Newly uncovered photos and video footage have revealed fresh details about Donald Trump’s past relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, sparking renewed scrutiny. The photos from 1993 confirm that Epstein attended Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples at the Plaza Hotel in New York, an event that was not widely known until now. Additionally, footage from a 1999 Victoria’s Secret fashion event shows Trump and Epstein laughing and chatting together.
According to CNN’s KFile, the raw footage was uncovered during a review of archival video of Trump at events in the 1990s and 2000s. Trump and Epstein appeared together in at least one video among the limited archival footage reviewed. When asked about the wedding photos, President Trump responded, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” before repeatedly calling CNN “fake news” and hanging up.
In a statement to CNN, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said, “These are nothing more than out-of-context frame grabs of innocuous videos and pictures of widely attended events to disgustingly infer something nefarious. The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep. This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media.”
Trump’s relationship with Epstein dates back to the 1980s and included regular appearances at social events in Palm Beach and New York. The two had a falling-out in the mid-2000s, according to the Washington Post, stemming from a dispute over a high-profile real estate deal in Palm Beach. Before then, photos and video repeatedly showed the two were friendly. In 2019, NBC posted footage of a party showing Trump socializing with Epstein in 1992.
High-society photographer Dafydd Jones took photos at the opening of the Harley Davidson Cafe in New York in 1993, capturing Trump and Epstein together. “There was this guy there who struck me — the way he was looking — and he gave me his card. It said: Jeffrey Epstein, financial advisor,” Jones recalled in an interview with CNN this week.
The 1999 fashion show wasn’t the first Victoria’s Secret event the pair attended together. Two photos from Getty Images show Trump and Epstein appearing at a 1997 Angels party in New York, two years before the footage uncovered by CNN. Epstein’s presence at the 1999 fashion show also reflects his longstanding ties to Leslie Wexner, the billionaire founder of Victoria’s Secret’s parent company. Epstein managed Wexner’s finances from 1987 to around 2007.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported on a birthday message sent bearing Trump’s name for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. According to the Journal, it contained an outline of a naked woman and a typed note that ended with the line: “Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump has denied authoring the note and drawing, calling the report false. On Friday, he sued the newspaper for libel in federal court in Florida.
The Justice Department’s recent decision not to release long-promised files related to Epstein has spurred outrage in some corners of Trump’s MAGA movement, where people developed an expectation for bombshell revelations into Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators. In response, Trump has pledged to release grand jury materials related to Epstein.
The Department of Justice has also reached out to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s associate, for a meeting amid backlash over the administration’s handling of files related to Epstein. Maxwell’s attorney told CNN they “are in discussions with the government” on the matter. “Ghislaine will always testify truthfully. We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case,” attorney David Oscar Markus said.