When Trump met Epstein: ‘They were best friends … He was his bro’

It’s 1999, long before Epstein’s first conviction related to sex with minors, but the fascination with the clip when it surfaced on CNN last week shows that Trump’s attempts to discourage stories about his ties to the deceased paedophile are not working.

Instead, mainstream media outlets that in the past shied away from the more lurid tales about Epstein are now combing over links between the two powerful men.

“They’re finally unpacking all the things that were right under people’s noses all along,” said Reece Peck, author of Fox Populism, which examines the growing influence of rightwing media in America.

From their gilded lives partying with the ultra-rich in Florida and Manhattan to the proliferation of beautiful young women in their orbits, a picture is emerging of Epstein and Trump as 90s buddies, a friendship founded on a shared love of wealth and women. Trump is not accused of any criminal wrongdoing linked to Epstein, but the steady stream of revelations about their friendship is keeping the story alive.

The conspiracies around Epstein have swirled since he was found dead in a Manhattan cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. In the far-right media ecosystem, the unfounded theories are that Epstein kept a client list to blackmail high-profile co-conspirators, and that he was murdered so those names would never come to light.

But while figures including Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel, have previously speculated about the Epstein conspiracies on far-right podcasts, the story faded from the attention of the mainstream media.

“They didn’t cover the story because they felt like it was beneath them,” said Peck. “Because it was associated with the alternative conservative media fringe, no matter how legitimate the story was it reeked of conspiracy – lowbrow sensation.”

That all changed this month when the Trump administration pulled back on its promises to the Maga base, announcing there was no client list, and the justice department said it would not release any more files related to the Epstein case.

Trump declared the story “boring” and tried to redirect media attention by claiming Barack Obama had plotted to rig previous elections. It didn’t work.

“Usually, [Trump] is so good at controlling the direction of attention and dictating what people are talking about, and he is failing miserably,” said Peck.

Trump and Epstein’s friendship developed in 1990, when Epstein purchased a Palm Beach property two miles north of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.

A clip from November 1992 shows Epstein and Trump laughing and pointing at cheerleaders while partying at Mar-a-Lago. The New York Times reported the pair were the only male guests at another Mar-a-Lago party in 1992, which was attended by 28 young models. New footage aired by CNN shows Epstein at Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples in 1993.

CNN also spoke to Stacey Williams, a former model who dated Epstein in 1993. She alleges Trump groped her when she visited him with Epstein. Trump has denied the incident.

Williams said of the two men: “They were best friends.” Trump was “his bro ... his wingman”.

Trump was a frequent flyer on Epstein’s private jet in the 1990s, court records show. And at Mar-a-Lago in 2000 Ghislaine Maxwell recruited 17-year-old spa attendant Virginia Giuffre, who went on to accuse Prince Andrew of sexual assault. In 2002 Trump told New York magazine that Epstein was a “terrific guy” and that he “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side”.

A recent Wall Street Journal report claimed that Trump was among the contributors to a collection of letters to mark Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. They allege his letter included a drawing of a naked woman and a reference to a “wonderful secret”.

Trump denies that he wrote the letter and is suing the Wall Street Journal.

A year later, Epstein and Trump’s friendship soured over a property deal. No ties between the two men since 2004 have surfaced, and four years later Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal and CNN reported that the attorney general, Pam Bondi, told Trump in May he was named numerous times in the government’s Epstein files.

Kevin Stein, a professor of communication at Southern Utah University who has studied responses to political scandals, said Trump was struggling to contain this controversy because he and his allies were the original source of the allegations, so he can’t attack his accusers.

But he noted that Trump had twice been elected president despite being found liable for sexual assault and guilty of covering up hush money payments to an adult actress, and despite having been caught on tape boasting about grabbing women.

“The voters have been forced to re-evaluate what they think is criminal or morally offensive or unethical, and we’ve adjusted our standards to meet the political candidates’ morals, and it’s depressing,” said Stein.

Photographs by Getty, Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive/Getty