President Donald Trump is working overtime to distance himself from his former friend Jeffrey Epstein.
On Sunday, Trump declared that if a bill to release the remaining Epstein files comes across his desk, he will sign it. It was an unexpected sentiment coming from the president, who has spent the past several months fighting the release of the Epstein files, which he has branded a “Democrat hoax.”
“Let the Senate look at it,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday. “Let anybody look at it, but don’t talk about it too much, because, honestly, I don’t want to take it away from us. It’s really a Democrat problem. The Democrats were Epstein’s friends, all of them, and it’s a hoax.”
Trump also attempted to separate himself from Epstein, despite the pair being friends from the late 1980s through 2004 and his name being mentioned many times in a newly released trove of emails sent by the late sex offender.
“I believe that many of the people that we... some of the people that we mentioned are being looked at very seriously for their relationship to Jeffrey Epstein, but they were with him all the time,” Trump said on Monday. “I wasn’t. I wasn’t at all, and we’ll see what happens.”
In July 2019, a month before the disgraced financier was found dead in his jail cell, Trump claimed he fell out with Epstein “a long time ago,” adding, “I don’t think I’ve spoken to him for 15 years. I wasn’t a fan.” He would later call him a “creep.”
That’s a long way from the quote Trump gave New York in 2002, where he said, “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. 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.”
Despite the president’s statement that he wasn’t with Epstein “at all,” here are several photos that contradict that claim.
Mar-a-Lago, November, 1992
These are shots from a video NBC unearthed from November 1992, where Trump and Epstein are partying at Mar-a-Lago with cheerleaders from the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins. At one point in the video Trump is seen inviting Epstein into his house. While staring at women dancing in front of them, Trump says “she’s hot” to Epstein, who laughs at one his jokes. The footage was filmed for a profile of the freshly-divorced Trump and his lifestyle for the Faith Daniels talk show A Closer Look.
Mar-a-Lago, February 22, 1997
A happy snap of Epstein hanging out at, checks notes, Donald Trump’s play palace at Palm Beach, Florida.
Duvet, 21st Street, NYC, April 9, 1997
If there was a Victoria’s Secret event in the 1990s, Don and Jeff were likely to be there. Here they are hanging out at a Victoria’s Secret Angels event at the club Duvet on 21st Street in New York City.
New York, April 28, 1997
Here’s Trump with Belgian model Ingrid Seynhaeve at a Victoria’s Secret Angels party, and look who’s lurking in the background. Trump owned the Miss USA beauty pageant from 1996 to 2015. Epstein had close business ties to Les Wexner, owner of lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret. Epstein biographer Michael Wolff said for Trump and Epstein, hunting for glamorous women “was their obsession. I think it was probably the most important part of their lives. Women and money, money and models.”
Mar-a-Lago, February 12, 2000
By the new millennium Trump had met former model Melania Knauss. Here the future third Mrs. Trump poses with Trump, Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at a Mar-a-Lago party.
Same party, same night, but with added balladeer Michael Bolton and a Epstein/Maxwell photobomb happening behind them.
![Michael Wolff said that President Donald Trump is trying to dismiss the Epstein connection: "Trump [is] very good at denial,” said Wolff. “It doesn’t matter what it is. He will just deny.”](https://www.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/3F4J33GFZBEFRMDEMIPYYBXUE4.jpg?auth=d3f1b2b2618de7463939e1b29bfb0c755ff68e061091b17df65313aa72bbb366&width=800&height=744)
The foursome pose for another happy snap at Trump’s Palm Beach resort.
January 20, 2003
Let us not forget the letter Donald Trump says he did not write, did not draw a ribald picture for and did not sign for Epstein’s 50th birthday book, compiled by Maxwell. Epstein and Trump would officially fall out in 2004.
