Despite what he may claim, President Donald Trump does have a history of involvement with financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They had known each other since the late 1980s, and had been close friends before having a dispute around 2004.
Trump and Epstein met in 1985, around the time Trump purchased his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago. At the time, Epstein was also living in Palm Beach.
During their friendship, Trump and Epstein attended Victoria’s Secret Angel parties, partied together at their respective estates, flew between New York and Florida on Epstein’s private jet, and dined at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion.
- 1992 – Florida businessman George Houraney organizes a VIP party called The “Calendar Girl” competition at Mar-a-Lago for which he invites 28 young female models to participate. To Houraney’s surprise, Trump only invited Epstein.
- 1993 – Model Stacey Williams told The New York Times that Trump groped her when she was brought to Trump Tower by Epstein.
- 1997 – In Trump’s third book, Trump: The Art of the Comeback, he addressed a note to Epstein that said, “To Jeff—You are the greatest!” Additionally in 1997, Trump and Epstein were photographed together at a Victoria’s Secret “Angels” party.
- 2003 – Trump signs a birthday book for Epstein’s 50th birthday with a drawing of a naked woman framing a fictional conversation between Trump and Epstein. During the conversation the phrase, “we have certain things in common, Jeffrey” is written. When the book was released to the public on Sept. 8, Trump repeatedly denied signing the book.
Their friendship lasted nearly three decades before major conflicts arose.
In 2004, Epstein and Trump had a bidding dispute over Maison de L’Amitié, a 62,000-square-foot Palm Beach waterfront mansion (the size of roughly 42 average American homes). Trump offered the higher bid and secured the home for $41.35 million. According to PBS, this bidding war further drove a wedge into their friendship. In 2007, Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago spa, with the stated reason that Epstein had repeatedly harassed the daughters of club members.
On July 23, 2025, Trump told reporters that he stopped talking to Epstein because he had repeatedly stolen his young female Mar-a-Lago employees. Trump admitted that Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent victims and accusers, was one of the employees that was “stolen” from Mar-a-Lago. It is still unclear to the public whether or not he knew what Giuffre was being recruited for.
Impacts Today
Although today Trump denies having done any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein, his affiliation with the late sex trafficking offender has led to some turmoil within his own party and throughout his followers. Marjorie Taylor Greene was once a loyal ally of Trump’s, but the two recently had a falling out. Politico reports that Greene said that Epstein has “ripped MAGA apart”. This has led to Greene declaring she will resign from Congress this January.
Critics say Trump’s lack of transparency and his tendency to undermine what evidence suggests was a close friendship has raised some concerns among Americans. With more of Epstein’s crimes coming to light it isn’t clear whether or not the President was involved or had any knowledge of the criminal conduct.
With the Epstein files to be released by Dec. 19, 2025, more information concerning the true nature and depth of Trump and Epstein’s relationship will come to light.
According to New York Magazine, Epstein described himself as “a loner, a man who’s never touched alcohol or drugs, and one whose nightlife is far from energetic,” while his former friend Trump said, “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it–Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Additional reporting by Isabel Keim.
