In July, a Florida judge released transcripts of grand jury testimony from a 2006 investigation that accused late millionaire and financier Jeffrey Epstein of sexually assaulting numerous underage teenage girls at his Palm Beach, Florida, mansion.
The grand jury investigation was the first of many by law enforcement over the past two decades into Epstein’s rape and sex trafficking of teenagers — and how his ties to the rich and the powerful seem to have allowed him to avoid prison or a serious jail term for over a decade.
After the records, which included testimony transcripts, were released to the public, several people on social media claimed former President Donald Trump was named in the documents. Many of the posts include screenshots of what appear to be court records from the 2006 case.
“MAGA has been calling for the release of the Epstein files for a long time. Newly released documents allege that, enabled by Epstein, Trump sexually abused children as young as 12 years old. Read them for yourself,” one post on X says.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) also mentioned the records in remarks to reporters during a press conference on July 9.
“Something I’ve heard that doesn’t seem to be being covered are the Epstein files. These files were released. And, like, Donald Trump is sort of all over this,” Lieu said.
Multiple VERIFY readers, including Garry and Shirley, asked our team if these claims are true.
THE QUESTION
Does Donald Trump’s name appear in the latest Jeffrey Epstein files released in July?
THE SOURCES
- Transcripts of grand jury testimony from 2006 that were unsealed in July 2024
- Katie Johnson v. Donald J. Trump court documents from 2016 listed on nonprofit court data archive Court Listener
- Flight logs released as evidence in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell
THE ANSWER
No, Donald Trump’s name does not appear in the latest Jeffrey Epstein files released in July.
WHAT WE FOUND
Former President Donald Trump’s name does not appear in newly released transcripts of grand jury testimony from 2006 that accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexually assaulting numerous underage teenage girls in Florida.
VERIFY found that many of the social media posts are confusing the newly released transcripts with court documents from lawsuits filed in 2016 by an anonymous plaintiff who used the pseudonyms “Katie Johnson” and “Jane Doe.” The plaintiff accused Trump of raping her when she was 13 years old at a 1994 orgy hosted by Epstein.
But the lawsuits were dismissed and withdrawn that same year, according to multiple news reports. At the time, Trump denied the woman’s allegations through his attorney.
Although Trump isn’t mentioned in the latest documents, he and Epstein, who were pictured together numerous times decades ago, once ran in the same social circles in Palm Beach, according to the former president himself.
In 2019, NBC News unearthed video footage from 1992 that shows Trump and Epstein chatting and gesturing at young women who were identified as cheerleaders for the Buffalo Bills on the dance floor at a party at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Flight logs released as evidence in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, an Epstein associate who was convicted of conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors, show Trump took at least seven flights with Epstein in the 1990s.
Trump was also quoted speaking highly of Epstein in a 2002 profile of Epstein in New York Magazine.
“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump said. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life."
But their relationship soured in 2004 after Trump and Epstein battled over acquiring an oceanfront mansion called Maison de l’Amitie in Palm Beach, according to a Washington Post report.
In 2018, Epstein was charged with federal sex trafficking crimes in New York, where he also had a mansion that was a scene of abuse, after The Miami Herald published a series of articles that renewed public attention on the case. Epstein killed himself in a New York City jail cell in August 2019, federal officials say.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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