Six years after his death, revelations about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continue to haunt the nation, including leaders, members of Congress, and the more than 1,000 women and girls who have accused him of sexual abuse.
With the release of more Epstein documents currently pending from the Justice Department, the nation waits to hear the next details about the disgraced wealth adviser and how it will affect President Donald Trump, a former associate of Mr. Epstein.
Trump met Epstein in the 1990s, when both were high-finance celebrities. Although President Trump said he severed ties with Epstein decades ago, their relationship has remained a constant companion for the president, who has changed his stance on releasing Epstein’s documents.
Here’s a look at how Trump and Epstein bonded over 30 years and then parted ways.
Trump flies on Epstein’s private jet seven times
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2004
Trump is the host of the TV show “The Apprentice,” where contestants compete to run Trump’s companies. It lasted 13 seasons and increased Trump’s popularity among the public.
2004-2007
When did Epstein and Trump stop being friends?
Trump and Epstein ended their relationship in 2004 or 2007. The dates and reasons vary, according to reports.
- In July 2025, President Trump said Epstein had “stolen” young women working at the Mar-a-Lago spa and hired them to work at his mansion. “I said, ‘Listen, we don’t want you to take our people away,’ and then I banned Mr. Epstein from Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said, according to cbc.ca. The exact year was not disclosed, but President Trump said it was “ancient history.”
- In 2004, Mr. Epstein and Mr. Trump began bidding against each other in a bankruptcy auction for the Maison de L’Amitie, a six-acre beachfront property in Palm Beach. The property was previously owned by retail mogul Leslie Wexner, who was the only public client of Epstein’s eponymous financial advisory firm at the time of his arrest in 2019. In November 2004, the Palm Beach Post reported that Trump won the auction for $41.35 million., Part of the USA TODAY Network.
- Trump reportedly banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in 2007 for inappropriate behavior with a club member’s teenage daughter, according to the Miami Herald and Wall Street Journal.
2008
Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting prostitution of a minor and recruiting prostitutes. He served 13 months at the Palm Beach County Stockade and is allowed to leave periodically as part of his release program. The plea deal, overseen by U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta in the George W. Bush administration, classifies Epstein as a sex offender because the charges involve minors. This agreement was later criticized as being too lenient.
2015
President Trump announces that he will run for president.
Trump wins the presidency – and intense scrutiny on Epstein
2016
Trump is elected president.
2017
President Trump will nominate Acosta to be Secretary of Labor and the Senate will confirm him.
2018
The Miami Herald published an extensive investigation into the Epstein scandal.
2019
July 8th: Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York charged Epstein with sex trafficking of minors. He is accused of abusing dozens of young women and girls. Epstein has pleaded not guilty and is being held at the Federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.
July 12th: Acosta resigned over controversy surrounding Epstein’s 2008 plea deal.
August 10th: Epstein was found dead in his New York cell. His death was ruled a suicide.
Epstein’s death does not end the sex trafficking controversy. Tens of thousands of documents about Epstein have been collected from federal investigations, civil lawsuits, court cases and other sources. Federal investigators are scrutinizing individuals in Epstein’s extensive social network.
Some of Trump’s political allies believe the government is covering up Epstein’s connections to the wealthy and powerful and have criticized the Trump Justice Department for withholding more information.
2020
Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in July on federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy related to her relationship with Epstein.
2021
January 20th: President Joe Biden is inaugurated.
December 29th: Maxwell was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison at the Federal Correctional Facility in Tallahassee, Florida.
2021-2024
Prominent Trump supporters are calling for more Epstein files to be released. Some others, including J.D. Vance, Pam Bondi, and Kash Patel, will later join President Trump’s second administration.
2024
June 3rd: President Trump said on Fox News that if he is re-elected, he will declassify the Epstein files.
July 10th: President Trump again says he will release Epstein files if he regains the White House.
November 5th: Trump is elected president for the second time.
2025
January 20th: President Trump takes office.
February 27th: Attorney General Pam Bondi released the first batch of declassified Epstein files, approximately 200 pages.
July 7th: The Justice Department and FBI say they have found no evidence that Epstein kept a “client list” or that he was killed in custody. The ministry says it will not release any further records.
July 12th: President Trump said on Truth Social that his supporters “shouldn’t waste their time and energy on Jeffrey Epstein, who no one cares about.”
July 24th: Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Trump’s former personal lawyer, interviewed Maxwell. She said she had never seen President Trump “in any way inappropriate circumstances.”
August 1st: Maxwell is transferred to a minimum security prison camp in Bryan, Texas.
September 2nd: The House Oversight and Accountability Committee releases 33,000 pages of documents. Most of them were already published.
September 8th: House Democrats published a purported memo from Trump to Epstein in a book for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. The Wall Street Journal said the memo included a depiction of a naked woman and suggested that Trump and Epstein were sharing secrets. Mr. Trump denied writing the memo and on July 18 sued the Journal for $10 billion for defamation. The House Oversight Committee later released the full text of the book.
November 12th: The House Oversight Committee has released about 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate, including emails between Epstein and Maxwell and author Michael Wolff, raising new questions about Trump’s relationship with Epstein and how much Trump knew about Epstein’s abuse of underage girls.
November 16th: President Trump has reversed his stance on the Epstein files and directed House Republicans to support their release.
November 19th: President Trump signed the Epstein File Transparency Act, which allows the Justice Department to release the file until December 19th.
December 16th: Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, said in a Vanity Fair article that Bondi “completely blew the air” when he first released documents about Epstein. Wiles said she has read what she calls the “Epstein Files” and that Trump’s name appears because he flew on Epstein’s planes and attended his parties. “And we know he’s in the file,” Wiles says. “And he’s not on the record doing anything terrible.”
Contributed by Bert Jansen
SOURCE USA TODAY NETWORK REPORTS AND INVESTIGATIONS. Reuters; PolitiFact. Court documents. Ministry of Justice
