It’s been six years since sex offender Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide while incarcerated, but his crimes—and his relationship with President Donald Trump—continues to loom large.
Trump and several top allies are facing intense pushback from his MAGA base over his handling of files related to the Epstein case, particularly an alleged “client list” Epstein kept of people he could blackmail or incriminate.
Trump promised during the presidential election to release Epstein’s “list.” But in his first six months in office, his Administration’s efforts to do just that have fallen short of the expectations of many of his followers.
In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News the “client list” was “sitting on” her “desk.” That month, she released various declassified files, much of it heavily redacted, leaving many closely following the case underwhelmed. Earlier this month, federal officials announced a review had found no “incriminating ‘client list,’” related to the Epstein case. Bondi said this week that the “list” she had been referring to on Fox was just files related to the case.
Trump’s supporters have not been mollified by his recent calls for his MAGA base to move on and “not waste time and energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.”
Trump’s own personal relationship with Epstein is complicating the President’s efforts to dampen interest in the case he had previously highlighted to voters.
“How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won’t release the Epstein files?” Elon Musk posted on X on July 8. Musk alleged in June—at the height of his feud with Trump that has since calmed down— that Epstein’s client list hadn’t been released because Trump was listed in them. He later deleted the post from social media.
Trump has maintained over the years that his relationship to Epstein was no different than all of those in their circles in Palm Beach, Florida. In the 1990s, Epstein owned a large Palm Beach mansion just down the road from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Epstein was later described as “a regular for several years at Mar-a-Lago.”
“Well, I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him. I mean, people in Palm Beach knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Beach,” Trump said in 2019 soon after Epstein was charged. “I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don’t think I’ve spoken to him for 15 years. I wasn’t a fan.”
Here is a timeline of Epstein and Trump’s relationship.
Late 1980s
Though it is not known when Epstein and Trump first met, Trump told New York magazine in 2002 that he had known Epstein for 15 years, which would date back to the late 1980s. “Terrific guy,” Trump said in the 2002 interview.
1992
Video footage from NBC archives from 1992 shows Trump and Epstein partying at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The two men can be seen watching and pointing at girls dancing. Seen in the background of the video is Epstein’s right-hand woman, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2022 for conspiring with Epstein in child sex trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Also in 1992, Trump allegedly held a “calendar girl” party for him and Epstein that included “28 girls,” and was organized by Florida businessman George Houraney, The New York Times reported in 2019.
“At the very first party, I said, ‘Who’s coming tonight? I have 28 girls coming.’ It was him and Epstein,” the Times quoted Houraney as saying in 2019. He continued: “I said, ‘Donald, this is supposed to be a party with V.I.P.s. You’re telling me it’s you and Epstein?’” (Houraney has accused Trump of groping his girlfriend and business partner Jill Harth during business presentations. Harth filed a lawsuit against Trump in 1997 alleging the assault. She later dropped the lawsuit after settling with Trump in a separate case, according to The Associated Press.)
1993-1997
The documents Bondi released earlier this year included flight logs from Epstein’s personal plane which had been previously made public. Those logs showed that Trump and his family—including then-wife Marla Maples and their daughter Tiffany Trump—flew on Epstein’s jet multiple times in the mid-1990s.
Bondi’s release also included Epstein’s “black book,” which had also previously been published. The book featured names of prominent people including Trump, former President Bill Clinton, and Prince Andrew, though the New York Times previously reported that there were people in the book that Epstein had never even met—let alone had done business deals with— and thus listed names are not necessarily connected to Epstein’s illegal activities.
2002
New York magazine published a profile of Epstein in 2002 that included a now-infamous quote from Trump.
“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” the magazine reported Trump saying in a phone interview. “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.”
2004
Trump and Epstein’s relationship is said to have blown up in 2004 over a business deal related to an oceanfront property called the Maison de L’Amitié in Palm Beach, according to the Washington Post, with Trump ultimately offering the higher bid. Joseph Luzinski, the bankruptcy trustee, told the Post that the two faced-off as “two very large Palm Beach egos going at it.”
A year later, Florida police began investigating Epstein in relation to sex trafficking.
This investigation culminated in Epstein’s first conviction in 2008, in which his attorney at the time, Alex Acosta, arranged a plea deal in which Epstein was granted immunity from federal prosecution and pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution. Acosta was later Labor Secretary under Trump in his first term as president.
2010s
Since Epstein’s first conviction in 2008, Trump has distanced himself from Epstein and downplayed his connections to the financier.
Trump Organization attorney Alan Garten told POLITICO in 2017 that there was no relationship between the two men. “As I have previously explained, he had no relationship with Mr. Epstein and had no knowledge whatsoever of his conduct,” Garten said in 2017. “This has all been reported countless times in the press.”