Trump's Name Appears 'More Than a Million Times' in Unredacted Epstein Files, Democrats Claim
Senior Democrat Jamie Raskin has made explosive claims after reviewing the Justice Department's unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files, stating that Donald Trump's name appears "more than a million times" throughout the documents. This revelation comes alongside newly surfaced FBI records detailing a 2006 phone call in which Trump allegedly praised investigators for pursuing the disgraced financier.
FBI Documents Reveal Trump's 2006 Call to Police Chief
According to a four-page FBI summary from 2019, former Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter told agents about receiving a call from Trump in July 2006. At the time, detectives were investigating allegations that Epstein recruited girls as young as 14 for sexualised "massages." The FBI document records Trump telling Reiter, "thank goodness you're stopping him, everyone has known he's been doing this."
The report further states that Trump claimed to have thrown Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club and described Epstein as "disgusting." Trump allegedly told Reiter that Ghislaine Maxwell was Epstein's operative, calling her "evil" and advising investigators to focus on her. The document also notes Trump's claim that he was around Epstein once when teenagers were present and "got the hell out of there."
Contradictions to Trump's Longstanding Claims
These FBI records appear to directly contradict Trump's repeated assertions that he cut ties with Epstein more than two decades ago and expelled him from Mar-a-Lago after discovering Epstein was poaching spa staff. Raskin, after examining the unredacted files, stated that an email from Epstein's lawyers contradicts Trump's account of having banished Epstein from the Florida club.
"Epstein's lawyers synopsised and quoted Trump as saying that Jeffrey Epstein was not a member of his club at Mar-a-Lago - but he was a guest at Mar-a-Lago, and he had never been asked to leave," Raskin revealed. The lawmaker criticized the limited access to the documents, calling the arrangement for members to review them "just part of the cover-up."
Official Responses and Historical Context
A Department of Justice official stated that the agency was "not aware of any corroborating evidence that the President contacted law enforcement 20 years ago." At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to confirm whether the 2006 call described in the FBI report actually took place, telling reporters, "I don't know the answer to that question."
Leavitt emphasized that "what President Trump has always said is that he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club because Jeffrey Epstein was a creep. And that remains true." Michael Reiter, who led the original 2005 investigation into Epstein and later coordinated with federal authorities, has not responded to requests for comment regarding his FBI interview. Epstein died by suicide in custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
The emergence of these documents adds another layer to the complex relationship between Trump and Epstein, who were close friends for two decades before Epstein's criminal activities became public. The unredacted files continue to generate controversy and raise questions about what additional information may yet surface regarding connections between powerful figures and Epstein's sex trafficking network.
