Donald Trump has always maintained that he had no knowledge of the crimes committed by convicted pedophile and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
However, a memo from the « Epstein Files » contradicts this version. In it, a former Palm Beach police chief claims that the president was aware of Epstein’s activities long before his sex crimes were made public.
On February 9, the Miami Herald published a transcript of an interview between an FBI agent and Michael Reiter, a former Palm Beach police officer whose name was redacted by the Department of Justice but revealed by the American media. This interview was conducted in October 2019, two months after the sex trafficker took his own life in his cell.
However, a memo from the "Epstein Files" contradicts this version. In it, a former Palm Beach police chief claims that the president was aware of Epstein's actions long before his sex crimes became public knowledge. On February 9, the Miami Herald published a transcript ofan interview between an FBI agent and Michael Reiter, a former Palm Beach police officer whose name was redacted by the Department of Justice but revealed by the American media. This interview was conducted in October 2019, two months after the sex trafficker took his own life in his cell.
"Everyone knows he does that," Trump reportedly said.
This memo comes from the 3.5 million pages published by the US Department of Justice on January 30. It indicates that in July 2006, the US president, who was then a real estate mogul, allegedly called Palm Beach law enforcement to praise the investigation into Epstein. "Good job stopping him, everyone knows he's doing that," Trump reportedly said. "Trump told him that in New York, people knew Epstein was disgusting," the document reads. This reportedly prompted Trump to "expel" him from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, where "many wealthy people" rubbed shoulders, including Epstein, who owned a residence not far from there. He reportedly said that he once found himself in Epstein's presence surrounded by teenage girls, but that he "left immediately."
Alert on Ghislaine Maxwell
According to the same source, the president also alerted the authorities to the role played by Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell: "She is evil and we must focus on her." On February 9, Maxwell refused to answer questions from a congressional committee.
However, she said she was willing to do so in exchange for a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.
The lawyers of Ghislaine Maxwell, who is engaged in a final appeal against her 2022 sentence of 20 years in prison for sexual exploitation, had warned that she would invoke her right not to incriminate herselfincriminate herself, guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution.
If she were to receive a pardon, Ghislaine Maxwell would be prepared to testify that "President Trump and President Clinton are innocent of any wrongdoing," her lawyer said.
A friendly relationship spanning several years
Donald Trump maintained a friendly relationship with the sexual predator for several years, speaking highly of him in the early 2000s. In an interview with New York Magazine in 2002, Trump described him as a "terrific guy." "They say he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and some of them are on the young side," he said, without mentioning the legally reprehensible nature of the situation.
The American president claims to have cut ties with Epstein after his first conviction in 2008 for sex trafficking, subsequently downplaying their relationship.
The White House comments
When questioned by the American media about the memo in question, a White House spokesperson stated that this phone call "may have taken place in 2006, or may not have taken place—I don't know the answer to that question [...]."
"What I can tell you is that President Trump has always said that he expelled Jeffrey Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club because Jeffrey Epstein was a repugnant individual."