Trump Hit With New Epstein Expose on Eve of Files Deadline

The Justice Department has until Friday to release the Epstein files, but ahead of that deadline, a new report reveals details about President Donald Trump’s relationship with the convicted sex offender, whom he once called a “terrific guy.”

For months, Trump has tried to distance himself from the Jeffrey Epstein affair after his administration reneged on a promise to release the full documents to his “Make America Great Again” supporters.

He and his team have offered conflicting accounts of their relationship and the reasons for their falling out in the mid-2000s, while the president has sought to shift the blame to others.

The New York Times interviewed more than 30 former Epstein employees who had met him and reviewed new documents for a report that it says sheds light on an “intense and complex relationship,” but offers no evidence implicating the president in Epstein’s crimes.

“The relationship between the two men was far closer and more complex than the president now acknowledges,” the report states.

The report detailed how their relationship began in the 1980s and how it intensified, with each man engaging in a competition for women, a game of vanity and power. The report asserted that “women’s bodies were a form of currency.”

Epstein was “arguably Trump’s most loyal companion” during the nearly two decades he was a regular at parties in New York and Florida.

Stacey Williams, a former Sports Illustrated model and Epstein’s girlfriend, told the Times that she believed it was primarily a “quest for notoriety.” She had previously recounted how Trump sexually assaulted her at Trump Tower in 1993, with Epstein present. Trump has denied these allegations.

Based on interviews, testimonies, and documents, at least six women who accused Epstein or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell of sexual assault have been identified as having encountered Donald Trump over the years. None of them have accused Trump of inappropriate behavior.

One woman told the New York Times that Epstein forced her to attend four parties at his home, which Trump also attended. At two of these parties, Epstein allegedly ordered her to have sex with other male guests.

According to another employee familiar with the matter, Trump allegedly harassed an Epstein employee on a flight in the early 1990s, telling her he could have any woman he wanted.

Another employee said that Trump sometimes sent Epstein photos of models that resembled a “menu.”

Trump has not been accused of sexually assaulting minors.

Trump visited Epstein’s Manhattan residence, and the disgraced financier visited the Plaza Hotel, which Trump owned at the time, as well as at least one of his casinos in Atlantic City. According to Epstein’s employees and women who stayed at his home, they visited each other’s offices and homes in Florida and spoke frequently on the phone.

According to one of Epstein’s associates, the two men spoke on the phone at least three times a week between the mid-to-late 1990s.

Another associate recalled that Epstein would put Trump on speakerphone when the office was empty, and that Trump “seemed to enjoy recounting his sexual exploits to Mr. Epstein.” She added that Epstein seemed to take pleasure in upsetting her. During one call, they allegedly discussed a woman’s pubic hair in detail. On another occasion, Trump reportedly recounted having sex with another woman on a pool table. The report explains that Epstein discussed various topics with other people, but that with Trump, the conversation “always revolved around sex.”

A third employee also recounted how Epstein would put Trump on speakerphone while they talked about beauty pageants, models’ shoes, or countries where women were at the forefront of fashion.

The White House sharply criticized the Times article in response.

“This article, which is fake news and doesn’t even deserve the ink used to print it, is nothing more than a tired rehashing of old, false accusations against President Trump,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “The truth will remain the same, regardless of the New York Times’ efforts to distort it. President Trump did nothing wrong and he banned Jeffrey Epstein from Mar-a-Lago for his reprehensible behavior.”

A Trump spokesperson denied to the Times last summer that Trump had ever visited Epstein’s office, but a former associate claimed that Trump had met him there several times in the mid-1990s.

Previously unpublished handwritten diaries, covering several months in late 1994 and kept by a former associate, and later reviewed by the Times, indicate that Trump was a regular presence in Epstein’s life.

Several people interviewed recalled that the two men attended numerous events in New York and Florida.

Tina Davis, then a 14-year-old model for Ford Models, was attending a party at Mar-a-Lago in late 1994. She was accompanied by her mother, Sandra Coleman.

Ms. Coleman recalled that a Ford agent had asked her daughter to dress provocatively. Tina arrived at the party by bus with eight or nine other models, whom Ms. Coleman described as very young. Ms. Coleman recalls that upon their arrival, her daughter was offered champagne, which she had to take away from her. She also intervened, introducing herself as Tina’s mother, when men approached her daughter.

Ms. Coleman remembers going to the restroom, where she encountered Marla Maples, Trump’s new wife. In the Times article, she recounts that Ms. Maples took her hand and said, “Whatever you do, don’t let her get near those men, and especially not my husband.”

Ms. Maples has denied making these remarks.