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 women and died in jail in 2019 — has lengthy been a matter of public document.
The 2 socialized collectively continuously in New York Metropolis and Palm Seashore from the late Nineteen Eighties to the early 2000s. In 2002, Trump praised Epstein to a reporter as a “terrific man” — and curiously added that he “likes lovely ladies” on “the youthful aspect.”
A Wall Avenue Journal report revealed on July 17 added one other eyebrow-raising element. In 2003, Epstein acquired a “birthday e book” with messages from a lot of his influential buddies, and in it, there’s a message from Trump.
Inside a drawing of a unadorned lady’s define, the message claims Trump and Epstein have “sure issues in widespread.” It concludes: “A pal is an excellent factor. Glad Birthday — and will day by day be one other great secret.” (Photos from the e book itself haven’t been revealed; the Journal’s report described it.)
Trump mentioned that the message is faux and filed a lawsuit towards the Journal and its proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, for publishing the story. The birthday e book is at the moment 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.
Nonetheless, Trump and Epstein’s friendship did reportedly finish in 2004 in a bitter falling-out; they have been combating to purchase the identical Florida oceanside mansion, and it bought ugly.
Trump and Epstein socialized continuously for years
A gifted social climber who quickly attained large wealth by mysterious means, Epstein turned a fixture of New York Metropolis and Palm Seashore elite circles by the Nineties.
Throughout this era, each Epstein and Trump continuously dined and partied collectively, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago membership in Florida and Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan. Each continuously hosted or attended events that includes many fashions, cheerleaders, magnificence pageant contestants, and different engaging younger ladies as visitors. They have been typically photographed collectively at these occasions, typically with Epstein’s companion Ghislaine Maxwell as nicely.
In 1992, the New York Instances reported that two dozen ladies went to Mar-a-Lago for a “calendar lady” competitors earlier than solely two visitors: Trump and Epstein. Per flight logs, Trump flew on Epstein’s non-public jets seven instances between 1993 to 1997, although he by no means went to the non-public 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 mentioned that he and Trump continuously picked up ladies collectively in Atlantic Metropolis casinos, that Trump loved seducing his finest buddies’ wives, and that the primary time Trump “slept with” Melania was “on my airplane.” (When Wolff launched the tapes final 12 months, Trump’s crew dismissed them as “false smears.”)
Each Trump and Epstein have been accused of sexual misconduct round this time as nicely — Trump in a 1997 sexual assault lawsuit, and Epstein in a 1997 police report.
A minimum of as soon as, Mar-a-Lago was allegedly a recruiting web site for Epstein’s ring. In 2000, 16-year-old Virginia Giuffre was working as a pool attendant at Trump’s membership when Maxwell supplied 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 choice for younger ladies. “I’ve identified Jeff for 15 years. Terrific man,” he mentioned. “He’s a whole lot of enjoyable to be with. It’s even mentioned that he likes lovely ladies as a lot as I do, and lots of of them are on the youthful aspect. Little doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Then, in 2003, got here the birthday e book. In accordance with the Wall Avenue Journal, it was assembled by Maxwell, and contained joking and innuendo-laden messages from a lot of Epstein’s buddies.
The entry with Trump’s title contained a drawing of the define of a unadorned lady, with the signature “Donald” beneath her waist, and an odd, typewritten message purporting to be a dialogue between Trump and Epstein. Within the dialogue, “Donald” says “We now have sure issues in widespread, Jeffrey,” and “Enigmas by no means age.”
The dialogue concludes with “Donald” saying: “A pal is an excellent factor. Glad Birthday — and will day by day be one other great secret.” Per the Journal, the e book is at the moment within the Justice Division’s possession.
Trump claims the e book is faux, asserting “these usually are not my phrases,” and claiming “I don’t draw photos.” (There are many articles about Trump’s penchant for doodling, sketching and drawing, containing quite a few examples of such.)
Salacious because the birthday e book sounds, it doesn’t truly show any misconduct on Trump’s half: The message is imprecise. However clearly, it would feed intense hypothesis on precisely what Trump was referring to about “issues in widespread” and a “great secret.”
In court docket 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 round the lawsuit seemed very sketchy, and it was quickly dropped.
Trump and Epstein reportedly had a falling-out in 2004
But this comfortable 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 Seashore 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 received the mansion, however bought it just a few 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 Seashore police acquired a tip that younger ladies had been seen coming into and leaving Epstein’s house.
The investigation into Epstein really kicked off the next 12 months, in 2005, when a 14-year-old lady and her dad and mom went to the Palm Seashore 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 legal professional for the victims, Brad Edwards, has mentioned that, in 2009, he sought data from numerous Epstein acquaintances. Only a few have been keen to speak voluntarily, however Trump was — and Edwards mentioned he was “very useful within the data that he gave.”
In a court docket submitting, Edwards asserted that Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago “as a result of Epstein sexually assaulted an underage lady on the membership.” This was seemingly the data Trump supplied, since Trump has informed others this as nicely. 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 nicely,” Trump mentioned then. “I’m not in search of something dangerous for her.”
Replace, July 21, 1:30 pm ET: This text was initially revealed on July 18 and has been up to date with information of Trump’s lawsuit towards the Wall Avenue Journal.
