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Trump's connection to Jeffrey Epstein, explained

July 8, 2019

.polaris__post-meta--date { display: none; } .polaris__post-meta--date.no-script { display: block; padding-left: 45px } July 8, 2019

Multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein was arrested again this weekend on sex trafficking and abuse charges.

Epstein was arrested Saturday in New York after allegedly running a sex trafficking ring involving dozens of minors, an indictment unsealed Monday revealed. He's been arrested and charged with similar crimes before, but this time, his longtime connection to President Trump could pose an extra round of scrutiny.

The charges unsealed Monday accuse Epstein of having "sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls at his homes in Manhattan, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida." As The Washington Post reports, Trump, as well as former President Bill Clinton and other celebrities and politicians, had been known to pal around with Epstein in the early 2000s, though none have been accused of participating in the alleged trafficking scheme. Still, as Trump biographer Tim O'Brien recounted in a Sunday tweet, the president once shared his opinion of Epstein like this:

“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen 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.” - Donald Trump, 2002 https://t.co/3pbKrcFdn6
— Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) July 7, 2019

During the 2016 presidential campaign, an unnamed woman accused Trump of raping her in 1994 at one of Epstein's Manhattan parties. She would've been 14 at the time. The woman eventually withdrew her suit. Another woman said she was recruited in Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort to be Epstein's "sex slave." And in a less direct connection, Trump's Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta has been accused of burying Epstein's crimes and letting him off with a 13-month sentence back when Acosta was a Florida prosecutor.

The White House has denied that Trump and Epstein ever had a "social relationship," per The New York Times, and also denied the earlier allegation of sexual assault.