Jeffrey Epstein

Video: Trump Caught Partying with Epstein, Touching Women at 1992 Party

The president now says he was “not a fan” of the convicted sex offender.
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Donald Trump poses for a picture with Jeffrey Epstein in 2000.Davidoff Studios/Getty Images

In the days since Jeffrey Epstein’s indictment on sex trafficking charges, Donald Trump has said he was “not a fan” of the financier—but footage unearthed by Morning Joe Wednesday of the president partying with Epstein at Mar-a-Lago in 1992 begs to differ. In one video, originally shot for an NBC program with Faith Daniels, Trump is seen talking and laughing with Epstein and seemingly pointing at women at the party. In another, Trump, who’s wearing a fuchsia tie, dances with several women identified as cheerleaders for the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins, and pulls at least one toward him.

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The footage, of course, is not evidence of complicity in the crimes Epstein was convicted of in 2008, or the charges on which he was indicted last week, and to which he has pleaded not guilty. But the videos do counter the president’s efforts in recent days to downplay his prior relationship with Epstein, whom he described in 2002 as a “terrific guy” who is “a lot of fun to be with.”

“It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do,” Trump said of Epstein in a now-infamous statement to New York magazine, “and many of them are on the younger side.”

Epstein’s arrest has intensified scrutiny on the rich, powerful figures with whom he was known to be friends, including Trump and former President Bill Clinton, and brought down Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, who as a US attorney in Florida was involved in brokering a sweetheart plea deal that allowed the financier to serve a mere 13 months instead of a possible life sentence in prison. An attorney for one of Epstein’s accusers has said Epstein continued to have “improper sexual contact” with young women during those 13 months, who posed as “office visitors” while he was out on work leave. (Epstein’s lawyers deny this.)

Trump has sought to tamp down questions about his relationship with Epstein by downplaying the extent of their relationship and emphasizing that the two had a “falling out” some 15 years ago. The footage isn’t necessarily damning, but it certainly won’t make those lingering questions go away.

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