Epstein's former model girlfriend claims disgraced financier and sex offender was once ‘best friends' with Donald Trump
They were 'best friends,' Stacey Williams, who dated Epstein for several months in the 90s, told CNN on Friday evening. Last October in an interview with The Guardian, Williams publicly accused Trump of groping her in Trump Tower in 1993 in front of Epstein. He has denied these allegations.
'That was his bro, that was his wingman,' she said of Trump to Epstein.
Throughout the four or five months she dated the financier, Trump's name came up a lot, Williams recalled to CNN's Brianna Keilar. 'The only friend that he would mention every time we saw each other or had a phone conversation was Donald,' she said. 'They were very close and they were up to no good.'
Williams later added that Epstein also often mentioned Ghislaine Maxwell, a socialite and Epstein associate who was convicted in 2021 on charges related to her role in a scheme to abuse minor girls with the financier.
The Independent has reached out to the White House for comment.
Stacey Williams said in an interview her ex Jeffrey Epstein was 'best friends' with Donald Trump as the president tries to distance himself from the Epstein case (The Guardian)
Keilar read the alleged birthday card Trump wrote to Epstein for his 50th birthday that the Wall Street Journal first published Thursday. Trump vehemently denied the allegations and has since sued the publication and its parent companies for defamation.
Williams started laughing when Keilar walked through Trump's response to the bombshell report.
'Trump called that letter 'fake.' He said it was out of character for him because he never 'wrote a picture'…in his life,' Keilar said, quoting Trump's denial.
Asked whether she believes this letter sounds 'out of character' to her based on her experiences with both men, Williams replied incredulously: 'What, are you kidding me? I know what they were up to together. It happened to me.'
'I have the post assault postcard with a love note,' she added, referring to a postcard of an aerial view of Mar-a-Lago she says Trump sent to her agent later in 1993. In what appeared to be black Sharpie, according to The Guardian, the card read: 'Stacey – Your home away from home. Love Donald.'
'I know what they're up to together and I know what that means,' Williams told the network. 'It's very clear it wasn't baking or fishing.'
Williams and Epstein started dating after the second time they met. It was at a 1992 Christmas Party at the Plaza Hotel that Trump threw, she recalled.
Months later, she and Epstein were walking down Fifth Avenue. The financier 'was joking about how Donald thought I was hot…and wants to talk to you' before suggesting they visit Trump at his office, she recalled.
Trump and Epstein were 'very close and they were up to no good,' Williams told CNN (NBC News)
'So we went up to his office in Trump Tower and, within a couple of minutes, Donald was outside of his door and his hands were all over me. They were on my breasts, they were on my butt. They were on, you know, my hips up and down while the two of them just kept having a normal conversation,' Williams told Keilar.
They were discussing 'irrelevant' things, such as how Williams was just featured on another cover of Sports Illustrated, she said: 'They were back and forth smiling and grinning and carrying on a conversation while Donald ran his hands all over me.'
Assistants were walking back and forth while the incident occurred, she said.
'If it happens in a dark alleyway, you defend yourself. But when it's hidden in its brazenness like that, which is Donald Trump's forte, you go into shock,' Williams told the network. 'So I froze and it was over very quickly. It was a few minutes.'
As she and Epstein got into an elevator to leave, she realized 'Jeffrey's energy had changed.' Williams recalled: 'He was, he was like seething, he was enraged. He wouldn't make eye contact with me.'
When they returned to Fifth Avenue, he blamed the incident on her. She remembered: 'He looked at me and he just started yelling at me saying, 'Why did you let him do that?''
She had the same thought herself. 'I remember thinking like, 'Why did I?' I felt like I was coming back into my body at that moment and I was confused,' she said.
When she first came forward with her assault accusations, Williams said she believed the incident was 'coordinated' between the two men.
Pressed as to why what led her to that conclusion, she told the network that she was known in the industry to be 'combative' with people who would harass her on the street or expose themselves. 'Jeffrey was aware of that and I think he was excited,' she said.
'I think the gist in my mind, given what [Epstein] knew and the way it played out, was, 'Hey, I'm gonna deliver this person to you who's actually not gonna let you get away with what you do.' And I did 'cause I froze,' she said.
Trump's friendship with Epstein spanned the late 80s, 90s and early 2000s, and Trump's phone number — and First Lady Melania Trump's — were included in Epstein's infamous leaked address books. Trump's name also appeared seven times in passenger logs for Epstein's planes.
The pair reportedly fell out in 2004, when Epstein and Trump both tried to buy a Palm Beach estate. The next year, the FBI began investigating Epstein for child sex trafficking. He pleaded guilty to a state charge of soliciting sex from a minor in 2008.
Trump distanced himself from his former friend after Epstein's arrest in 2019, when Trump was president. He has previously denied the allegations made by Williams.
Williams' comments come as the president tries to keep the Epstein case at an arm's length. Last week, the Justice Department announced it had found no evidence to support the existence of a so-called 'client list.' The department also said no 'further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted,' months after it released 'Phase 1' of the Epstein files in February and the attorney general said her team was reviewing a 'truckload' of information.
The DOJ asked a court on Friday to unseal the grand jury transcripts in the Maxwell and Epstein cases. The grand jury testimony is a small portion of the thousands of documents related to the Epstein investigation and criminal case.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Newborn Baby Abandoned in 90 Degree Heat. Authorities Are Still Searching for His Parents
"This is the hottest day of the year. It's insane," a neighbor said after the baby was foundNEED TO KNOW A newborn baby was found abandoned in a car seat in a driveway in Orlando, Fla. on July 28 The baby boy was just a week old and was left alone in temperatures in the 90s The search for his parents is ongoingA newborn baby was discovered alone and strapped in a car seat in a driveway in Florida, according to reports. On Monday, July 28, a one-week-old baby boy was found abandoned near a stranger's home in the 5500 block of Lido Street in Orlando at around 7:20 a.m. local time, CBS affiliate WKMG, FOX affiliate WOFL and FOX affiliate WFLA reported. He was taken to a local hospital and is doing well, authorities said. Video footage showed the homeowner lifting a blanket to check on the sleeping boy, while additional footage revealed a police officer holding the newborn, ABC affiliate WFTV reported. The search is ongoing for the unidentified baby's parents, and police have asked that neighbors review their surveillance footage, according to WOFL. The Orlando Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment. The temperature was in the 90s that morning, as a local resident noted after the shocking discovery. 'This is the hottest day of the year. It's insane. I mean, from what we know, might have been during the night,' Nolan Clark told WKMG. 'So, hopefully the mom and the baby are okay.' While the newborn wasn't harmed, the incident prompted officials to remind Floridians about the state's Safe Haven law, which allows parents to safely and legally relinquish their newborn child. 'Parents can safely leave an infant with someone at designated locations,' the Orlando Police Department told WKMG in a statement, 'such as a hospital, a staffed fire rescue station, or a staffed emergency medical service station, with no questions asked, anonymously, and without fear of prosecution.' While Safe Haven laws differ in each state, a newborn can be given to a Safe Haven provider with no legal consequences if the baby is unharmed, according to the National Safe Haven Alliance. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The purpose is to prevent the newborn from experiencing injury, neglect or death. Since the first Safe Haven law went into effect in Texas in 1999, more than 5,000 babies have been safely surrendered. In 2023, 41 infants were illegally abandoned (28 of which were found dead), while 122 were safely turned over, according to the organization. Anyone with information about the baby boy is urged to call 321-235-5300. To leave a tip anonymously, call Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS (8477) or visit Read the original article on People
Yahoo
2 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas House Republicans unveil new congressional map that looks to pick up five GOP seats
Texas GOP lawmakers released their first draft of the state's new congressional map Wednesday, proposing revamped district lines that attempt to flip five Democratic seats in next year's midterm elections. The new map targets Democratic members of Congress in the Austin, Dallas and Houston metro areas and in South Texas. The draft, unveiled by Corpus Christi Republican Rep. Todd Hunter, will likely change before the final map is approved by both chambers and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott. Democrats have said they might try to thwart the process by fleeing the state. This unusual mid-decade redistricting comes after a pressure campaign waged by President Donald Trump's political team in the hopes of padding Republicans' narrow majority in the U.S. House. Currently, Republicans hold 25 of Texas' 38 House seats. Trump carried 27 of those districts in 2024, including those won by Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen. Under the proposed new lines, 30 districts would have gone to Trump last year, each by at least 10 percentage points. The districts represented by Cuellar and Gonzalez — both of which are overwhelmingly Hispanic and anchored in South Texas — would become slightly more favorable to Republicans. Trump received 53% and 52% in those districts, respectively, in 2024; under the new proposed lines, he would have gotten almost 55% in both districts. Also targeted are Democratic Reps. Julie Johnson of Farmers Branch — whose Dallas-anchored district would be reshaped to favor Republicans — and Marc Veasey of Fort Worth, whose nearby district would remain solidly blue but drop all of Fort Worth — Veasey's hometown and political base. That seat — now solely in Dallas County — contains parts of Johnson's, Veasey's and Rep. Jasmine Crockett's current district, raising the prospect of a primary between Veasey and Johnson. The map's newly proposed GOP seat in Central Texas also triggers the prospect of Austin Democratic Reps. Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett facing each other in a primary for the area's lone remaining blue district. To avoid that scenario, one of the two would have to step aside or run an uphill race for a new Central Texas district, based in San Antonio, that Trump would have won by 10 points. In the Houston area, the proposed map would remake four Democratic districts. The biggest upheaval would be in the 9th Congressional District, a majority-minority seat represented by Rep. Al Green that currently covers the southern part of Harris County and its direct southern neighbors. It would shift to the eastern parts of Houston, where no current member of Congress lives. Instead of being a seat that Vice President Kamala Harris won by 44 percent under the current boundary, Trump would have won it by 15 percent. Texas' Republican-dominated Legislature last drew these maps in 2021, with an eye toward protecting incumbents by making their seats as safe as possible. Trump won every Republican-held Texas district in 2024 by double-digit margins, as did every GOP incumbent who received a Democratic opponent. Edinburg Rep. Monica De La Cruz's 14-point victory was the closest of any winning Republican. To pick up new seats, Republicans have proposed to pack more Democratic voters into districts in the state's blue urban centers, giving Democrats even bigger margins in districts they already control, such as those represented by Crockett, Rep. Joaquin Castro in San Antonio and Rep. Sylvia Garcia in Houston. And they're looking to disperse Republican voters from safely red districts into several districts currently represented by Democrats, such as the ones held by Johnson and Casar. No Republican incumbents' districts were made significantly more competitive. The map-drawers managed to move more Republican voters into Democratic districts around Dallas and Houston without imperiling the nearby seats of GOP Reps. Beth Van Duyne, R-Irving and Troy Nehls, R-Fort Bend. Both faced competitive races in 2020 before their districts were redrawn in 2021 to become solidly Republican, and neither was made to sacrifice those gains in the state House's initial map. The changes would create two more districts in which white residents make up a majority of eligible voters, or citizens who are old enough to vote, hiking the number of such districts from 22 under the current map to 24. Hispanic residents — the state's largest demographic group, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates — currently form the majority of eligible voters in seven districts, a total that would rise to eight under the new plan. Four of the five districts that Republicans have drawn with the intention of flipping are now majority-Hispanic — though the Hispanic populations in the new seats in Houston and Central Texas are almost exactly 50%. The proposed map would also create two majority Black districts, where previously there were none. Among them is the Houston-centered 18th Congressional District, which has been represented by a decades-long run of renowned Black Democratic members, including Barbara Jordan, Mickey Leland, Sheila Jackson Lee and, most recently, Sylvester Turner, whose death in March left the seat vacant. The map proposes to pack even more Democratic voters into the solidly blue seat: Harris won the district with 69% in 2024 and would have carried it with 76% under the new boundaries. Crockett's Dallas seat would also become majority Black. The 18th District was among Texas' four majority-minority congressional seats flagged by the U.S. Department of Justice as unconstitutional racial gerrymanders, a charge Texas Republicans have interchangeably denied in court and cited as the basis for pursuing mid-decade redistricting. Any new map will inevitably be challenged in court. Courts have found that at least one of Texas' maps violated the Voting Rights Act every decade since it went into effect in the mid-60s. The current map is still being challenged in federal court in El Paso, with no verdict yet reached. The lineup for The Texas Tribune Festival continues to grow! Be there when all-star leaders, innovators and newsmakers take the stage in downtown Austin, Nov. 13–15. The newest additions include comedian, actor and writer John Mulaney; Dallas mayor Eric Johnson; U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota; New York Media Editor-at-Large Kara Swisher; and U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso. Get your tickets today! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Chevron granted restricted US license to operate in Venezuela, sources say
By Marianna Parraga HOUSTON (Reuters) -Chevron has been granted a restricted U.S. license to operate in sanctioned Venezuela, three sources close to the decision said on Wednesday, adding that no money from oil proceeds can be transferred in any way to the administration of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Last week, Reuters reported that the U.S. was preparing to grant new authorizations to key partners of Venezuela's state-run PDVSA, starting with Chevron, to allow them to operate with limitations in the OPEC nation and swap oil. The authorization, issued privately to the U.S. oil producer, opens a new window for its oil business in Venezuela only two months after a deadline previously set by Washington for joint-venture partners of state company PDVSA to wind down transactions, including oil exports. Chevron and a handful of European oil companies, including Spain's Repsol and France's Maurel & Prom, had been granted authorizations by the administration of former President Joe Biden, which allowed them to expand operations in Venezuela and export oil to the U.S. and Europe. Amid criticism on migration and democracy in Venezuela, U.S. President Donald Trump in February said the licenses would be revoked and gave the companies until late May to complete transactions. In consequence, Chevron reduced operations in Venezuela and instructed a dedicated fleet of tankers to sail away, delegating operations to PDVSA. Washington allowed Chevron to preserve its assets in the OPEC country, including its joint-venture stakes. The new license would now allow the U.S. company to make decisions at its joint ventures and contribute to procurement and contract payments, two of the sources said. However, since no payments can be made to Venezuela, including mandatory royalties and taxes, it was not immediately clear if PDVSA would assign Chevron any crude cargoes bound to the U.S. It was also unclear if any other partner of PDVSA has received a similar authorization. Chevron declined to comment on the license and said it conducts business globally in compliance with laws and regulations, as well as the U.S. sanctions frameworks. The U.S. Treasury Department and PDVSA did not immediately reply to requests for comment. In April, when the previous licenses were still current, PDVSA canceled cargoes allocated to Chevron over problems receiving mandatory payments. Chevron has not exported Venezuelan oil since. Sign in to access your portfolio
