Trump and Jeffrey Epstein’s friendship and history, explained

Simply how shut was Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein?The president’s onetime friendship with Jeffrey Epstein — the well-connected financier who was indicted for intercourse trafficking underage ladies and died in jail in 2019 — has lengthy been a matter of public file.The 2 socialized collectively ceaselessly in New York Metropolis and Palm Seaside from the late Eighties to the early 2000s. In 2002, Trump praised Epstein to a reporter as a “terrific man” — and curiously added that he “likes lovely girls” on “the youthful aspect.”A brand new Wall Avenue Journal report provides one other eyebrow-raising element. In 2003, Epstein acquired a “birthday ebook” with messages from lots of his influential mates, and in it, there’s a message from Trump.Inside a drawing of a unadorned girl’s define, the message claims Trump and Epstein have “sure issues in widespread.” It concludes: “A pal is a superb factor. Glad Birthday — and should every single day be one other fantastic secret.” (Photographs from the ebook itself haven’t been printed; the Journal’s report described it.)Trump says that the message is faux and that he’ll sue the Journal and its proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, for publishing the story. The birthday ebook is at present within the possession of the Justice Division, which might assist clarify why the Trump administration has appeared so reluctant to launch additional DOJ data within the Epstein case.A lot of the web proper has been obsessive about the Epstein scandal for years, hoping Democrats and celebrities can be implicated in his intercourse crimes. They’ve been comparatively bored with Trump’s well-documented, decade-plus relationship with Epstein.Nevertheless, Trump and Epstein’s friendship did reportedly finish in 2004 in a bitter falling-out; they had been combating to purchase the identical Florida oceanside mansion, and it obtained ugly.Trump and Epstein socialized ceaselessly for yearsTrump, Belgian mannequin Ingrid Seynhaeve, and Jeffrey Epstein attend the Victoria’s Secret “Angels” celebration on April 28, 1997, in New York Metropolis. Sonia Moskowitz/Getty ImagesA gifted social climber who quickly attained huge wealth via mysterious means, Epstein turned a fixture of New York Metropolis and Palm Seaside elite circles by the Nineteen Nineties.Throughout this era, each Epstein and Trump ceaselessly dined and partied collectively, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago membership in Florida and Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan. Each ceaselessly hosted or attended events that includes many fashions, cheerleaders, magnificence pageant contestants, and different enticing younger girls as company. They had been typically photographed collectively at these occasions, typically with Epstein’s companion Ghislaine Maxwell as effectively.In 1992, the New York Occasions reported that two dozen girls went to Mar-a-Lago for a “calendar woman” competitors earlier than solely two company: Trump and Epstein. Per flight logs, Trump flew on Epstein’s personal jets seven instances between 1993 to 1997, although he by no means went to the personal island within the US Virgin Islands that Epstein bought in 1998.20 years later, in tape-recorded interviews with journalist Michael Wolff, Epstein claimed that he “was Donald’s closest good friend for 10 years.” Epstein stated that he and Trump ceaselessly picked up girls collectively in Atlantic Metropolis casinos, that Trump loved seducing his finest mates’ wives, and that the primary time Trump “slept with” Melania was “on my aircraft.” (When Wolff launched the tapes final 12 months, Trump’s group dismissed them as “false smears.”)From left, Trump and his girlfriend (and future spouse), former mannequin Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell pose collectively on the Mar-a-Lago membership, Palm Seaside, Florida, February 12, 2000. Davidoff Studios/GettyBoth Trump and Epstein had been accused of sexual misconduct round this time as effectively — Trump in a 1997 sexual assault lawsuit, and Epstein in a 1997 police report.No less than as soon as, Mar-a-Lago was allegedly a recruiting website for Epstein’s ring. In 2000, 16-year-old Virginia Giuffre was working as a pool attendant at Trump’s membership when Maxwell provided her a job as Epstein’s masseuse. Giuffre alleged that, over the following two years, Epstein and Maxwell then groomed her to have intercourse with rich and influential males, together with Prince Andrew of the British royal household. Guiffre died by suicide earlier this 12 months.When a journalist for New York journal profiled Epstein in 2002, Trump gave that quote that appeared to allude to Epstein’s desire for younger girls. “I’ve recognized Jeff for 15 years. Terrific man,” he stated. “He’s lots of enjoyable to be with. It’s even stated that he likes lovely girls as a lot as I do, and lots of of them are on the youthful aspect. Little question about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”Then, in 2003, got here the birthday ebook. Based on the Wall Avenue Journal, it was assembled by Maxwell, and contained joking and innuendo-laden messages from lots of Epstein’s mates.The entry with Trump’s title contained a drawing of the define of a unadorned girl, with the signature “Donald” under her waist, and an odd, typewritten message purporting to be a dialogue between Trump and Epstein. Within the dialogue, “Donald” says “We’ve sure issues in widespread, Jeffrey,” and “Enigmas by no means age.”The dialogue concludes with “Donald” saying: “A pal is a superb factor. Glad Birthday — and should every single day be one other fantastic secret.” Per the Journal, the ebook is at present within the Justice Division’s possession.Trump claims the ebook is faux, asserting “these should not my phrases,” and claiming “I don’t draw footage.” (There are a lot of articles about Trump’s penchant for doodling, sketching and drawing, containing quite a few examples of such.)Salacious because the birthday ebook sounds, it doesn’t really show any misconduct on Trump’s half: The message is imprecise. However clearly, it is going to feed intense hypothesis on precisely what Trump was referring to about “issues in widespread” and a “fantastic secret.”In courtroom proceedings and grand jury questioning, Epstein victims have accused a number of highly effective and influential males of being concerned in his intercourse crimes — however these names have largely been reported, and Trump’s title was not amongst them. In 2016, an nameless plaintiff filed a lawsuit claiming Trump and Epstein had raped her, however the circumstances across the lawsuit seemed very sketchy, and it was quickly dropped.Trump and Epstein reportedly had a falling-out in 2004Yet this pleased friendship didn’t final for much longer as a result of, in 2004, Trump and Epstein each badly wished to purchase the identical oceanfront Palm Seaside mansion up for public sale.The Washington Submit chronicled the bitter falling-out, which concerned competing bids, every trashing the opposite to the trustee managing the public sale, and threats of lawsuits. (Trump gained the mansion, however offered it a couple of years later to a Russian billionaire.)This seems to have been a definitive break, as there’s no proof that Trump and Epstein socialized once more after this level.Simply two weeks after the property public sale, the Palm Seaside police acquired a tip that younger girls had been seen coming into and leaving Epstein’s dwelling.The investigation into Epstein really kicked off the next 12 months, in 2005, when a 14-year-old woman and her mother and father went to the Palm Seaside police, accusing Epstein of molesting her throughout a therapeutic massage. Epstein was charged in Florida in 2006, however the case was resolved in 2008 in what was later derided as a sweetheart plea deal.After that, Epstein’s victims pressed their case in civil lawsuits. An lawyer for the victims, Brad Edwards, has stated that, in 2009, he sought info from numerous Epstein acquaintances. Only a few had been prepared to speak voluntarily, however Trump was — and Edwards stated he was “very useful within the info that he gave.”In a courtroom submitting, Edwards asserted that Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago “as a result of Epstein sexually assaulted an underage woman on the membership.” This was doubtless the knowledge Trump supplied, since Trump has instructed others this as effectively. However the story has by no means been corroborated, and particulars on when this occurred stay elusive.As soon as Trump was president, media reporting revived curiosity within the Epstein case, and he was arrested on new fees in 2019. He died in jail a month later, in what FBI investigators say was a suicide.Maxwell, Epstein’s companion, was arrested the next 12 months, in 2020. “I do want her effectively,” Trump stated then. “I’m not in search of something dangerous for her.”