Epstein accuser says she asked FBI twice to look into Trump
A woman who accused Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell of sexually assaulting her says she told the FBI twice to look into President Trump, The New York Times reported Sunday.
The woman, Maria Farmer, told the Times that she asked the FBI, along with the New York City Police Department, to broadly examine people in Epstein’s circles, including Trump, in 1996. She followed up again, she told the newspaper, after the FBI reinterviewed her about Epstein 10 years later.
She told the Times she had "no evidence of criminal wrongdoing" by associates of Epstein but suggested law enforcement broaden their scope because Epstein's activities, while he built a stable of famous friends, disturbed her.
White House spokesperson Steven Cheung called the reporting “recycled, old fake news of the highest order.”
The report follows several weeks of political furor over previous promises by Trump officials to release the “Epstein files,” a body of investigative documents related to the disgraced financier. It’s not clear what could be in the files, but many Democrats have hoped that they could shed light on the president’s relationship to the convicted sex offender.
Farmer told the Times she asked law enforcement to look into Trump because of an interaction she had with him in 1995, which she has previously described publicly. Farmer, "as she was preparing to work for Epstein," said she was called into Epstein’s office late one night and arrived wearing running shorts, the Times recounted.
Trump, Farmer said, stared at her in a manner that made her feel uncomfortable. Epstein then entered the room and told Trump, “No, no. She’s not here for you,” she added, according to the Times's report.
The White House disputed Farmer’s account.
“The President was never in his office. The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep,” Cheung said in a statement to The Hill.
Farmer worked for Epstein between 1995 and 1996, the Times reported, "initially to acquire art on his behalf but then later to oversee the comings and goings of girls, young women and celebrities at the front entrance of his Upper East Side townhouse."
The relationship between Trump and Epstein appeared to have been strained after a real estate dispute over a Palm Beach mansion in 2004.
The New York Times’s report follows an article by The Wall Street Journal that Trump had written Epstein a “bawdy” 50th birthday card. Trump has denied the reporting and sued the Journal last week. Republicans have coalesced behind his criticisms.
Trump late last week asked the Department of Justice to unseal the grand jury transcripts in the Epstein case.
Additionally, a largely symbolic effort by congressional Republicans to call on the administration to release documents related to Epstein has also been put on hold, Politico reported Monday.
Democrats have sought to seize on the political division and are pushing a petition that would force a binding floor vote. That effort has garnered some Republican support.