President Donald Trump has said he had a “very bad relationship” with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for “many years.” In recent years, he has called Epstein a “creep” and said he was “not a fan,” claiming that, before Epstein’s death in 2019, they hadn’t spoken in years.
Despite this harsh language, a comprehensive CNN review of court records, photographs, interviews, and other public documents undertaken earlier this year paints a portrait of an enduring relationship between the two men until the mid-2000s, when Trump says he cut ties with Epstein.
The president has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing related to Epstein. The vast scope of the documents released related to the Epstein investigation cite many individuals and being named does not in itself show criminal wrongdoing.
In an October 2002 New York Magazine profile of Epstein, Trump describes him as “a terrific guy,” saying he’s known Epstein for 15 years. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,” Trump said at the time.
A 2003 letter bearing Trump’s name and a drawing of a woman’s torso said that he and Epstein had “certain things in common.” When the letter was made public in September 2025, Trump strongly denied that he had anything to do with it.
By 2004, Trump and Epstein had a well-known falling out, reportedly tied to a dispute over a Palm Beach mansion both men wanted to buy at auction.
Years later, in February 2015, Trump said that Epstein had “a problem,” adding: “that Island was really a cesspool, there’s no question about it,” referring to a private island in the US Virgin Islands owned by Epstein.
He has continued to downplay suggestions that he shared a friendship with Epstein in the years since.
CNN’s Em Steck, Andrew Kaczynski, Bob Ortega, Allison Gordon, Jhasua Razo, Maya Blackstone and Catherine Nicholls contributed reporting to this post.
