What you need to know about Trump, Epstein and the MAGA controversy

Sky News

28-07-2025

Donald Trump's attempts to move on from the Jeffrey Epstein case is seemingly proving difficult.
The US leader is not only facing backlash from his own party over the complete U-turn on his administration's promises to release more information publicly, but also from the US House of Representatives.
The paedophile financier was found dead in his Manhattan cell in August 2019, shortly after he was arrested on sex trafficking charges.
Rumours have long circulated over who he may have supplied underage girls to, and who visited his private island.
Some of those rumours quickly spiralled into conspiracy theories, which Mr Trump fanned the flames of during his campaign for a second term.
His Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement accused the Biden administration of suppressing the extent of Epstein's paedophilia, predatory behaviour and his so-called "client list" - thought to contain names of the rich and famous who conspired with him in a child sex trafficking operation.
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Here's what you need to know about every aspect of the Trump-Epstein saga from their past relations, to the president's dramatic shift on the case against him.
What was Trump and Epstein's relationship?
Mr Trump was pictured with Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell on several occasions in the 1990s and early 2000s, but has played down his relationship with them in recent years, suggesting they simply moved in the same circles in Florida and New York.
In 2019, after Epstein was arrested for a second time, Mr Trump told reporters he "knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him", but added: "I had a falling out with him. I haven't spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you."
Asked why the pair fell out, Mr Trump said: "The reason doesn't make any difference, frankly," and added that he had "no idea" Epstein had molested women.
His comments about their relationship were in contrast to a 2002 interview with New York magazine, when Mr Trump was quoted saying: "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy.
"He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it - Jeffrey enjoys his social life."
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Trump named in Epstein files
Mr Trump has been named in previously released documents relating to Epstein and Maxwell.
Flight logs released in the trial of Maxwell show Mr Trump flew on Epstein's private plane multiple times between 1993 and 1997.
One Epstein accuser in 2016 also said she spent several hours with the disgraced financier at a Trump casino, but she did not say if she met Mr Trump.
Being mentioned in the records is not a sign of wrongdoing, and Mr Trump has not been accused of anything.
In a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article on 24 July, the newspaper claimed Mr Trump was told in May that his name was included in the files, along with many other high-profile figures.
The report claimed officials told the president the files contained what they felt was unverified hearsay about many people, including himself.
The White House initially described the report as "fake news", but Reuters news agency said an official told them the administration isn't denying Mr Trump's name is there.
The $10bn lawsuit
In a separate article, the WSJ claimed it has seen a letter written by Mr Trump as part of a collection of letters addressed to Epstein that his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell planned to give him as a 50th birthday present in 2003.
According to documents seen by the WSJ, Mr Trump's letter featured several lines of typewritten text framed by what appeared to be a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman.
The paper said the letter concludes "Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret", and featured the signature "Donald", allegedly drawn across the woman's waist, meant to mimic the appearance of pubic hair.
The president initially called the letter "fake" and said he would sue the "ass off" Rupert Murdoch, who owns the WSJ.
A day later he filed a lawsuit in which he accuses Mr Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal reporters and the publication's owner, News Corp of defamation, claiming they acted with malicious intent and caused him overwhelming financial and reputational harm.
The lawsuit seeks at least $10bn (£7.5bn) in damages.
Trump says he would declassify Epstein files if elected
Some 60 of 250 previously sealed documents relating to Ghislaine Maxwell, her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and alleged victims of sexual were released by a US court in January last year.
They named the likes of Mr Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Stephen Hawking as associates, but none have been found of any wrongdoing.
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Much of the MAGA movement demanded more files be released, including Epstein's alleged client list, as they believed the extent of his crimes and those he conspired with were being supressed by the Biden administration.
In June 2024, Mr Trump was asked during a Fox interview whether he would declassify the files if elected in November.
He replied: "Yeah, yeah, I would. I guess I would. I think that less so, because you don't know - You don't want to effect people's lives if there's phony stuff in there, because there's a lot of phony stuff in that whole world."
Asked again during a podcast with Lex Fridman in September 2024, Trump said he would "have no problem with it."
The following month, JD Vance said on a podcast with Theo Von: "Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list."
Trump's allies take promises even further
The president's controversial picks to lead the FBI - director Kash Patel and deputy director Dan Bongino - were commentators in his MAGA movement before joining federal law enforcement.
During that time, they aggressively promoted theories that Epstein was killed to keep him quiet and that global elites were preventing the list of clients from being released.
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Conspiracies on the right were further stoked after Mr Trump was elected, when his Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News that the alleged Epstein client list was "sitting on my desk right now to review" in February.
She then released what she called the "first phase" of files relating to Epstein, which mainly contained flight logs that had already been leaked to the public but had not been officially released by the government.
The justice department said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more.
Ms Bondi later claimed the Biden administration "sat on these documents" and didn't do "anything with them" as they "don't believe in transparency".
Even as late as June, Mr Patel promised in an interview that more evidence would be released to the public.
Outrage among Conservatives as evidence kept sealed
Many in the MAGA movement were enraged when the Justice Department released a memo on 8 July saying that there was no Epstein client list, and that no "further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted".
It claimed much of the material was placed under seal by a court to protect victims and "only a fraction" of it "would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial".
It said it contained images of Epstein, "images and videos of victims who are either minors or appear to be minors," and more than 10,000 "downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography".
Trump turns on those calling for Epstein files to be released
Mr Trump lashed out at supporters who were continuing to call for the files to be released.
Shortly after the Justice Department's memo, he shut down a reporter's question about Epstein, saying: "Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years.
"Are people still talking about this guy, this creep?"
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In a post on Truth Social earlier this month, the president wrote: "Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this bull****, hook, line, and sinker.
"They haven't learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.
"Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work," he said, adding he didn't want their support anymore.
In an interview later, he said he couldn't understand "what the interest or what the fascination is" with Epstein and called the case "boring".
He doubled down on his criticism later in the Oval Office, telling reporters it was a "big hoax" and that he had "lost a lot of faith in certain people".
He said Ms Bondi had already released all "credible information".