Trump Welcomes NFL Hall of Famer Arrested for Statutory Rape: ‘Nobody Like Him’

As President Donald Trump continues facing questions about his relationship with deceased child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, on Thursday he welcomed NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor to the White House.

The former New York Giants linebacker and several other famous athletes were on hand at the White House for a bill-signing ceremony. The legislation Trump signed reinstates the Presidential Fitness Test, which commenced in the 1950s and was discontinued in 2013.

“Lawrence, you wanna say a few words?” Trump asked Taylor. “Come on up.”

“I’m just proud to be on this team,” Taylor told ceremony attendees.

“Nobody like him,” the president said.

Taylor, now 66, was arrested in 2010 for statutory rape at a Holiday Inn in upstate New York. Police at the time said the victim was 16 years old and had been imprisoned against her will by another man, who was also arrested. Taylor claimed he did not know the girl was 16 and that she told him she was 19. In 2011, Taylor pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute, both misdemeanors.

In July 2024, Taylor was arrested in Florida for failing to report as a sex offender. He turned himself in to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office on a felony warrant.

Taylor’s visit to the White House comes as the family of one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, pleaded with the president not to pardon former Epstein associate and convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

“Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life,” the family said in a statement.

Last week, Trump was asked about clemency for Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison, and did not rule it out.

Trump was a friend of Epstein’s until the two had a falling out. The president alleges that Epstein “stole” Giuffre from Mar-a-Lago, where he said, “I think she worked at the spa.”

Giuffree died by suicide in April.