How well did Trump and Epstein really know each other? A timeline

How well did Trump and Epstein really know each other? A timeline

A birthday note emblazoned with US President Donald Trump’s signature was included in a collection of letters given to the late, well-known sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on his birthday in 2003, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSG) on Thursday.

Trump denies having written the letter and, on Thursday, told Attorney General Pam Bondi to request a court release of the transcripts of all grand jury testimony in the Epstein case.

According to the WSJ, Trump’s relationship with Epstein has rekindled conflict. We identify the exact degree of kinship between the two men over time.

What was in Trump’s birthday letter to Epstein?

Epstein received a leather-bound collection of letters and notes for his 50th birthday in 2003, according to a report from the WSJ.

Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s associate and partner, who later admitted to being Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice in his sexual abuse operation, had compiled this. She was found guilty in 2021 and is now serving a 20-year prison sentence handed down in 2022.

Third-person typewritten text was included in the letter. Additionally, it had a woman’s breasts inked in a cartoon, and it had the name “Donald” on it. The drawing appeared to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker, the WSJ reported.

Happy birthday, and may every day be another wonderful secret, was the letter’s final phrase.

Al Jazeera couldn’t independently confirm the letter’s veracity.

Following the revelations about the letter, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein. Not in my words, not in my conversation. I also don’t use any pictures as much.

” I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and I’m now suing both his third-rate newspaper and his a** off. I appreciate you paying attention to this issue! DJT. “

According to him, “I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval,” he further wrote. This Democrats-persisted SCAM should end right away!

Soon after Trump’s statement, Bondi announced on X that the Justice Department planned to request the unsealing of grand jury transcripts in court on Friday.

What we know about the two men’s true relationships with one another is revealed here.

Trump and Epstein are close friends in the 1980s.

in 2002, Trump told the New York Magazine that he had been friends with Epstein since about the late 1980s.

Trump was both a real estate mogul and a businessman in the 1980s.

Jeff and I have been friends for 15 years. Terrific guy, “Trump said.

He’s a lot of fun to be around. He claims to like beautiful women just as much as I do, and many of them are younger. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life, “Trump continued.

1990s: Trump and Epstein can be seen spotting at parties and flying together.

The two men were photographed socializing at prominent gatherings throughout the 1990s.

In November 1992, Trump threw a party with NFL cheerleaders at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. He had requested NBC to take the event’s recording.

Trump and Epstein are laughing together, as recorded on the party’s audio, which was released by NBC online in 2019.

In 1997, Epstein and Trump were seen together at the Victoria Secret” Angels “party in New York.

At the Victoria’s Secret “Angels” party on April 28, 1997 in New York City, Trump posses with Belgian model Ingrid Seynhaeve.
Trump/Epstein
On April 9, 1997, Epstein and Trump attended a performance at the club Duvet on 21st Street in New York City.

Trump also frequently flew on Epstein’s private jets – seven times in total between 1993 and 1997 – according to flight logs presented as evidence during Maxwell’s trial.

This included four occasions in 1993: one in 1994, one in 1995, and one in 1997. Between Palm Beach and New York, there was a stop in Washington, D.C.

Trump/Epstein
Epstein (left) and Trump as they pose together at the Mar-a-Lago estate, Palm Beach, Florida, in 1997]File: Davidoff Studios/Getty Images]

2000s: Trump’s name appears in the Epstein files, and the two continue to party.

The two men were photographed at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in 2000.

These images also feature Maxwell and Trump’s now wife, then known as Melania Knauss.

View of former model Melania Knauss (later Trump) and her boyfriend (and future husband) real estate developer Donald Trump (center) as they pose with musician Michael Bolton at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, February 12, 2000. Among those visible in the background are British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell (second right) and American financier Jeffrey Epstein (1953 - 2019)
On February 12, 2000, Melania Knauss (later Trump) and Michael Bolton pose with the musician at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. [Davidoff Studios/Getty Images] Maxwell (second right) and Epstein (right) are visible in the background.
Trump/Epstein
Melania Trump, Prince Andrew, Epstein associate Gwendolyn Beck and Epstein at a party at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, on February 12, 2000]Davidoff Studios/Getty Images]

About 950 pages of court documents identifying Epstein’s associates were made public in January 2024.

Trump was not charged with any offense in these documents, but he was mentioned in them.

Virginia Giuffre, one of the women who accused Epstein of sexual abuse, told the court that she was working at Mar-a-Lago when she was recruited by Maxwell to become Epstein’s masseuse at the age of 16.

Giuffre claimed that Prince Andrew and Epstein arranged for her to perform sexual acts with other people.

Another woman, Johanna Sjoberg, alleged that Virginia Giuffre, a minor, was on a 2001 flight from Florida to Florida, on which they were also passengers.

Due to a storm, the plane diverted to Atlantic City, where they visited one of Trump’s casinos.

Sjoberg compared Giuffre to say, “I did not know anything about the age requirement for legal gambling.” She and I didn’t gamble because we both knew she couldn’t because of an ID problem.

Giuffre died by suicide in April this year.

Trump’s birthday letter to Epstein from 2003

The WSJ obtained the text of a allegedly Trump letter for Epstein’s birthday. It appears to be in script form:

Voice Over: “There must be more to life than having everything.

Donald: Yes, but I won’t disclose what it is.

Jeffrey: Nor will I, since I also know what it is.

Jeffrey, you know, we have a few things in common.

Jeffrey: Yes, as you might imagine.

Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?

Jeffrey: Since when did it really matter to me when I last saw you?

Donald: A pal is wonderful. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret. “

Trump threatened to sue the publication if he denied writing the letter to the WSJ on Tuesday, according to the report. In my entire life, I have never written a picture. I don’t draw pictures of women, “he told the Journal.

Trump directly warned Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal that the allegedly fake letter printed by him to Epstein was a FAKE and that they could be sued if they print it, according to Trump’s post on his Truth Social platform.

Publisher News Corp., run by Rupert Murdoch, is the WSJ’s publisher.

2004: Trump and Epstein have a real estate dispute

Trump and Epstein argued over a Palm Beach foreclosed oceanfront mansion in 2004.

According to The Washington Post, Trump had outbid Epstein for the property.

Since that date, there was sparse public evidence of the two men interacting.

Epstein is facing criminal charges in 2006;

After the girl’s parents filed a complaint, Florida police began an investigation into claims Epstein had sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl.

Epstein was charged by Palm Beach police officials with multiple counts of unlawful sex with a minor.

However, the State Attorney referred the case to a grand jury, which indicted Epstein on one count of soliciting prostitution.

Epstein admitted guilt in 2008 to charges involving just one victim. He served 13 months in jail under a work-release programme that permitted him to leave during the day for work and return to jail at night.

2019: Epstein is detained once more and passes away.

In New York, Epstein was charged with sex trafficking during Trump’s first presidential term, which ended in 2019.

In July 2019, Trump was asked by a reporter about Epstein, to which he responded:” Well, I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him. People in Palm Beach knew him, after all. He was a hit in Palm Beach.

Trump added:” I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don’t believe I’ve spoken to him in 15 years.

On August 10, 2019, Epstein passed away in a Manhattan jail cell.

During an interview after Epstein’s death, Trump said about the case:” I want a full investigation, and that’s what I absolutely am demanding. “

Trump’s changing position on the “Epstein list” in 2025.

Trump pledged to release details about the Epstein case in 2024 while running for president.

He also appointed Pam Bondi to be the Attorney General.

Bondi was asked in a February interview with Fox News: “The DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients, will that really happen? “

She responded, “It’s currently sitting on my desk.”

However, on July 7, the US Department of Justice released a&nbsp, memo&nbsp, stating that a government review had found no evidence that Epstein had a specific” secret client list”.

The memo also confirmed that Epstein had passed away by suicide, a claim that is disproven by many of Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters. They think Epstein was murdered because he had shady information about powerful people, and that this was a cover-up.

When Trump and Bondi were questioned by reporters about the July 7 memo, Trump said:” I can’t believe you’re asking a question on Epstein at a time like this, where we’re having some of the greatest success and also tragedy, with what happened in Texas, “referring to flash floods that roiled the southern US state over the weekend before the memo was released, killing 109 people.

Trump continued, “It just seems like a desecration.”

Trump recently expressed anger and resentment toward his supporters over the Epstein conspiracy theories.

Source: Aljazeera

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