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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Adam Gabbatt

‘He’s a lot of fun to be with’: Trump and Epstein were close friends for 15 years

two men smile for a photograph
Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1997. Photograph: Davidoff Studios Photography/Getty Images

It was a friendship that spanned three different decades. To Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein was a “terrific guy”. Epstein believed himself to be Trump’s “closest friend”, and praised the future president as “charming”.

The relationship would eventually break down, the men falling out over a bidding war on a property in Florida. And after Epstein was convicted of child sex offences in 2008, Trump distanced himself from the financier, claiming he was “not a fan” and wondering, in recent days, why his supporters would “waste time and energy” on demanding that FBI and Department of Justice files on Epstein be released.

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