Trump told police during early 2000s Epstein probe ‘Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this

By Kanyshai Butun

ISTANBUL (AA) - US President Donald Trump, then a private citizen, contacted Florida police during the 2000s investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying he was glad authorities were taking action as Epstein’s offenses were well known, US media reported.

According to The New York Times, Michael Reiter, a former police chief in the town of Palm Beach, told about Trump’s call to FBI more than a decade later.

“Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this,” Trump told the police chief in 2006, said Reiter.

A document recounting their conversation, part of a recent Epstein files release, also says that Trump suggested to the police to focus their investigation on his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, calling her “evil.”

Maxwell, a central figure in the Epstein case, was convicted in 2022 of crimes including sex trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Asked last year if he might pardon Maxwell, amid rumors that he might, Trump said, “I’m allowed to give her a pardon” but did not rule it out, adding that no one has approached him about doing so.

Trump in 2006 also reportedly told the police that it was known in New York circles that Epstein was “disgusting,” adding that he was around him once when teenagers were present and that he “got the hell out of there.”

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida and was convicted of procuring a minor for prostitution, but critics call the relatively minor conviction a “sweetheart deal.”

The former police chief described his conversation with Mr. Trump to the FBI in October 2019, two months after Epstein was found dead in his jail cell while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, the released memo shows.

Epstein’s victims have alleged that he operated a sprawling network that was used by members of the wealthy and political elite to procure young girls for sex work.

The US Justice Department released more than 3 million additional government documents related to Epstein in late January, about half of the total it says it has. Epstein survivors and families of his victims say the release does not go far enough and violates a law requiring greater transparency.

The files include the names of numerous high-profile men, including Trump, US Treasury Secretary Howard Lutnick, the former British Prince Andrew, former US President Bill Clinton, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, singer Michael Jackson, tech mogul Elon Musk, and former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. A mention in the files does not necessarily mean the figures in question knew or associated with Epstein.