Jeffrey Epstein: Trump noted billionaire likes girls on ‘younger side’ – Business Insider

After Jeffrey Epstein was reportedly arrested Saturday night on charges of sex trafficking of minors, links between the billionaire and President Donald Trump have emerged, including a 2002 quote from Trump that Epstein “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

Trump biographer Tim O’Brien tweeted the quote on Saturday, which is from a New York Magazine profile of Epstein, which also includes Trump saying he knew Epstein for 15 years at that point, and calling him a “terrific guy” and “a lot of fun to be with.”

Few photos exist of longtime friends Trump and Epstein together, but a 2000 photo of the two, Melania Trump, and Epstein’s then-girlfriend and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell show the four together at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

In 2017, Politico reported allegations that a woman who claims to have been a part of a sex trafficking ring run by Epstein was recruited directly from Mar-a-Lago in 1999 by Maxwell, where the woman, who was then 15-years-old, worked as a locker room attendant.

Read more: Jeffrey Epstein has reportedly been arrested and charged with sex trafficking of minors

The 1999 accusations mirror the The Daily Beast’s report of Epstein’s Saturday night charges, which allege that Epstein’s operation trafficked dozens of minors in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005, according to three unnamed law enforcement sources.

Epstein is already a convicted sex offender, having allegedly molested dozens of underage girls in Florida before signing a 2008 secret plea agreement that allowed him to avoid federal prosecution and jail time. The plea deal, signed by federal judges that include Trump’s current Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, was ruled unconstitutional by a Palm Beach judge in February.

Epstein’s alleged sexual exploitation entailed him coercing minors – such as the 1999 Mar-a-Lago locker room attendant – into giving him “massages,” followed by him allegedly molesting or sexually abusing them in his Upper East Side or Palm Beach residences.

The alleged trafficking involved Epstein flying minors aboard his private 727 jet between the New York and Florida residences. Epstein, a money manager and philanthropist, has donated to the Clinton Foundation repeatedly and lent his jet to former President Bill Clinton for overseas trips.

Neither the Trump Organization nor the White House immediately responded to Business Insider’s request for comment.

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