Donald Trump reportedly ended his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein because the latter was “a creep,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the New York Times in a lengthy report published Saturday — not due to the pair’s real estate dispute over a Palm Beach mansion they both wanted to buy, the story that was previously reported in 2019.
Leavitt also told the Times that stories tying Epstein and Trump together as friends “are tired and pathetic attempts to distract from all the success of President Trump’s administration.” The outlet’s dive into the years-long relationship between Trump and Epstein was published as the president continues to fight off his links to the disgraced financier, who was found dead in his cell as he awaited trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.
In 2019, the Washington Post reported on a real estate race between the two men; both were vying for the same Palm Beach mansion that was being sold after the owners filed for bankruptcy. The property’s trustee Joseph Luzinski told the Post both men contacted him in an attempt to hold sway.
“It was something like, Donald saying, ‘You don’t want to do a deal with him, he doesn’t have the money,’ while Epstein was saying: ‘Donald is all talk. He doesn’t have the money,’” Luzinski told the Washington Post at the time.
Trump has downplayed his closeness with Epstein referring to him as more of an acquaintance than a friend. Epstein though was a fixture at Mar-a-Lago despite never becoming a member, and his former business partner Steven Hoffenberg also explained, “Donald liked Epstein. But he was crazy about [Ghislaine] Maxwell, a very charming lady.”
Still, those feelings didn’t stop Epstein and Trump from falling out.
At the time, Trump described the property as “the finest piece of land in Florida and probably the U.S.” and said he planned to build “the second greatest house in America, Mar-a-Lago being the first” before reselling it. Epstein, the Post wrote, appeared to be interested in living in the home.
Luzinski later described the bidding war that followed as “two very large Palm Beach egos going at it.” Trump later sold the mansion to Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev for $95 million. There is little public record of the two men interacting after the real estate fall out.
Back in 2019 Trump also referred to Epstein as a “creep.” His former aide Sam Nunberg claimed that when he asked Trump about Epstein, his boss replied, “He’s a real creep, I banned him [from Mar-a-Lago].” Trump also reportedly told Nunberg Epstein had asked a woman who worked at Mar-a-Lago to give him massages. The New York Times report also said that Trump told associates that Epstein acted inappropriately to the daughter of a member of Mar-a-Lago.
One of Epstein’s victims was Virginia Giuffre, who was 16 when she worked at Mar-a-Lago. Giuffre said she was initially brought onboard by Maxwell, who hired her to give Epstein massages. She accused both of sex trafficking. Giuffre died by suicide April 25, 2025.
The president has faced backlash for repeatedly trying to downplay the Epstein situation with MAGA and even turned on supporters blasting him and his administration’s handling of it. “[The Democrats’] new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.”
Several conservative commentators who have supported the president have been unhappy with what the administration has shared about Epstein. Tucker Carlson has called out Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi for saying there is no Epstein client list, saying “you’re not going to shout me down” for asking “pretty reasonable questions.”
