Trump and Epstein: the history of their messy friendship

Yahoo

a day ago

Resting his hand on Jeffrey Epstein's shoulder, Donald Trump smiled as he posed for a photograph with his old friend in Palm Beach in 1997.
At the time, the pair, who moved in the same wealthy social circles and bonded over their love of beautiful women, had been friends for years.
Eleven years later, Epstein was a convicted paedophile. Eleven years after that, he killed himself while in prison awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.
Ever since Epstein's crimes first came to light, the internet has been filled with conspiracy theories about Mr Trump's relationship with the sex offender.
Now Elon Musk's bombshell accusation that Mr Trump is named in the Epstein files has put the president's old relationship with the paedophile under renewed scrutiny.
Mr Trump is yet to comment on the allegation.
Mr Trump and Epstein's friendship stretched back decades. The two wealthy businessmen would fly from New York to Palm Beach together. They would party at Mar-a-Lago Club and dine together at Epstein's Manhattan mansion.
'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,' Mr Trump said.
'It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,' he added.
In a clip from the NBC archives of the two men at Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in 1992 they can be seen pointing out women on the dance floor.
Credit: NBC
That year, Mr Trump is said to have hosted a 'calendar girl' competition, which George Houraney, a Florida-based businessman, had organised at Mr Trump's request.
Mr Houraney said he arranged for 28 girls to fly in, but later discovered the only other attendees would be Mr Trump and Epstein.
'I said, 'Donald, this is supposed to be a party with VIPs. You're telling me it's you and Epstein?'', he told the New York Times.
Epstein also attended an event at Mar-a-Lago in 2000 with Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for grooming teenage girls to be abused by Epstein.
Mr Trump and Epstein's relationship took a turn, however. They are said to have become rivals in 2004, each going up against each other to buy up Palm Beach properties, but the reason for their falling out is not fully understood.
After Epstein's arrest, Mr Trump distanced himself from the sex offender.
'I was not a fan,' he told reporters in July 2019. 'I had a falling out with him a long time ago.'
On Maxwell's arrest in 2020, his words were warmer.
'I haven't really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly,' he said at the time.
'I've met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well, whatever it is,' he added.
In 2022 Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison after she was found guilty of sex trafficking. She was accused of conspiring with Epstein to set up a scheme to lure young girls into sexual relationships with Epstein from 1994 to 2004 in New York, Florida, New Mexico and the US Virgin Islands.
But despite distancing himself from the sex offender, Mr Trump's name came up at Maxwell's 2021 trial, when a woman testifying under the pseudonym Jane said Epstein took her to meet Mr Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort when she was 14. She did not allege any improper behaviour from Mr Trump.
Mr Trump insisted he had never been on Epstein's plane or private island, but flight logs released during the trial suggested the US president flew on the plane seven times.
According to the logs, on at least one of the trips between New York and Florida, Mr Trump was accompanied by his former wife Marla Maples and their daughter Tiffany. Another log listed his son Eric as a passenger.
Other notable passengers on Epstein's plane included former President Bill Clinton, Robert F Kennedy Jr, Prince Andrew and actor Kevin Spacey.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an Epstein victim who killed herself last month, claimed she was working at Mar-a-Lago as a locker room attendant when she was 'recruited' by Maxwell.
There were no new revelations about Mr Trump's relationship with Epstein in the files released by the Biden administration.
But last year Stacey Williams, a former Sports Illustrated model who dated Epstein, told The Guardian the financier had taken her to Mr Trump's Fifth Avenue penthouse in 1993 and encouraged Mr Trump to grope her in a 'twisted game'. Mr Trump denied the allegations.
Weeks later Michael Wolff released tapes of Epstein describing himself as 'Donald's closest friend for 10 years'.
Mr Wolff, who has written several books about Mr Trump, said the recordings were from 2017 when he was having a discussion about writing Epstein's biography.
Karoline Leavitt, who was the Trump campaign national press secretary, accused Mr Wolff of 'outlandish false smears' and engaging in 'blatant election interference on behalf of Kamala Harris'.
Mr Musk's bombshell claim was part of a spectacular war of words between the world's most powerful men, with the president claiming the Tesla boss has 'Trump derangement syndrome', and Mr Musk insisting Mr Trump only won the election because of him.
Earlier in the day Mr Trump told reporters during a sit-down with Friedrich Merz, Germany's new chancellor: 'Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore.'
In February, Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, pledged to release all of the information the government holds on Epstein, which have come to be known as the Epstein files.
She invited a select group of pro-Maga influencers to the White House where they were handed binders containing what she said was 'Phase One' of the full document release.
However, the 200-page document contained only phone-book contacts and flight logs, most of which have been available since 2015. No date has been set for releasing the remaining files.
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