Newly released FBI documents have unveiled a startling 2006 phone conversation in which Donald Trump allegedly told a Florida police chief that “everyone” was aware of Jeffrey Epstein’s predatory behavior. The records, made public this week as part of a massive 3.5-million-page release under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, contradict the President’s long-standing public assertions that he had “no idea” about the disgraced financier’s sex crimes.
The document, an FBI “302” summary of a 2019 interview with former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter, details a call Trump made to the department in July 2006. According to Reiter, Trump reached out shortly after Epstein’s first arrest to express his gratitude. “Thank goodness you’re stopping him; everyone has known he’s been doing this,” Trump reportedly told the chief. The summary further notes that Trump described Epstein’s social circle in New York as viewing the billionaire as “disgusting” and specifically warned investigators to “focus on” Ghislaine Maxwell, whom he labeled as Epstein’s “evil” operative.
The release of these files has ignited a firestorm of scrutiny regarding the President’s past association with Epstein. During the 2006 call, Trump allegedly recounted an incident where he found himself near Epstein while teenagers were present, claiming he “got the hell out of there” immediately. He also reiterated that he had banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club after the financier began poaching spa employees, a narrative the White House has consistently used to explain their falling out in the early 2000s.
In response to the surfacing of the Reiter interview, the Department of Justice issued a cautious statement noting they are “not aware of any corroborating evidence” that the 20-year-old phone call took place, despite Reiter confirming the details of his FBI interview to the Miami Herald. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt argued that if the call occurred, it only proves that Trump was one of the first to support law enforcement’s efforts to stop a “creep” he had already distanced himself from.
These revelations provide a complicated layer to the ongoing Epstein saga. While the documents do not implicate the President in any criminal activity, they suggest a level of awareness regarding Epstein’s reputation that clashes with his previous denials. As lawmakers continue to sift through the millions of newly un-redacted pages, the debate over who in the global elite “knew what and when” remains the central focus of the investigation in early 2026.
