How Epstein-Trump relations evolved, ended and lingered for 30 years

Six years after his death, revelations about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continue to haunt the nation, including its leaders, lawmakers and the more than 1,000 women and girls who accuse him of sexual abuse.

Now, a pending release of more Epstein-related documents from the Justice Department has the country waiting for the next details about the disgraced wealth adviser – and how President Donald Trump, a onetime associate of Epstein, may be affected.

Trump met Epstein in the 1990s, when both were celebrities in high finance. Though Trump said he broke ties with Epstein decades ago, their relationship has dogged the president, who has reversed his stance on releasing Epstein documents.

Here is a look at how Trump and Epstein came together, then parted ways over 30 years.

Trump flew seven times on Epstein's private jet

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2004

Trump hosts the TV show "The Apprentice," in which contestants vie to run one of Trump's companies. It lasts 13 seasons and boosts Trump's popularity among the public.

2004-2007

When did Epstein and Trump stop being friends?

Trump and Epstein ended their relationship in 2004 or 2007. The dates and reasons vary, according to reports:

• In July 2025, Trump said Epstein had been "stealing" young women who worked at the Mar-a-Lago spa and hiring them to work at his estate. "I said, 'Listen, we don't want you taking our people,'" Trump said, and later banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago, according to cbc.ca. The year was not disclosed, but Trump said it was "old history."
• Epstein and Trump begin bidding against each other in a bankruptcy auction for an estate called Maison de l’Amitie in Palm Beach, a 6-acre oceanfront property, in 2004. It was formerly owned by retail magnate Leslie Wexner, who at the time of Epstein’s arrest in 2019 was the only publicly identified client of Epstein’s eponymous financial advisory firm. Trump wins the auction with a bid of $41.35 million in November 2004, reported the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network.
• Trump reportedly barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago for behaving inappropriately toward the teenage daughter of a club member in 2007, according to the Miami Herald and The Wall Street Journal.

2008

Epstein pleads guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting minors for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. He serves 13 months in the Palm Beach County Stockade and is regularly allowed to leave as part of a work release program. The plea agreement, overseen by U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta from the George W. Bush administration, classifies Epstein as a sex offender, because the charge involves a minor. The agreement is later criticized as too lenient.

2015

Trump announces he will run for president.

Trump wins presidency – and greater Epstein scrutiny

2016

Trump is elected president.

2017

Trump nominates, and the Senate confirms, Acosta as secretary of labor.

2018

The Miami Herald publishes an extensive investigation into the Epstein case.

2019

July 8: Federal prosecutors in the Southern District Court of New York charge Epstein with sex trafficking of minors. He is accused of abusing dozens of young women and girls. Epstein pleads not guilty and is held in the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.

July 12: Acosta resigns over the controversy surrounding Epstein's 2008 plea agreement.

Aug. 10: Epstein is found dead in his cell in New York. His death is ruled a suicide.

Epstein’s death does not end the sex trafficking controversy. Tens of thousands of documents are collected on Epstein, from federal investigations, civil lawsuits, court cases and other sources. Federal investigators scrutinize those in Epstein’s far-ranging social network.

Some of Trump's political supporters believe the government has concealed Epstein's ties to the rich and powerful and criticize Trump's Justice Department for not releasing more information.

2020

Ghislaine Maxwell is arrested in July on federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy in connection with her relationship with Epstein.

2021

Jan. 20: President Joe Biden takes office.

Dec. 29: Maxwell is convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida.

2021-2024

Prominent Trump supporters call for release of more Epstein files. Later, some of them, including JD Vance, Pam Bondi and Kash Patel, join Trump's second presidential administration.

2024

June 3: On Fox News, Trump says he would declassify the Epstein files if reelected president.

July 10: Trump again says he'll release the Epstein files if he wins back the White House.

Nov. 5: Trump is elected president for a second time.

2025

Jan. 20: President Trump takes office.

Feb. 27: Attorney General Pam Bondi releases the first batch of declassified Epstein files, about 200 pages.

July 7: The Justice Department and the FBI say no evidence has been found that Epstein kept a “client list” or that he was murdered while in custody. The department says no more records will be released.

July 12: Trump says on Truth Social that his supporters should "not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about."

July 24: Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal lawyer to Trump, interviews Maxwell. She says she never saw Trump "in any inappropriate setting in any way."

Aug. 1: Maxwell is transferred to a minimum-security prison camp in Bryan, Texas.

Sept. 2: The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability releases 33,000 pages of documents. Most of them had already been made public.

Sept. 8: House Democrats post a purported note from Trump to Epstein in a book for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003. The note is written on a depiction of a naked woman, according to The Wall Street Journal, and its contents suggest Trump and Epstein share a secret. Trump denies writing the note and sues The Journal for $10 billion for libel on July 18. The House Oversight Committee later releases the entire book.

Nov. 12: The House Oversight Committee releases about 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate, including emails between Epstein, Maxwell and author Michael Wolff that they say raise new questions about Trump's ties to Epstein and how much Trump knew about Epstein's abuse of underage girls.

Nov. 16: Trump reverses his stance on the Epstein files and tells House Republicans to support their release.

Nov. 19: Trump signs the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law, which gives the Justice Department until Dec. 19 to release the files.

Dec. 16: In a Vanity Fair story, Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, says Bondi “completely whiffed” in her initial release of documents about Epstein. Wiles said she has read what she calls “the Epstein file” and Trump’s name appears because he rode on Epstein’s plane and attended his parties. “And we know he’s in the file,” Wiles says. “And he’s not in the file doing anything awful.”

CONTRIBUTING Bart Jansen

SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Reuters; Politifact; court documents; Department of Justice