An explosive new report has yet again undercut President Donald Trump's repeated denials that he knew of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's crimes against teen girls.
According to an October 2019 FBI interview with former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter, Trump called the officer in July 2006 with insider details about Epstein's activities, reporter Julie K. Brown reported for the Miami Herald on Monday.
"Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this,” Trump told Reiter, according to an FBI interview contained in the Justice Department’s Epstein case files.
Brown noted the interview had not previously been reported.
Trump allegedly pointed the finger at Ghislaine Maxwell as Epstein's "operative," describing her as "evil" and urging authorities to "focus on her." He also claimed he was "around Epstein once when teenagers were present and Trump ‘got the hell out of there'" — and that he'd thrown Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago.
Yet in July 2019, when asked directly if he knew Epstein had molested girls, Trump told reporters: "No, I had no idea. I had no idea."
In 2002, Trump had called Epstein a "terrific guy," adding that "it is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."
Meanwhile, Maxwell, serving 20 years for sex trafficking, invoked her Fifth Amendment rights before Congress this week, though her lawyer hinted she'd talk if Trump granted her clemency. The president hasn't ruled out a pardon.
The FBI files paint a picture far different from Trump's public denials.