Donald Trump

Donald Trump is the second most mentioned name in the Epstein files — after Jeffrey Epstein himself. Across the 3.5 million pages of documents released by the Department of Justice, Trump’s name appears more than 38,000 times, flagged in more than 5,300 individual files. As Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) noted at AG Pam Bondi’s February 2026 hearing, that is more than Harry Potter is mentioned across all seven Harry Potter books.

Not all of those mentions indicate wrongdoing. Many are press clippings, duplicates, and correspondence in which Epstein discussed Trump with others. But the sheer volume — combined with flight records showing Trump on at least eight Epstein flights between 1993 and 1997, with Ghislaine Maxwell present on at least four of them — underscores a relationship that was far deeper and longer than Trump’s public statements have acknowledged. And his conduct as president, once the files threatened to surface, has been more obstructive than any other figure in the case — including Bill Clinton, who called for full, unredacted release of every document bearing his name.

The Social Relationship (Late 1980s–Mid 2000s)

Trump and Epstein moved in overlapping circles in Palm Beach and Manhattan beginning in the late 1980s. Both were prominent figures in Palm Beach society — Trump as owner of Mar-a-Lago (purchased in 1985), Epstein as a financier with a mansion on El Brillo Way.

Epstein was a member of Mar-a-Lago. Epstein’s contacts book — an earlier version of which was published in 2015, with the estate later turning over records to the House Oversight Committee in 2025 — listed contact information for Trump and members of his family, including multiple phone numbers. The presence of contact information does not by itself indicate involvement in Epstein’s crimes.

The most widely quoted evidence of their relationship comes from a 2002 New York Magazine profile of Epstein, in which Trump said: “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen 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.”

That quote — particularly “many of them are on the younger side” — would become one of the most scrutinized statements in the entire Epstein case.

The Birthday Letter

In July 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported on a letter bearing Trump’s name that was included in a leather-bound album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. According to the Journal, the typewritten note — framed by the outline of a hand-drawn naked woman, with “Donald” signed below the waist — depicted an imaginary exchange between the two men and concluded: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” The full album, which the Epstein estate turned over under a congressional subpoena, was released by the House Oversight Committee in September 2025.

Trump emphatically denied writing the letter. He told the Journal: “This is not me. This is a fake thing. It’s a fake Wall Street Journal story. I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” and called the story “false, malicious, and defamatory.” He sued the newspaper and its owners over the report (see below).

Epstein’s Private Emails About Trump

In November 2025, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released emails from Epstein’s accounts that reference Trump. The committee released three exchanges, and the full context of each is not clear from the portions made public:

• April 2011: In an email to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein wrote: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.” He added that a person the Democrats identified as a victim, whose name was redacted, had “spent hours at my house with him” and that Trump “has never once been mentioned.”
• December 2015: After author Michael Wolff emailed that CNN was planning to ask Trump about his relationship with Epstein, Epstein replied: “If we were to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?” The emails show Epstein offering to shape a response; they do not establish that Trump participated.
• January 2019: In an email to Michael Wolff, Epstein wrote: “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever…Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”

These are Epstein’s own characterizations, and none of the documents made public in civil lawsuits or Maxwell’s trial contain allegations of wrongdoing by Trump. The White House responded that Democrats had “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump” and called the matter a “hoax.”

The Mar-a-Lago Ban

Trump has claimed he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in the mid-2000s, before Epstein’s 2006 arrest. Attorney Brad Edwards — who represented Epstein’s victims — offered partial corroboration. In a 2018 interview, Edwards said Trump was the only person on a list he contacted who was willing to talk and was “very helpful” when Edwards was investigating Epstein’s network.

An FBI 302 document, reported in February 2026 as part of the DOJ’s file release, recorded that Reiter told the FBI in October 2019 that Trump had called him in July 2006, after the Palm Beach police investigation became public, telling him: “thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this.” According to the 302, Trump called Ghislaine Maxwell “Epstein’s operative,” said “she is evil and to focus on her,” said “people in New York knew Epstein was disgusting,” and said he had once been around Epstein when teenagers were present and “got the hell out of there.” These statements — while supporting the claim that Trump eventually distanced himself — are difficult to reconcile with his 2020 “I wish her well” comment about Maxwell. They also stand against his later public denials of any close ties, including a January 2024 Truth Social post stating “I was never on Epstein’s Plane, or at his ‘stupid’ Island” — a claim the flight logs contradict as to the plane.

However, other documents complicated the ban account further. According to Rep. Jamie Raskin, who reviewed unredacted files, a 2009 email exchange between Epstein and Maxwell — in which Epstein recounted his lawyers’ account of a phone call with Trump — quoted or paraphrased Trump as saying Epstein “was not a member of Mar-a-Lago, but he was a guest at Mar-a-Lago,” and “we never asked him to leave.” Raskin said the passage was redacted in the public release. The exchange dates to 2009 — about two years after Trump says he expelled Epstein — and is at odds with Trump’s public statements about kicking Epstein out. Mar-a-Lago’s registry, as described in the 2020 book “The Grifter’s Club,” reportedly shows Epstein remained a member until October 2007 — more than a year after his July 2006 indictment in Palm Beach.

The reason for any separation is disputed. Some accounts attribute it to a real estate dispute, including a 2004 Palm Beach bankruptcy auction in which Trump outbid Epstein for a mansion. A widely cited account in “The Grifter’s Club” holds that Trump barred Epstein after Epstein approached the teenage daughter of another club member at Mar-a-Lago — an account that, if accurate, would place Trump’s awareness of Epstein’s behavior earlier than some of his public statements suggested. Trump’s defenders cite his voluntary contact with Palm Beach police during the initial investigation as evidence of cooperation.

Virginia Giuffre and Mar-a-Lago

One of the most significant facts in the Epstein case directly involves Trump’s property. Virginia Giuffre — one of the most prominent Epstein accusers — stated in court filings and depositions that she was recruited into Epstein’s trafficking network while working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in 1999–2000, when she was approximately 16 years old. Ghislaine Maxwell approached Giuffre there and initially offered her work as a masseuse for Epstein. Giuffre’s father, Sky Roberts, was a maintenance worker at Mar-a-Lago at the time.

A partially redacted DOJ memo released under the Transparency Act confirms that Giuffre told federal investigators about working as a teenager at Trump’s club, how she was recruited from there to work for Epstein, and about the sexual abuse she says she was later subjected to.

Giuffre has not accused Trump of sexual misconduct. But the recruitment of an underage trafficking victim at Trump’s club — under the watch of Epstein, who was a club member — is a central fact in the case.

Flight Logs

The released files revealed more extensive flight connections than were previously known. A 2020 email from a federal prosecutor, included in the DOJ document release, states that Trump was listed as a passenger on at least eight Epstein flights between 1993 and 1997. On at least four of those flights, Ghislaine Maxwell was also a passenger. On one 1993 flight, Trump and Epstein were the only two passengers listed in the logs.

This is significantly more than the single documented flight that was publicly known before the file releases. The documented flights are domestic, on the Palm Beach–New York corridor. There is no evidence in the flight logs of Trump traveling to Little St. James Island, Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Stacey Williams Allegation (2024)

In October 2024, during the presidential campaign, former model Stacey Williams publicly alleged that Trump groped her in 1993. Williams, who said she had been in a relationship with Epstein at the time, said Epstein walked her to Trump Tower to meet Trump, who she alleged “pulled me into him” and put his hands on her body while he and Epstein “kept talking and looking at each other and smiling.” She said it felt “coordinated.” Williams made the allegation in interviews, including with CNN, and on a Zoom call with Survivors for Kamala, a group unaffiliated with the campaign. The Trump campaign denied the allegation, with spokesperson Karoline Leavitt calling it a “fake story.” The allegation has not been the subject of any legal proceeding.

The Jane Doe Lawsuit (2016)

In June 2016, a woman using the pseudonym “Jane Doe” filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of New York (Case No. 1:16-cv-04642) alleging that Trump raped her at an Epstein party in 1994 when she was 13 years old. An earlier version had been filed and dismissed on procedural grounds in California.

The lawsuit was withdrawn on November 4, 2016 — four days before the presidential election. The plaintiff’s attorney stated she had received threats and was too frightened to proceed. Trump denied the allegations and called the lawsuit “totally false” and “politically motivated.”

The case was never adjudicated on its merits. No evidence beyond the plaintiff’s sworn declarations was presented in court.

Alexander Acosta: The Plea Deal and the Cabinet

Trump nominated Alexander Acosta — the U.S. Attorney who brokered Epstein’s 2008 plea deal — as Secretary of Labor. Acosta was confirmed in April 2017. Acosta reportedly told Trump’s transition team that he had been told to “leave it alone” because Epstein “belonged to intelligence,” a claim first reported by the Daily Beast.

After the Miami Herald’s “Perversion of Justice” investigation in 2018 and Epstein’s July 2019 federal arrest, Acosta’s position became untenable. He resigned on July 19, 2019. Trump praised him upon departure.

After Epstein’s 2019 Arrest

On July 9, 2019 — three days after Epstein was arrested on new federal sex trafficking charges — Trump addressed the media: “I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.” He added: “I had a falling out with him. I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of Jeffrey Epstein.”

After Epstein was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on August 10, 2019, Trump retweeted a conspiracy theory linking Epstein’s death to Bill Clinton using the hashtag #ClintonBodyCount. The medical examiner ruled the death a suicide by hanging.

When asked about Ghislaine Maxwell after her July 2020 arrest on sex trafficking charges, Trump said from the White House briefing room: “I just wish her well, frankly.” He added: “I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach.” The comment drew widespread criticism and became one of the most replayed clips of his presidency related to the Epstein case.

The 2024 Campaign Promise

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump pledged to release the Epstein files. On Fox & Friends in June 2024, he said he would “take a look” at releasing records. In September 2024, on the Lex Fridman podcast (Episode #442), he was more direct. When asked about releasing the files, Trump said: “I’d have no problem with it.” He distanced himself from Epstein — “I never went to his island, fortunately, but a lot of people did” — and suggested it would probably happen: “It’s very interesting, isn’t it? It probably will be, by the way, probably.” He described Epstein as “a good salesman” with “some nice assets that he’d throw around like islands.”

Running mate JD Vance reinforced the promise on the Theo Von podcast: “We should release the Epstein files, we should release the JFK files. People have a right to know what their government is hiding.”

These promises helped consolidate grassroots support and became a rallying point across the political spectrum.

After taking office, AG Pam Bondi initially signaled transparency. In February 2025, she stated a client list was “sitting on my desk.” In May 2025, she claimed there were “tens of thousands of videos” related to the case. Both statements were later contradicted by the DOJ’s July 7, 2025 memo, which stated that no “client list” existed and no further releases were warranted.

In May 2025, Bondi and Deputy AG Todd Blanche briefed Trump that his name appeared in the Epstein files. CNN reported on July 23, 2025 that this briefing preceded Trump’s dramatic shift.

The pattern is worth spelling out: Trump promised transparency when he assumed the files would implicate his political enemies. The moment he learned they implicated him, he moved to suppress them.

The Reversal (July 2025)

On July 7, 2025, the DOJ released a memo declaring no “client list” existed. FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino appeared on Fox News to affirm that Epstein had died by suicide — a striking turnaround from years of conspiracy theories that had served the administration’s allies.

On July 12, Trump posted on Truth Social that people should “not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.”

On July 15, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Trump told reporters: “I don’t understand why this would be of interest to anybody.” He called the files “pretty boring stuff” and “sordid, but it’s boring.” Then: “Only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.”

The next day — July 16, 2025 — from the Oval Office during a bilateral meeting, Trump declared: “It was a hoax. It’s all been a big hoax. It’s perpetrated by the Democrats and some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net.”

That same day, he posted on Truth Social branding it “the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax” and attacking his own supporters: “My PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker.” He called them “weaklings” and added: “I don’t want their support anymore!”

It was the first time a sitting president had explicitly disavowed supporters for demanding accountability in a child sex trafficking case. A September 2025 Marist poll found that 90 percent of Americans wanted at least some of the files released.

The next day, after the Wall Street Journal published its report on the birthday album letter bearing his name, Trump said: “This is not me. This is a fake thing… I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women.” On July 18, 2025, he filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit in federal court in Florida against the Journal’s publisher Dow Jones, its parent News Corp, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, Rupert Murdoch, and the two reporters who wrote the story. He also asked Bondi to produce “any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony,” framing the entire Epstein saga as a “SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats.”

On April 13, 2026, U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Trump’s complaint “comes nowhere close” to plausibly alleging the “actual malice” that public figures must show in defamation cases. The judge dismissed the suit with leave to amend, noting that whether Trump authored the letter was a “question of fact” that could not be resolved at that stage. Trump refiled the suit in late May 2026, again seeking $10 billion. As of this writing, the matter has not been decided on the merits.

On September 3, 2025, during a meeting with Poland’s president, Trump called the Epstein push “a Democrat hoax that never ends” and said the files were “totally irrelevant.”

The Backlash

The reversal fractured Trump’s own media ecosystem. Joe Rogan called it “the gaslightiest gaslighting shit I’ve ever heard in my life.” Tucker Carlson said: “The same people who told you every institution was corrupt are now asking you to trust the FBI’s assessment that there’s nothing to see here.” Alex Jones called Trump’s handling of the situation “the biggest train wreck I’ve ever seen.” Charlie Kirk and other MAGA-aligned figures publicly broke with Trump — a rare sustained fracture.

Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) told CNN the Epstein issue was “the number one thing” coming up in constituent calls to his office, calling it a reflection of the feeling that Americans “can’t trust their government.” Even former Vice President Mike Pence said publicly that “the time has come for the administration to release all of the files.”

Fighting the Discharge Petition

The White House fought aggressively to block the bipartisan discharge petition filed by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA). A formal White House statement called Republican support for the petition “a very hostile act to the administration.”

Four Republicans defied him: Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Nancy Mace. Greene described the pressure she faced: “I got a lot of pushback. I got phone call after phone call last night. They didn’t want me to sign the discharge petition.” She told the New York Times: “I told them, ‘You didn’t get me elected. I do not work for you; I work for my district.’” She also pushed back against the White House’s characterization, saying the true hostile act was when Epstein raped women.

In a last-ditch effort, Boebert was brought into a Situation Room meeting with Bondi, Blanche, and FBI Director Patel. She refused to withdraw her signature.

Speaker Mike Johnson delayed the swearing-in of Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), who had won a special election, citing the government shutdown — despite having sworn in two Republican members during a pro forma session earlier that year. When Grijalva was finally sworn in on November 12 and signed as the 218th name, the floor vote was triggered.

Signing the Act (November 2025)

On November 16, 2025 — with the vote inevitable — Trump posted on Truth Social: “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics.”

The House voted 427–1 on November 18. The Senate passed the bill unanimously on November 19. Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act (Public Law 119-38) into law later that day — without a public signing ceremony. He announced it on Truth Social, claiming credit: “I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES! As everyone knows, I asked Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, to pass this Bill.” He described Epstein as “a lifelong Democrat” who was “deeply associated with many well-known Democrat figures,” naming Clinton, Larry Summers, and Reid Hoffman, and concluded: “Perhaps the truth about these Democrats, and their associations with Jeffrey Epstein, will soon be revealed.”

Trump had spent months fighting the bill and personally lobbied Republican members to block it. Rep. Ro Khanna observed that Trump “saw the math” and “caved to the coalition.” Rep. Thomas Massie was more blunt, later noting the irony: the administration had spent months fighting a bill that would pass with a single opposing vote.

The Releases: Obstruction Continued

Signing the law did not end the obstruction. The Transparency Act required full release within 30 days — by December 19, 2025. The DOJ missed that deadline, releasing a first batch that was widely criticized as incomplete and heavily redacted, with hundreds of pages entirely blacked out.

Within hours of the first release, at least 16 files disappeared from the DOJ’s public Epstein website — including a photograph showing Trump alongside Epstein, Melania Trump, and Maxwell. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee flagged the removal. After bipartisan backlash, the DOJ restored the photo, claiming it had been temporarily removed “out of an abundance of caution” for victim protection review. Deputy AG Blanche called the suggestion that it was removed because of Trump “laughable.”

The DOJ released additional files in waves — a second batch on December 22 with hundreds of Trump references, a third on December 23. By the final release on January 30, 2026, the Department claimed compliance, having released over 3.5 million pages, 180,000 images, and 2,000 videos.

But Reps. Khanna and Massie said the releases had too many redactions and missing information, and they began drafting inherent contempt proceedings against Bondi. On February 2, 2026, Deputy AG Blanche announced there would be no additional prosecutions related to Epstein.

”It Absolves Me” (January–February 2026)

On January 30, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the files “absolve” him. He threatened to sue author Michael Wolff and the Epstein estate, calling Wolff “a third-rate writer” who was “conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to hurt me, politically or otherwise.”

On February 3, in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters: “I think it’s really time for the country to get on to something else… Now that nothing came out about me, other than it was a conspiracy against me, literally, by Epstein and other people.” When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked about survivors, Trump lashed out: “You are so bad. You know, you are the worst reporter.”

On February 12, after AG Bondi testified before Congress, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had been “100% exonerated” and praised Bondi as “fantastic.” In the same post, he attacked Rep. Thomas Massie as a “Sanctimonious RINO” and “Weak and Pathetic RINO from the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky” who “must be thrown out of office, ASAP!” He endorsed a primary challenger to Massie and personally attacked Massie’s wife, saying Massie “became liberal” because his wife is “supposedly a Radical Left ‘flamethrower.’”

Trump did not substantively address the 38,000+ mentions of his name, the Epstein email stating he “knew about the girls,” or the contradiction between the flight logs and his public statements about never flying on Epstein’s plane.

The Contrast with Clinton

The comparison with Bill Clinton is instructive. Clinton’s documented contacts with Epstein are extensive — at least 26 flight segments, trips with Maxwell, White House visits. But when the files were released, Clinton’s spokesperson Angel Urena issued a statement demanding the DOJ release everything: “What the Department of Justice has released so far, and the manner in which it did so, makes one thing clear: someone or something is being protected. We do not know whom, what or why. But we do know this: We need no such protection.” Urena specifically called on Trump to direct Bondi to “immediately release any remaining materials referring to, mentioning, or containing a photograph of Bill Clinton.”

Clinton called for more transparency. Trump fought to prevent it — and when forced to allow it, his DOJ repeatedly removed and restored files from the release website, including a photograph of Trump with Epstein. The pattern of selective removals and restorations has continued across multiple release batches.

No one involved in this case emerges cleanly. But the distinction matters: one former president asked the public to see everything; the sitting president used the apparatus of the federal government to limit what the public could see.

What Is and Is Not Established

Trump has never been charged with any crime related to Epstein, and no criminal wrongdoing by him has been established. He is not accused of a crime in the documents themselves. Virginia Giuffre, who was recruited at Trump’s property, has not accused Trump of sexual misconduct. The Justice Department, in its 2026 release, said that some material it published — including allegations submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 election — contained “untrue and sensationalist claims” about Trump; separately, an NPR investigation reported that the DOJ also withheld and removed some files relating to accusations against him.

What is established is this: Trump had a documented social relationship with Epstein spanning at least a decade. Flight logs list him on at least eight Epstein flights in the 1990s — contradicting his January 2024 statement “I was never on Epstein’s Plane.” In an email released by the House Oversight Committee, Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop”; another, to Maxwell, called Trump “the dog that hasn’t barked.” A letter bearing Trump’s name, framed by a drawing of a naked woman, appeared in Epstein’s 2003 birthday album — a letter Trump denies writing and over which he is suing the Wall Street Journal for $10 billion. An underage victim was recruited at his club. He nominated the prosecutor who brokered Epstein’s lenient plea deal to his cabinet. According to a 2006 FBI account, he called Maxwell “evil” and Epstein’s “operative” to police, then wished her “well” from the White House briefing room in 2020. He promised transparency during his campaign, then fought it for months once he learned his name was in the files — calling the case a “hoax,” branding supporters who demanded accountability “weaklings,” and pressuring Congress to block the Transparency Act, including bringing a sitting congresswoman into the Situation Room. He signed the Act only when a 427–1 House vote made resistance impossible — then claimed credit, framing the release as his idea. His DOJ removed and later restored a photograph of him with Epstein from the release website. After the files were released, he claimed they “absolve” him, told the country to “move on,” called himself “100% exonerated,” attacked the reporter who asked about survivors, and threatened to sue the Epstein estate.

His name appears in the Epstein files more than 38,000 times — more than Harry Potter in the Harry Potter books, more than the name of any person except Jeffrey Epstein himself.

Documents

Primary-source records that name or reference Donald Trump. Inclusion in these documents is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing; Trump has never been charged with any crime related to Epstein, no criminal wrongdoing by him has been established, and he denies the allegations and the birthday-album letter described below.

• Giuffre v. Maxwell — unsealed court records (Jan. 2024) — Trump is named in this civil case (U.S. District Court, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:15-cv-07433). Johanna Sjoberg’s deposition recounts Epstein saying “we’ll call up Trump” and going to one of his Atlantic City casinos, and lists Trump among people Epstein knew; witnesses were also asked whether they had massaged or met Trump. (The records also contain since-recanted, court-described “fabricated” claims by Sarah Ransome; no allegation of wrongdoing by Trump was substantiated in these filings.)
• Epstein’s contact book (“black book”) — The redacted contact directory released by the DOJ lists contact information for Trump and members of his family, including multiple phone numbers.
• Epstein flight logs — Pilot manifests for Epstein’s aircraft record Trump as a passenger; a 2020 federal-prosecutor email in the DOJ release states he was listed on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1997, several with Ghislaine Maxwell aboard. The documented flights are on the Palm Beach–New York corridor; the logs show no travel to Epstein’s island.
• House Oversight Committee — additional Epstein estate documents (incl. the “birthday book”) — The leather-bound album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday (2003), released by the Committee in September 2025, contains a typewritten letter bearing Trump’s name and signature, framed by a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman. Trump emphatically denies writing it, calls it “a fake thing,” and has sued the Wall Street Journal over its reporting on it.
• House Oversight Committee — Epstein email correspondence (Nov. 2025) — Emails released by Committee Democrats reference Trump in Epstein’s own words, including an April 2011 message to Maxwell calling Trump “the dog that hasn’t barked” and a January 2019 message stating Trump “knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.” These are Epstein’s characterizations; the White House called the release a “hoax” and an effort to “smear” Trump.
• DOJ Epstein Files (EFTA release) — Across the DOJ’s 3.5-million-page release, Trump’s name appears more than 38,000 times — many of them press clippings, duplicates, and third-party correspondence. The release also includes an FBI “302” interview report in which former Mar-a-Lago manager Reiter recounted Trump’s 2006 remarks about Epstein. The DOJ stated that some published material contained “untrue and sensationalist claims” about Trump; NPR reported the DOJ also withheld and removed some files relating to accusations against him.