would be so interested,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “He’s dead for a long time. He was never a big factor in terms of life. I don’t understand what the interest or what the fascination is, I really don’t.”
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