Did Trump call Epstein a terrific guy?

1. The quote itself: where it appeared and who verified it

New York magazine’s 2002 profile of Jeffrey Epstein recorded Trump saying “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” and that “he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side”; that passage has been cited and verified by multiple outlets and fact-checkers, including Newsweek, People, and Snopes ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

2. How mainstream outlets used the quote in later reporting

Major news organizations and long-form outlets have repeatedly cited the 2002 line when narrating Trump’s past relationship with Epstein — for example, The Guardian, Time, Rolling Stone and PBS NewsHour all reference Trump calling Epstein a “terrific guy” in their timelines and features about the pair ^{[5] [6] [7] [4]}.

3. Fact-checking consensus: accurate attribution

Independent fact-checkers and news fact-check pieces conclude the quote is authentic and accurately attributed to Trump in 2002; Snopes and Newsweek both treat the line as a genuine quote taken from the New York magazine profile ^{[3] [1]}. Those fact-checks place the remark in its original 2002 context, predating later criminal investigations of Epstein ^[1].

4. Context the quote but doesn’t absolve later controversies

Multiple outlets emphasize the temporal context: Trump’s praise came years before Epstein’s 2005 Palm Beach investigation and later federal charges, and many reports use the quote to illustrate how public relationships and impressions can shift as new allegations emerge ^{[1] [4] [6]}. The quote is not presented by these outlets as an explanation for or defense of any conduct; rather it’s used to show past social ties.

5. Trump’s later stance and the “falling out” narrative

After the 2002 remarks and as Epstein’s legal troubles and allegations became public, Trump has said he and Epstein had a falling out and at times has sought to distance himself; news timelines note Trump’s later claim that he hadn’t spoken to Epstein for years and described a rupture between them ^{[4] [8]}. Reporting also documents public attempts by both sides over time to frame the relationship differently as circumstances changed ^[9].

6. Why the quote matters in public debate

Journalists and critics use the 2002 quote as evidence of prior social closeness at a moment when questions about associations and judgment are politically salient; defenders point to the chronology and later falling-out as mitigating context ^{[5] [8]}. Different outlets stress either the factual accuracy of the quote or its role in a larger narrative about shifting reputations and accountability ^{[7] [6]}.

7. Limits of current reporting and what’s not in these sources

Available sources provided here confirm the 2002 New York magazine line and its republication by multiple outlets, but they do not, in this set, contain the full original New York magazine transcript or audio of the exchange; they also do not provide any new evidence that changes the original attribution beyond contextual reporting and later commentary ^{[3] [1]}. If you want the verbatim New York magazine article or archived audio, that specific primary document is not included in the materials cited here.

8. Bottom line for readers

The assertion “Trump called Epstein a ‘terrific guy’” is accurate as a historical quote from a 2002 New York magazine profile and has been repeatedly cited and verified by fact-checkers and news organizations ^{[3] [1] [2]}. At the same time, subsequent reporting documents Trump’s later efforts to distance himself and frames the original quote within a broader timeline of changing public narratives about Epstein and his circle ^{[4] [5]}.