President Donald Trump has long tried to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire sex offender who died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Trump has called him a “creep,” insisted he was “not a fan,” and said that before Epstein’s death, they hadn’t spoken in years.
Yet a comprehensive CNN review of court records, photographs, interviews, and other public documents paints a portrait of an enduring relationship until the mid-2000s, when Trump says he broke it off. Trump now repeatedly downplays his past friendshp with Epstein, even as new material continues to surface. In a 2019 interview, Epstein referred to Trump as his “closest friend for 10 years,” a claim echoed by three others who knew the men:
Maria Farmer, one of Epstein’s first victims to speak publicly; Stacey Williams, a former model who dated Epstein; and Jack O’Donnell, a former Trump casino executive—all of whom used the phrase “best friend” to describe their bond in recent interviews on CNN. Law enforcement authorities have never accused Trump of wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
In a statement to CNN in response to questions for this story, White House communications director Steven Cheung said of Epstein, “The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep.” A timeline of Trump’s interactions with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and associate who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking, reveals a long pattern of social proximity that stands in sharp contrast to Trump’s public attempts to downplay their friendship…
1987 Trump and Jeffrey Epstein’s relationship begins, according to Trump in a 2002 profile on Epstein in New York Magazine…”
