In 2006, Donald Trump reportedly advised Palm Beach police to concentrate their investigation on Ghislaine Maxwell, labeling her as ‘evil,’ while acknowledging that Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal activities were widely known. This revelation comes from the Miami Herald, which details Trump’s comments during a conversation with police.
The insights emerge from a four-page FBI memo, part of the Justice Department’s recent release of 3.5 million documents related to Epstein. The memo, documenting an October 2019 interview, redacts the interviewee’s name but recounts Trump’s reaction to Epstein’s presence with teenagers, saying he quickly distanced himself from the situation.
Former Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter has identified himself as the individual who spoke with the FBI in 2019, relaying his conversation with Trump during the initial investigation into Epstein. Reiter shared with the Miami Herald that this conversation took place in July 2006, significantly predating Trump’s later public denial of any knowledge about Epstein’s crimes.
According to the FBI memo, Trump communicated to the unidentified interviewee that Epstein’s nefarious reputation was no secret in New York. Moreover, the memo notes that Trump was among the first to alert the Palm Beach Police Department when Epstein’s wrongdoings became public.
He claimed the conversation with the now-president occurred in July 2006 – 13 years before Trump denied knowing anything about Epstein’s crimes, according to the Herald.
Trump told the redacted person that everyone in New York ‘knew Epstein was disgusting,’ according to the FBI memo. The interview subject also claimed that Trump was one of the first people to call the Palm Beach Police Department when the investigation into the financier became known.
‘Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this,’ Trump said, according to the FBI memo.
Reached on Tuesday for independent confirmation of the identity of the redacted individual, a contact for the former Palm Beach Chief of Police told the Daily Mail: ‘Michael Reiter is not participating in interviews at this time.’
Donald Trump reportedly revealed he knew about Jeffrey Epstein sex crimes despite in 2019 saying he wasn’t aware of them, according to a new report based on a document discovered in the latest DOJ Epstein files drop
The Miami Herald reports that former Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter (pictured) was the redacted individual who sat for an interview with the FBI in October 2019, and in that sit-down recounted speaking with Trump about the initial investigation into Jeffrey Epstein
Reiter retired as police chief in 2009 but was at the helm during the investigation into Epstein’s child sex trafficking crimes in the 2000s.
Epstein was facing a hefty rap sheet, but ultimately reached a highly controversial plea deal and in June 2008 was convicted on Florida state charges for soliciting prostitution from just one minor girl.
The White House declined to comment to the Daily Mail and referred any questions to the DOJ.
And an official with the Justice Department denied that Trump ever called Reiter, sending a statement to the Daily Mail claiming: ‘We are not aware of any corroborating evidence that the President contacted law enforcement 20 years ago.’
The only mention of Maxwell in the four-page FBI memo was Trump claiming she was Epstein’s ‘operative,’ and telling the unnamed person who recounted the conversation ‘she is evil and to focus on her’.
The revelation of Maxwell’s further involvement comes on the heels of the 64-year-old disgraced British socialite pleading the fifth during a closed-door testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Monday.
Maxwell remains the only living person serving jail time in relation to Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes. She began serving her 20-year sentence in June 2022.
Trump and First Lady Melania associated with Epstein and Maxwell through the 1990s and early 2000s.
One Epstein files email shows a chummy message signed ‘Love Melania’ sent to a Maxwell email address, further highlighting the close-knit relationship of the two couples.
Trump apparently told Reiter in 2006 that he booted Epstein from Mar-a-Lago, according to the Herald’s report. This would corroborate the president’s repeated claims that he kicked Epstein out of his club around 2007 for being a ‘creep.’
In July 2019, a month before Epstein’s shady prison death, Trump told reporters he had no knowledge of Epstein committing sex crimes against young women.
‘No, I had no idea. I had no idea,’ Trump said at the time.
Donald and Melania Trump associated with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in the 1990s and early 2000s, but the president says he kicked Epstein out of his club in 2007 for being ‘creepy’
The report from the 2019 FBI interview, however, reveals that Trump may have known more about Epstein’s crimes than he let on previously.
Epstein reached a deal with Florida prosecutors in 2007 and pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor and was handed down an 18-month prison sentence. He served 13 of those months and was permitted to leave the facility six days a week for 12 hours on work release, which he spent in his office.
He began serving his sentence in June 2008 and was released on July 22, 2009.
Questions remain over how Epstein and his lawyers were able to limit the scope of his crimes to just one case involving a 16-year-old-girl when, at the time, they had nearly 40 underage victims.
‘It was very disappointing that the system failed in this case,’ the redacted interviewee told the FBI.
