Epstein accuser claims she met Trump in disgraced financier's office in ‘troubling encounter'
Artist Maria Farmer said she urged the FBI to look into people in the disgraced financier's social circle, including the president, after the alleged encounter in the 90s, she told The New York Times.
Farmer and her younger sister Annie, who testified at Ghislaine Maxwell's 2021 sex trafficking trial, have spoken publicly about their ordeal with Epstein before. But her account now sheds light on how the Epstein files could contain material that is 'embarrassing or politically problematic' to the president, the Times reports.
Farmer's account is among 'the clearest indications yet' of how Trump may appear in the Epstein files, the Times notes, though the White House disputed the alleged encounter.
'The president was never in [Epstein's] office,' said White House communications director Steven Cheung. 'The fact is that the president kicked him out of his club for being a creep.'
It follows a turbulent few weeks for the Trump administration after MAGA outrage over the Epstein files boiled over last week. Despite campaigning on a promise to release the files, Trump's Justice Department announced in July that no further evidence in the case would be released, unleashing turmoil among the president's MAGA supporter base.
Artist Maria Farmer said she urged the FBI to look into people in Jeffrey Epstein's social circle, including Donald Trump, after the alleged encounter in the 90s. (NBC News)
The president last week agreed to release select grand jury testimony of the case, which experts say is unlikely to produce much, if anything, to satisfy the public's appetite for new information about Epstein's crimes.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail awaiting a sex trafficking trial in August 2019.
Farmer was in her mid-twenties when she claimed she met Trump in 1995, shortly after Epstein hired her to do artwork.
One night, she received an unexpected call from Epstein, who requested she come by his offices in Manhattan.
According to Farmer's account to the Times, Trump was there and 'started to hover over her.'
Farmer said that 'she recalled feeling scared as Mr. Trump stared at her bare legs,' the newspaper reported. 'Then Mr. Epstein entered the room, and she recalled him saying to Mr. Trump: 'No, no. She's not here for you.''
Epstein and Trump then left the room, according to Farmer, and she claimed she heard Trump comment that he thought she was 16 years old.
The White House disputed Farmer's account.
After the encounter, Farmer said she had no other 'alarming' interactions with Trump, nor did she witness him engage in inappropriate conduct with any other girls or women.
Farmer filed a lawsuit at the end of May alleging that the federal government failed to protect her and other victims of the convicted pedophile and his madam, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maria Farmer and her sister Annie were both sexually assaulted by Epstein and Maxwell in the 90s. Annie Farmer testified at Maxwell's 2021 sex trafficking trial. (US District Court for the Southe)
Farmer told the Times that she has long wondered how her complaints about Epstein between 1996 and 2006 were handled by law enforcement agencies.
She told the newspaper that she raised Trump's name with authorities on two occasions because of the alleged encounter and 'because he seemed so close' to Epstein.
Trump has never been accused of any wrongdoing in the Epstein case.
Farmer, who did not testify at Maxwell's trial, was sexually assaulted by Epstein and his madam at his Ohio estate in 1996. Farmer later learned that her younger sister Annie, then 16, was molested by Maxwell and Epstein at his New Mexico ranch that same year.
When Farmer discovered her sister had also been assaulted by Epstein and Maxwell, she reported the sex offender to the FBI.
'There is certainly more to know,' Annie Farmer told The Independent in an interview last year. 'I don't know whether we will ever learn more about that but I don't think we know everything.'
The president has sought to distance himself from the sex offender, with whom he had a friendship from the late 80s until the early 2000s.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal published the text of a note that was allegedly penned by Trump to Epstein as part of a 50th birthday card. The note itself was framed with the silhouette of a naked woman, with the contents alluding to a 'secret' that Trump wrote the two men shared.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump suggests Fed Chair may cut interest rates
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump said on Friday he had a good meeting with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and got the impression Powell might be ready to lower interest rates. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez enters 2026 governor race, calls Trump a 'maniac'
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez enters 2026 governor race, calls Trump a 'maniac' MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Democratic Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez entered the battleground state's open race for governor on Friday by calling President Donald Trump a 'maniac,' as she attempts to differentiate herself in what is expected to be a crowded primary. A second Democrat, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, said in a statement Friday that in the weeks ahead he 'will be taking steps toward entering the race." Wisconsin's 2026 governor's race is open with no incumbent running for the first time since 2010. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers announced Thursday that he would not seek a third term. Both Rodriguez and Crowley would make history if elected. Rodriguez, a former emergency room nurse, would be Wisconsin's first woman governor and Crowley would be the first Black governor. Several other Democrats are expected to join the race. 'We've got a maniac in the White House,' Rodriguez said in a campaign launch video. 'His tariffs are killing our farmers and his policies are hurting our kids.' Rodriguez has been lieutenant governor since 2023, after previously serving one two-year term in the state Assembly representing suburban Milwaukee, where she lives. She won a seat that had been under Republican control for years. Rodriguez emphasized her background working previously as a nurse in a Baltimore emergency room, saying she wanted to continue Evers' emphasis on fighting to protect reproductive freedom, invest in public schools and rebuild the economy. She noted that the state Legislature is within reach of Democratic control, meaning that with a Democratic governor, they could finally enact policies Republicans have blocked for years like expanding Medicaid. A registered nurse, Rodriguez previously worked as a health care executive and an epidemic intelligence service officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has a master's degree in public health. Rodriguez emphasized the importance of health care, including protecting abortion rights, in a brief speech she delivered on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last year. Rodriguez, who is married with two children, launched her candidacy on her 50th birthday. In her first run for office in 2020, when she was elected to the Legislature, Rodriguez said she was motivated to get into politics because of how Republicans handled the COVID-19 pandemic. Rodriguez won the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor in 2022 after then-Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who held the office in Evers' first term, decided to run for the Senate. Barnes, who lost that race to Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, is among several Democrats considering a run for governor next year. Others include Attorney General Josh Kaul, state Sen. Kelda Roys, Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson. On the Republican side, Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann and suburban Milwaukee businessman Bill Berrien are the only announced candidates. Others, including U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and state Senate President Mary Felzkowski, are considering it. Scott Bauer, The Associated Press


Chicago Tribune
18 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
President Donald Trump's AI plan calls for massive data centers. Here's how it may affect energy in the US
President Donald Trump's plan to boost artificial intelligence and build data centers across the U.S. could speed up a building boom that was already expected to strain the nation's ability to power it. The White House released the 'AI Action Plan' Wednesday, vowing to expedite permitting for construction of energy-intensive data centers as it looks to make the country a leader in a business that tech companies and others are pouring billions of dollars into. Nuclear plant deal sets stage for AI billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg to reshape Illinois energy policyThe plan says to combat 'radical climate dogma,' a number of restrictions — including clean air and water laws — could be lifted, aligning with Trump's 'American energy dominance' agenda and his efforts to undercut clean energy. Here's what you need to know. Massive amounts of electricity are needed to support the complex servers, equipment and more for AI. Electricity demand from data centers worldwide is set to more than double by 2030, to slightly more than the entire electricity consumption of Japan today, the International Energy Agency said earlier this year. In many cases, that electricity may come from burning coal or natural gas. These fossil fuels emit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide and methane. This in turn is tied to extreme weather events that are becoming more severe, frequent and costly. The data centers used to fuel AI also need a tremendous amount of water to keep cool. That means they can strain water sources in areas that may have little to spare. Typically, tech giants, up-and-comers and other developers try to keep an existing power plant online to meet demand, experts say, and most existing power plants in the U.S. are still producing electricity using fossil fuels — most often natural gas. Landing a data center is worth the environmental tradeoffs, Illinois towns sayIn certain areas of the U.S., a combination of renewables and energy storage in the form of batteries are coming online. But tapping into nuclear power is especially of interest as a way to reduce data center-induced emissions while still meeting demand and staying competitive. Amazon said last month it would spend $20 billion on data center sites in Pennsylvania, including one alongside a nuclear power plant. The investment allows Amazon to plug right into the plant, a scrutinized but faster approach for the company's development timeline. Meta recently signed a deal to secure nuclear power to meet its computing needs. Microsoft plans to buy energy from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, and Google previously signed a contract to purchase it from multiple small modular reactors in the works. Data centers are often built where electricity is cheapest, and often, that's not from renewables. And sometimes data centers are cited as a reason to extend the lives of traditional, fossil-fuel-burning power plants. But just this week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on the world's largest tech players to fuel their data center needs entirely with renewables by 2030. It's necessary to use fewer fossil fuels, he said. Experts say it's possible for developers, investors and the tech industry to decarbonize. However, though industry can do a lot with clean energy, the emerging demands are so big that it can't be clean energy alone, said University of Pennsylvania engineering professor Benjamin Lee. More generative AI, ChatGPT and massive data centers means 'relying on wind and solar alone with batteries becomes really, really expensive,' Lee added, hence the attention on natural gas, but also nuclear. Regardless of what powers AI, the simple law of supply and demand makes it all but certain that costs for consumers will rise. New data center projects might require both new energy generation and existing generation. Developers might also invest in batteries or other infrastructure like transmission lines. All of this costs money, and it needs to be paid for from somewhere. 'In a lot of places in the U.S., they are seeing that rates are going up because utilities are making these moves to try to plan,' said Amanda Smith, a senior scientist at research organization Project Drawdown. 'They're planning transmission infrastructure, new power plants for the growth and the load that's projected, which is what we want them to do,' she added. 'But we as ratepayers will wind up seeing rates go up to cover that.'