What did Donald Trump say about Jeffrey Epstein in interviews or books before 2019?

1. Early friendliness: party photos and socializing in the 1990s

Reporting documents that Trump and Epstein socialized publicly in the 1990s and early 2000s — attending the same parties, Mar-a-Lago events and even a Victoria’s Secret fashion show — and that their friendship was well known at the time ^[1]. Contemporary coverage and later congressional materials note that the two men “publicly partied” and that Trump acknowledged social contacts during that era ^[1].

2. Trump’s own early public remarks and anecdotes

In interviews from the 2000s Trump described Epstein in tones consistent with a social acquaintance; later media retrospectives and document kits recount that Trump told New York Magazine in 2002 comments reflecting familiarity with Epstein’s scene ^[1]. Available sources do not reproduce every direct pre-2019 quote, but multiple accounts confirm that Trump acknowledged a long-standing social connection during earlier years ^[1].

3. The falling-out narrative Trump advanced by 2016–2019

By 2016–2019 Trump publicly asserted the relationship had cooled: he said they “had a falling out,” that Epstein was banned from Mar-a-Lago, and that he had not spoken to Epstein “probably 15 years,” adding he “wasn’t a fan of Jeffrey Epstein” ^{[2] [3]}. News outlets covering the period report Trump emphasizing he had distanced himself from Epstein once allegations surfaced and that he later supported releasing more Epstein files while in office ^{[4] [3]}.

4. Epstein’s emails complicate the timeline and claims

Emails from Epstein’s estate released by congressional committees and reported by outlets show Epstein making claims about Trump—such as referencing Mar-a-Lago, saying Trump “said he asked me to resign, never a member ever,” and suggesting Trump “knew about the girls” in some exchanges—creating a set of contested accounts that media organizations flagged for scrutiny ^{[4] [5] [6]}. These materials do not by themselves confirm specific events but amplify inconsistencies between Epstein’s statements and Trump’s public distancing ^{[4] [5]}.

5. Media framing and competing interpretations

Journalists and congressional releases present two competing frames: one emphasizes that Trump and Epstein were friends for years but later had a falling out (a line Trump repeated), while the newly published Epstein documents and emails are presented by some outlets as suggesting a closer or more knowing relationship than Trump has described ^{[1] [5]}. Different outlets stress different details — Trump’s denials and distancing on one side, Epstein’s own contemporaneous messages on the other — so readers encounter contrasting narratives in the record ^{[1] [6]}.

6. What Trump did publicly in 2019 and immediate aftermath

After Epstein’s arrest and death in 2019, Trump publicly pushed for disclosure of files and at times promoted conspiracy-suggestive posts; reporting shows he called for release of Justice Department files and also reposted a tweet about Clinton in the days after Epstein’s death, reflecting both political positioning and efforts to shape the narrative ^{[4] [7]}. Coverage notes Trump’s public posture combined distancing from Epstein with political uses of the controversy ^{[3] [7]}.

7. Limitations and gaps in the available reporting

Available sources document Trump’s broad public lines — friendship, falling out, and later distancing — and they include Epstein’s emails that complicate those claims, but they do not provide a complete transcript of every interview or book passage in which Trump mentioned Epstein before 2019; specific verbatim quotes from every pre-2019 interview or book are not reproduced in the provided materials ^{[1] [4]}. For precise wording from particular interviews or books pre-2019, current reporting included here does not list every source quote ^[1].

8. Takeaway for readers seeking clarity

The record in these documents shows consistent themes: Trump acknowledged a past social relationship, later said they had a falling out and that he distanced himself, and Epstein’s own contemporaneous messages raise contradictory implications about what Epstein told others about Trump’s knowledge or interactions. Readers should weigh Trump’s public statements (favoring distancing) against Epstein’s archival emails (which raise questions) and recognize that released documents so far create ambiguity rather than a single, settled account ^{[1] [4] [5]}.