What is publicly known about Trump’s yearslong relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

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• John Yang:

  Good evening. I'm John Yang. President Trump said today he wants all Jeffrey Epstein grand jury testimony made public as he continues to spar with parts of his political base over his handling of the matter.

  At the same time, Mr. Trump acknowledged that even releasing all that testimony might not be enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics. Earlier, Mr. Trump said that supporters pressing him to release more Epstein material are weaklings who have fallen for a Democratic hoax.

  With some conservative critics saying now that the president is part of a cover up, attention is turning to the relationship between the two men. New York Times White House correspondent Luke Broadwater has written about what's known about the Trump Epstein relationship. Luke, how far back do these two men go?

• Luke Broadwater, White House Correspondent:

  Well, we know they've known each other since at least the late 1980s or 1990, when Jeffrey Epstein purchased a property in Palm Beach. Shortly thereafter, the two men became friendly. They ran in the same circles. They were both from New York, they were both rich. They both had a love for nightlife and for attending flashy parties and being surrounded by women.

  And so for about 15 years, as best we can tell, they were pretty tight. Trump flew on Epstein's private jet between Palm Beach and New York at least seven times. And it isn't until 2004 when they really have a falling out when they become rivals over a real estate property in Florida. They both wanted the same oceanfront mansion. And Donald Trump and Epstein sort of become rivals or even enemies after that.

• John Yang:

  And after that break, after the break over that real estate, did they ever get back together or was that it?

• Luke Broadwater:

  Not as best we can tell, there's no public record of them interacting after about 2004. And Trump himself, after Epstein died in jail said he hadn't talked to him in 15 years. And we haven't found any evidence that contradicts that.

• John Yang:

  What was his reaction or public reaction when Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking in 2019?

• Luke Broadwater:

  Well, he tried to distance himself from any connection to Epstein and he called him a creep. There have been times when he called for a full investigation. There have been times when he tried to suggest maybe Democrats were involved in wrongdoing in connection to Epstein.

  And there have been other times when he sort of hedged and said he didn't want everything out and that he believed maybe innocent people could be unfairly maligned. And he even expressed sympathy for Ms. Maxwell, who was Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend who's now serving a prison sentence for helping him with his sex trafficking ring, and she was convicted of that and is doing a 20-year prison sentence currently.

• John Yang:

  You say he was sort of ambivalent about releasing this stuff during the campaign, but it was certainly a big part of the MAGA base that was supporting him. And now he's trying to get them to move on. Do you think they will?

• Luke Broadwater:

  It doesn't seem like it. You know, he famously bragged he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and wouldn't lose any supporters. This seems to be the one issue, though, where he's really put himself in a political fix. His base has been adamant that all these files be released. If you look at sort of right wing message boards or social media posts, really ardent supporters of Donald Trump are turning on him over this issue.

  They're saying he's becoming like the swamp. He's part of a cover up. And so him saying move on does not appear to be working. Maybe it's working with some of the Republicans on Capitol Hill, maybe it's working with a few talk show hosts. But by and large, the base seems to be demanding that every piece of information about Jeffrey Epstein and his crimes come out.

  As you know, there's widespread belief that there were, you know, rich and famous men who abused women along with Jeffrey Epstein, and people want to see those men brought to justice. And to date, it's really only been Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell who have faced any legal repercussions.

• John Yang:

  Luke Broadwater, the New York Times, thank you very much.

• Luke Broadwater:

  Thank you.

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