This story was originally published in July 2025.
When Palm Beach police searched Jeffrey Epstein’s island mansion in 2005 after a report that Epstein had sexually abused a minor, they seized several message pads from his kitchen, office and elsewhere.
Amid the messages, which ranged in dates from 2002 to 2005, were two left for Epstein from Donald Trump.
Trump’s Justice Department announced on July 7 that the tranche of Epstein documents it has does not contain a “client list” and that they won’t be released.
The messages confiscated in 2005 from Epstein come from Palm Beach County State Attorney’s documents released to The Palm Beach Post during its 2019 investigation, “Epstein: the first failure.”
Trump has never been accused of any wrongdoing involving Epstein’s crimes.
When were the Trump messages for Epstein left and why?
The notes appeared amid others dated around the time Trump and Epstein vied in a bankruptcy bidding war for former healthcare magnate Abe Gosman’s manse on Palm Beach.
Trump bested Epstein and Mark Pulte, son of the founder of Pulte homes, for the 43,000-square-foot, seven-bedroom estate on 6 oceanfront acres at 515 N. County Road along the storied “Raider’s Row.”
Trump’s bid of $41.35 million won the real estate. Epstein had bowed out when the price hit $38 million.
What the Trump phone messages say
The communications, usually taken when someone calls, contain only Trump’s phone number and are addressed to “J.E.” They are not dated but appear in a long number of images dated between Nov. 11 and Nov. 20, 2004.
The auction took place on Nov. 15, 2004. It’s unclear whether Trump was trying to negotiate over the auction of the Gosman house.
Both marked at 5:18 p.m., but appear to be different handwriting so it’s not clear whether they were calls on the same day.
Being on Epstein’s message pads is not evidence of any wrongdoing. Other names that appeared include Jes Staley, former executive at JPMorgan and Barclays; magician David Copperfield; physicist Lawrences Krauss; and former Hollywood producer and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein. None of those men has been accused of being part of Epstein’s crimes.
Staley admitted in March 2025 that he had had sexual relations with a member of Epstein’s staff at Mark Epstein’s home and claimed he had no knowledge of Epstein’s “monstrous activities.” Mark Epstein is Jeffrey’s brother.
Trump has appeared in other Epstein docs but nothing nefarious
Trump has appeared in other public documents regarding Epstein, such as the financier’s flight logs from the 1990s when Trump took several flights with his family members.
Many of the documents were seized as part of the 2005 police investigation into a sexual abuse allegation by a 14-year-old. She and her stepmother made a report to Palm Beach police in March 2005. The search of Epstein’s home occurred in October that year.
Police eventually amassed dozens of minor girls and young women as potential witnesses, but instead of charging Epstein himself, Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer chose to take the case to a grand jury. The move was highly unusual.
What emerged from the secret proceeding was a single solicitation of prostitution against Epstein. Only two victims testified and were directly called prostitutes by prosecutors, according to transcripts released in summer 2024 as part of a nearly 5-year-long Palm Beach Post lawsuit.
Trump told New York magazine in 2002 that “I’ve known Jeff (Epstein) for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
But when Epstein was arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges, Trump said, “I’m not a fan.” The president said he’d cut ties with the predator 15 years earlier, presumably around the time of the messages.
How Trump and Epstein knew each other
Trump and Epstein have been photographed partying together in the 1990s. Epstein’s home at 358 El Brillo Way was less than two miles from Mar-a-Lago.
Epstein bought his mansion and moved to live on the island part time in 1990. Trump bought Mar-a-Lago in 1985. Trump was about six years older.
Epstein pleaded guilty to two prostitution-related felonies in Palm Beach County in 2008. He served 13 months at the jail, much of that time on 12-hour-a-day, six-days-a-week work release.
He was found hanged to death in his Manhattan jail in August 2019, weeks after being arrested by federal authorities on sex trafficking charges.
Holly Baltz is the investigations editor at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hbaltz@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Why Trump left phone messages for Jeffrey Epstein. Here’s what we know
Reporting by Holly Baltz, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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