What is the timeline of Jeffrey Epstein's membership and activities at Mar-A-Lago?
Executive summary
Jeffrey Epstein was a Mar‑a‑Lago member during the 1990s and into the 2000s and — according to multiple news outlets and historical records cited by researchers — his formal membership ended in the early 2000s (variously reported as around 2000–2007), with accounts saying Donald Trump later asked him to resign or kicked him out over misconduct involving young women connected to the club [1] [2] [3]. Newly released emails from the Epstein estate and reporting in 2025 renewed attention to those ties, including Epstein’s own statements that Trump “asked me to resign” and that Trump “knew about the girls,” language now being scrutinized by Congress and the press [2] [4] [3].
1. Early ties: acquaintance and membership in the 1980s–1990s
Reporting and contemporary accounts place Epstein and Trump in the same Palm Beach social circle by the late 1980s and 1990s, with Epstein listed as a Mar‑a‑Lago club member during that era and photographed with Trump at the property in the 1990s [1] [4]. Trump himself told magazines in the early 2000s that he had known Epstein for years and had social interactions at Mar‑a‑Lago; secondary reporting reiterates that their friendship predated the public revelations about Epstein’s crimes [1] [5].
2. Allegations about recruitment and victims connected to Mar‑a‑Lago
Multiple sources report that at least one of Epstein’s known victims, Virginia Giuffre (then Roberts), was working at Mar‑a‑Lago as a spa attendant around 2000 and later said she was recruited there by Ghislaine Maxwell to work for Epstein — an allegation Giuffre made public in earlier proceedings and reiterated in reporting summarizing court testimonies and memoirs [6] [1]. News organizations note the club as a recruitment location in survivor accounts, though those accounts do not uniformly accuse Trump of direct wrongdoing [6] [7].
3. When and why the relationship cooled: expulsions, claims of resignation
Sources describe the friendship as cooling in the early 2000s. Club records and investigative reporting indicate Epstein’s membership ended sometime in that period; The Grifter’s Club and Mar‑a‑Lago histories cite a membership through roughly 2007 and report he was expelled after allegedly harassing a member’s daughter [1]. Separately, newly released Epstein emails include his claim that Trump “asked me to resign” from Mar‑a‑Lago, a line now highlighted by the House Oversight Committee and multiple outlets [2] [3].
4. Newly released emails and congressional scrutiny (2025 reporting)
In late 2025 the House Oversight Committee released thousands of pages of material from Epstein’s estate; press coverage focused on emails in which Epstein mentioned Trump repeatedly and asserted Trump “knew about the girls” and that Trump had asked him to resign — statements that have prompted fresh questions about what Trump knew and when [4] [2] [3]. News outlets emphasize these emails come from Epstein’s perspective and are part of a much larger cache now under congressional and public review [4].
5. Competing narratives and official responses
The White House and Trump’s allies have offered a consistent rebuttal: that Trump barred Epstein from Mar‑a‑Lago for being “a creep” and for inappropriate behavior involving a member’s daughter, and that Trump distanced himself after those incidents [8] [7]. Epstein’s own statements in the released emails — and secondary reporting that he boasted about access to powerful figures — complicate that defense because Epstein framed his relationship as knowing and exploiting social ties even after his criminal conviction, according to press coverage [4] [3].
6. What the sources do not definitively establish
Available sources do not provide a single, unchallenged, documentary timeline with exact membership start and end dates agreed by all parties; they contain differing accounts (membership said to end “in the early 2000s,” “until 2007,” or described by Epstein as having been ended at Trump’s request) and rely on club records, memoir testimony, and Epstein’s own emails [1] [2] [3]. The newly released emails are one piece of the record and reflect Epstein’s perspective; reporting notes Congress and journalists are still parsing the larger file set for corroboration and context [4].
7. Why this matters now: oversight, victims and public record
The revived focus on Mar‑a‑Lago membership is driven by the document releases and survivor testimony, because establishment of where and when recruitment or grooming occurred bears on accountability and on evaluating public officials’ prior knowledge. Congressional releases and major outlets are emphasizing that these files could change public understanding — but they also caution the material requires verification and context, and that interpretations differ between Democrats’ releases, Republicans’ counters, and the White House [4] [9] [3].
Bottom line: contemporary reporting shows Epstein was a Mar‑a‑Lago member during the 1990s and that his formal ties ended sometime in the 2000s, with Epstein claiming Trump “asked me to resign” and other sources saying he was expelled for misconduct; the newly released 2025 emails have amplified scrutiny but do not by themselves resolve all timing or knowledge questions, which Congress and journalists continue to investigate [1] [2] [4].