FBI Document Describes Trump Thanking Palm Beach Police Chief for Epstein Investigation in 2006

A recently released FBI summary of a 2019 interview with former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter indicates that Donald Trump telephoned Reiter in 2006 to applaud the department’s investigation into financier Jeffrey Epstein. According to the four-page memorandum, Trump told Reiter, “Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this,” and said Epstein was “disgusting” and that associate Ghislaine Maxwell was “evil.”

The memorandum surfaced among thousands of pages of records disclosed by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of its ongoing release of files connected to Epstein’s criminal history. Although the chief’s name is redacted in the published version, the details align with Reiter’s well-documented role leading the inquiry that began in 2005. The Department of Justice has said the current document dump will eventually total roughly three million pages.

The call allegedly occurred in July 2006, shortly after local media outlets revealed that Palm Beach detectives were gathering evidence that Epstein had recruited girls as young as 14 to provide massages that progressed to sexual acts. Reiter told agents that Trump claimed he had expelled Epstein from the Mar-a-Lago resort when he learned the financier was attempting to hire spa employees. Trump also allegedly advised Reiter to focus on Maxwell, describing her as Epstein’s “operative.”

Trump has publicly denied advance knowledge of Epstein’s criminal conduct. He has said that he ended contact with the financier more than two decades ago and has repeatedly stated that he barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago for inappropriate behavior. Since 2019, when Epstein was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges in New York, the former president has characterized his own interactions with Epstein as limited and distant.

Reiter emerged as a central figure in the first law-enforcement probe of Epstein in Florida. In early 2005, after the family of a 14-year-old girl filed a complaint, the Palm Beach Police Department opened an investigation that soon revealed a wider pattern of alleged abuse. Detectives interviewed multiple teenagers who described being paid to perform sexualized massages at Epstein’s waterfront mansion.

By mid-2006, Reiter’s detectives had compiled evidence they believed supported felony charges. However, the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office chose to present the matter to a grand jury rather than file direct charges. The grand jury ultimately returned a single count of solicitation of prostitution, a misdemeanor. Reiter publicly criticized the outcome, apologized to victims for the handling of the case, and asked federal authorities to intervene.

The subsequent federal inquiry culminated in Epstein’s 2008 non-prosecution agreement with U.S. prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida. Under that deal, Epstein pleaded guilty in state court to two counts of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and served 13 months in county jail with work-release privileges. The agreement foreclosed federal charges against him and several alleged co-conspirators.

Epstein was arrested again in July 2019 on sex-trafficking charges brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. He was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell the following month; the medical examiner ruled the death a suicide. Two months later, in October 2019, the FBI interviewed Reiter as part of a broader review of the earlier Florida investigation. The memo summarizing that interview contains the account of Trump’s 2006 phone call.

Imagem: Internet

While references to Trump occupy only a brief portion of the four-page report, the memorandum provides additional context on the Palm Beach probe. Reiter told agents that Epstein’s network operated in plain view, that several local residents had complained informally before police opened a formal case, and that witnesses feared retaliation. The memo notes that Trump was “one of the very first people to call” when word of the investigation spread.

The FBI document does not indicate whether agents sought corroboration for Reiter’s description of the phone call, nor does it state whether the bureau pursued further leads related to Trump’s statements. No allegation has been made that Trump participated in or had direct knowledge of Epstein’s illegal conduct beyond what was publicly rumored at the time.

Disclosure of the memo follows renewed congressional and public scrutiny of records tied to Epstein. Earlier this year, House Oversight Committee Democrats released photographs recovered from Epstein’s properties, including images of Trump, former President Bill Clinton, and other public figures. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told reporters that the Justice Department aimed to balance transparency with privacy concerns while releasing the sizable cache of documents.

Reiter, who retired from the Palm Beach Police Department in 2009, has not commented on the new disclosure. ABC News reported that efforts to reach him for reaction to the memo were unsuccessful. Apart from Reiter’s interview summary, the latest tranche of files includes investigative reports, correspondence among prosecutors, and victim statements. Attorneys representing several Epstein survivors have criticized the department for inadvertently disclosing some victims’ names, despite earlier assurances that those identities would remain sealed.

The existence of Trump’s alleged 2006 call has not been previously reported in detail. It adds another data point to the complex record of Epstein’s associations with prominent individuals, a network that included politicians, business leaders and celebrities. Although Trump’s remarks, as recounted by Reiter, appear supportive of law enforcement, they contrast with the former president’s later public insistence that he knew little about Epstein’s private activities.

Crédito da imagem: Jon Elswick/AP