US President Donald Trump, in 2006, called then-Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter to discuss Jeffrey Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, a newly released FBI document has revealed. Trump criticised Epstein and referred to Maxwell as “evil,” according to Reiter, who was interviewed by the FBI in October 2019.
The FBI document, known as a 302, notes that Trump described Maxwell as Epstein's “operative” and advised Reiter “to focus on her.” Trump also claimed he had been around Epstein once when teenagers were present and “got the hell out of there.”
“Thank goodness you're stopping him, everyone has known he's been doing this,” Trump reportedly told Reiter during the call, which took place shortly after the police department's investigation of Epstein became public, The Miami Herald reported.
Trump also said that he had thrown Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club and added that “people in New York knew Epstein was disgusting.”
The document surfaced hours after Maxwell's lawyer requested that Trump grant her executive clemency so that she could then speak “honestly” about her knowledge of Epstein's crimes. Maxwell, 64, is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking related to Epstein's abuse of minors and declined to testify before a House committee.
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The 2019 FBI interview also detailed Reiter's account of the Palm Beach Police Department's investigation into Epstein, which began in 2003.
The investigation escalated in March 2005 after a woman reported that her 14-year-old stepdaughter had been molested by Epstein.
Police surveillance confirmed that underage girls were visiting Epstein's Palm Beach home. Reiter said he was frustrated when the state attorney declined to prosecute in 2006.
Federal prosecutors eventually gave Epstein immunity in 2007 in exchange for a plea deal in state court. Epstein served 13 months in Palm Beach County jail, most of it on work release. Reiter told the FBI he was “very disappointed that the system failed in this case.”
Trump has repeatedly denied knowing about Epstein's crimes. In a 2002 interview with New York Magazine, he called Epstein a “terrific guy” and noted that Epstein “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
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