Right here’s a quick overview of their friendship and falling-out, and the way Trump’s political profession intersected with Epstein’s prosecution.
Eighties to Early 2000s: Trump & Epstein Are Associates. Trump events with Epstein and flies on his non-public jet at the least seven instances. Trump seems in Epstein’s “little black e book”, together with a number of of his members of the family (and plenty of different well-known and highly effective figures).
2004: Trump-Epstein Friendship Ends. Trump and Epstein have a “falling-out,” because the president put it years later. The trigger might have been a real-estate battle, nevertheless it’s not completely clear when or why they reduce ties.
2006: Epstein Indicted in Florida. After Florida police examine a number of claims of Epstein sexually abusing underage women, he’s indicted on only one rely of soliciting prostitution. Florida officers are accused of giving Epstein particular remedy, and the FBI launches an investigation.
2008: Epstein Takes Plea Deal. Epstein pleads responsible to 2 state expenses after putting a plea cope with the U.S. Lawyer in Miami, Alexander Acosta, to keep away from federal prosecution (Acosta then served as Trump’s Labor secretary in his first time period). Epstein serves most of his 18-month sentence in a work-release program that lets him go away jail in the course of the day.
July 6, 2019: Feds Arrest Epstein. Epstein is arrested on federal sex-trafficking expenses in New York. Acosta resigns from the Trump administration days later amid public outcry over his choice to not prosecute Epstein years earlier.
August 10, 2019: Epstein Dies. Epstein is discovered useless in his Manhattan jail cell. His dying is dominated a suicide.
2024: Giuffre-Maxwell Paperwork Launched. Six years after Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre settled her defamation lawsuit in opposition to Ghislaine Maxwell, hundreds of pages of courtroom paperwork from the swimsuit are launched. Trump is talked about a number of instances, however the paperwork don’t reveal any incriminating details about him. Through the 2024 marketing campaign, Trump suggests he’ll declassify the federal authorities’s Epstein recordsdata if reelected.
February 2025: Bondi Says Epstein Recordsdata Are Coming. Lawyer Common Pam Bondi teases the discharge of extra Epstein recordsdata, saying the “shopper record” is “sitting on my desk proper now to assessment.” Days later, right-wing influencers are given binders of Epstein supplies, which change into beforehand launched paperwork.
July 7, 2025: FBI & DOJ Cancel Epstein Launch. The FBI and DOJ launch a memo saying that following an “exhaustive assessment,” they’ve decided that there is no such thing as a “shopper record,” nothing within the Epstein recordsdata warrants additional investigation, and there shall be no additional doc releases.
December 2025: Congress Orders Epstein Recordsdata Launch. The Epstein Recordsdata Transparency Act passes virtually unanimously. (After unsuccessfully making an attempt to cease the vote, Trump backs it on the final minute.) The DOJ posts the primary batch of paperwork on December 19, however missed the deadline set by the regulation.
