Uncovered NY Post Article From 2007 Casts Doubt On Trump’s Epstein Story
(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Independent journalist Roger Sollenberger uncovered an old New York Post article this week that appeared to refute President Donald Trump’s story about when and why he booted convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club.
“Epstein denies he is banned from Mar-a-Lago and says, in fact, he was recently invited to an event there,” Sollenberger noted on Tuesday, adding it is a “Crazy line from an Oct. 15, 2007, NYPost piece confirming that Trump only canceled Epstein’s membership two weeks after he agreed to plead guilty.”
Trump made headlines in late July when he told reporters aboard Air Force One that he was aware Jeffrey Epstein “stole” young women working at his Mar-a-Lago club and that was why he banned him.
“Mr. President, Epstein has a certain reputation, obviously. I’m just curious, were some of the workers that were taken from you, were some of them young women?” a reporter asked Trump on his way back from Scotland. He replied, “Some of them?”
“Were some of them young women?” pressed the reporter.
“Well, I don’t want to say, but everyone knows the people that were taken, and it was the concept of taking people that work for me is bad, but that story’s been pretty well out there, and the answer is yes, they were,” Trump replied. After a longer answer, he was then asked, “Mr. President, did one of those stolen, you know, persons include Virginia Giuffre?”
Trump replied, “I don’t know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people, yeah. He stole her. And, by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know, none whatsoever.” Giuffre, who sought civil and criminal action against Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and accused Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, killed herself in April of this year.
Trump’s comment raised eyebrows at the time as it called into question the known timeline surrounding Trump barring Epstein from his club. Ryan Goodman, a NYU law professor and legal analyst, shared the clip online and noted, “Here’s the very disturbing part of this.” He added:
The timing and Trump’s knowledge:
Year 2000: Epstein-Maxwell ‘took’ Virginia Giuffre from Mar-a-Lago
2002: Trump said most infamous line about Epstein being a “terrific” friend and liking “younger” ones
2004: Trump rupture with Epstein
Epstein later pleaded guilty to underage sex offenses in June of 2008.
Goodman wasn’t the only one to note the timeline surrounding Trump and Epstein’s falling out. S.V. Dáte, the White House correspondent at HuffPost, added, “Trump on AF1 confirms that one of the people Epstein “stole” from him at Mar-a-Lago was Virginia Giuffre. That was in 2000. He told NY mag in 2002 that he admired Epstein’s taste in women. The break from Epstein wasn’t for another 2 years.”
Business Insider’s Jacob Shamsian praised Sollenberger’s “find” in the New York Post, but also warned it should be taken with a grain of salt, given the source. Shamsian wrote, “Wow, great find from @SollenbergerRC. Although the source that Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t banned is Jeffrey Epstein himself, so you can take that for what it’s worth.”
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