President Donald Trump seemed to be aware of Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s activities with teenage girls and young women before the 2006 state charges against the pedophile financier, a document in the Epstein files suggests.
In a 2019 FBI interview, former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter reportedly told federal investigators that Trump was among the first people to call the police department in July 2006, to thank them for investigating Epstein and recommended they look into “evil” Maxwell.
“Trump called the [Palm Beach Police Department] to tell him, ‘thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this,’” the FBI transcript says.
Trump allegedly told Reiter that “people in New York knew Epstein was disgusting” and that he was once around Epstein “when teenagers were present” but that he “got the hell out of there.”
The newly-reported transcript appears to contradict the president’s claim that he had little to no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes before he was charged with solicitation of prostitution in Florida.
When asked, in July 2019, if he had any knowledge that Epstein molested underage women, Trump told reporters, “No, I had no idea. I had no idea.”
In July 2025, reporters asked Trump if he knew why Epstein had recruited female staffers from Mar-a-Lago. Trump responded, “No, I don’t know really why.”
Reiter’s name is redacted in the transcript. But he confirmed to the Miami Herald that the FBI interviewed him in October 2019 about his department’s investigation into Epstein. Reiter said Trump called him in July 2006.
A Department of Justice official said they were unaware of “any corroborating evidence that the President had called law enforcement 20 years ago.”
When asked about the recent report on the FBI transcript, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “Look, it was a phone call that may or may not have happened in 2006. I don't know the answer to that question." She reminded reporters that Trump has remained consistent in kicking out Epstein for being “a creep.”
The FBI transcript is the latest development from the Epstein files that suggests the president may have been more aware of Epstein’s activities than he has publicly admitted.
Trump and Epstein were friends through the 1990s and early 2000s, but the two had a falling out after Trump learned Epstein and Maxwell had “stolen” women staffers from Mar-a-Lago’s spa. There are also reports that they had fallen out over a real estate deal in Florida in 2004.
Epstein and Maxwell often recruited young women and sometimes girls into their orbit under the pretense of performing massages.
As a result of their former friendship, Trump is named in the Epstein files – however, he has denied any wrongdoing and never been formally accused of a crime associated with Epstein. Being named in the Epstein files does not imply guilt.
Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for a child sex trafficking conviction, has also said that Trump did not participate in Epstein’s crimes. She reiterated the point Monday following a recorded deposition with the House Oversight Committee.
In a 2019 email between Epstein and author Michael Wolff, the disgraced financier claimed Trump “knew about the girls” but did not go into detail about what that could have meant.
Trump made insinuations about Epstein’s penchant for young women. In a 2002 New York Magazine interview, Trump said Epstein was “a lot of fun to be with” and that “it is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had given Epstein a birthday note in 2003 that was written within a drawing of a naked woman’s body. The message to Epstein reportedly said, “May every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump denied the legitimacy of the birthday letter and sued the publication for $10bn.
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