An additional high-stakes revelation at the Department of Justice’s disposal, the release of “Epstein Files” recently by the DOJ, threatens to refute what President Donald Trump has largely denied for years. In a summary of an FBI interview in 2019, former Palm Beach Police chief Michael Reiter said Trump contacted him in July 2006 to express relief that authorities were finally moving on Jeffrey Epstein.
The "Disgusting" Reputation
Reiter, who headed the Palm Beach Police Department during the opening investigation into Epstein, said that Trump called him and said, "Thank goodness you're stopping him, everyone has known he's been doing this." Epstein’s antics were a “well-known” secret for socialites in New York and Florida and a source of public disgust, Trump added in the document.
The report additionally describes Trump’s alleged derogatory comments to Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Trump allegedly called Maxwell Epstein’s “operative" and warned the police chief that “she is evil and to focus on her.” The statements offer a contrast to Trump’s 2020 public response, for which he reportedly "wished her well" after the woman's arrest.
Contradicting "I Had No Idea"
Those newly revealed facts run counter to the President’s previous claims. In 2019, when asked whether he had any inkling of Epstein’s crimes, Trump replied to reporters, “No, I had no idea. I haven’t talked to him in many, many years.” Although it serves to confirm Trump’s longstanding claim that he kicked Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club for being a "creep," this paper demonstrates that he seemed to be far more aware of the particular nature of Epstein's activity than he had previously admitted. It even confirms that Trump told the chief he once "got the hell out of there" after he saw teenagers present at an encounter with Epstein.
The White House and DOJ Response
The FBI’s 2019 summary has been swiftly sidelined within the White House. “The report actually supports the President’s narrative that he recognized Epstein as a ‘creep’ and cut ties with him decades ago,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. But a Department of Justice official said they were “not aware of any corroborating evidence” beyond Reiter’s testimony to support the fact that the 2006 phone call took place. The revelation arrives at a sensitive moment for the administration, as half of Americans in recent polls express suspicion of the President’s transparency about the Epstein files.
