Donald Trump’s Ties to Jeffrey Epstein—Everything We Know

Former model Stacey Williams has accused Donald Trump of groping her while she was casually dating Jeffrey Epstein, which the former president denies. But the story has thrust the former president’s relationship with the prolific pedophile into the spotlight again—here is what we know about it.

Williams detailed her allegations on Monday, in a call with Survivors for Kamala, a group of more than 200 survivors of sexual and gender-based violence advocating for Vice President Kamala Harris to win the upcoming presidential election. First reported by The Guardian, Williams then went on to repeat the accusations in an interview with CNN.

Trump’s team has denied claims, with a statement from the national press secretary for his 2024 campaign, Karoline Leavitt, saying: “These accusations, made by a former activist for Barack Obama and announced on a Harris campaign call two weeks before the election, are unequivocally false. It’s obvious this fake story was contrived by the Harris campaign.”

Newsweek has contacted Trump’s team, via email outside of normal working hours, for further comment.

In both Williams’ accounts, she described Trump’s friendship with Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender who rubbed shoulders with multiple major figures, including Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew.

‘Good Friends’: What Did Williams Say About Trump and Epstein?

Williams said she met Epstein at a dinner in New York in 1992, before seeing him again at Trump’s Plaza Hotel Christmas party in December of that year.

“And it became very clear then that he and Donald were really, really good friends and spent a lot of time together,” she said in the Survivors for Kamala call.

She went on: “After that, Jeffery Epstein expressed a lot of interest in me and we started seeing each other. When Jeffrey and I would talk, he mentioned Trump frequently, he was clearly a close friend and they were spending a lot of time together.”

It was at Trump Tower that Williams alleges the groping took place, in “late winter/early spring of ’93,” after Epstein suggested they visit Trump while on a walk.

She said: “And so we went to Trump Tower and went up the elevator and, moments later, Trump was greeting us and he pulled me into him and started groping me.

“He put his hands all over my breasts, my waist, my butt and I froze. And I froze because I was so deeply confused about what was happening—because the hands were moving all over me, yet these two men were like smiling at one another and continuing on, in their conversation.”

Williams went on to say that, once they left, Epstein “berated” her for “letting (Trump) do that,” adding that she was “confused” and “felt like that was some sort of sick bet or game between the two of them.”

‘Trump and Epstein Kept Talking’

The former Sports Illustrated model, now 56, said in her CNN interview that part of the reason she was “confused” and “froze” during the alleged incident was because of the two men’s behavior.

“This context made no sense because the hands are on me and then (Trump) and Jeffrey just kept talking and like looking at each other and smiling,” she said. “I just had this really like sickening feeling that it was coordinated, that somehow the whole thing was—I was rolled in there like a piece of meat for some kind of twisted game.”

Williams said she severed ties with Epstein after the alleged encounter. She has also stressed that she did not know about his abusive behavior, which would later come to light.

How did Trump and Epstein Meet?

Steven Hoffenberg told The Washington Post that Trump reportedly met Epstein through socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who would become Epstein’s partner and is now a convicted sex offender.

Hoffenberg was Epstein’s business partner at a New York private equity firm in the 1980s and ’90s, before he was convicted of running a Ponzi scheme.

“Donald liked Epstein, but he was crazy about Maxwell, a very charming lady,” Hoffenberg said.

Trump, Epstein and Maxwell mixed in the same circles, as has been captured in multiple photographs and videos.

When Maxwell was eventually arrested in 2020, on charges of helping Epstein traffic and abuse underage girls, Trump said: “I wish her well, frankly. I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well, whatever it is.”

‘Terrific Guy’

Trump was quoted as calling Epstein a “terrific guy” in 2002, for a profile about the disgraced financier in New York magazine.

He reportedly said: “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. 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.”

This was well before police in Palm Beach, Florida, began investigating Epstein in 2005 after a teenage girl’s parents complained she had been molested at his house.

Trump has not been accused of any involvement in Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes. He has however been named among a list of associates who flew on Epstein’s jet, according to testimony by the late financier’s former pilot Lawrence Paul Visoski Jr.

‘Everybody in Palm Beach Knew Epstein’

After Epstein was arrested in July 2019, Trump said he “knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him.”

“I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years—I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you,” Trump said at the time, while also claiming that Epstein was never a member of his Mar-a-Lago club.

During an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier this year, Trump said that Epstein had been “a fixture” in Palm Beach and had a “beautiful” life before the discovery of his crimes.

“He was a fixture in Palm Beach,” Trump said. “I think he probably committed suicide. He had a life with, you know, beautiful homes and beautiful everything. And all of a sudden, he’s incarcerated and not doing very well.”