{"id":3374,"date":"2020-01-05T15:59:23","date_gmt":"2020-01-05T19:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=3374"},"modified":"2020-01-05T16:01:45","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T20:01:45","slug":"epsteingate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=3374","title":{"rendered":"EPSTEINgate: Was Epstein really the matchmaker for Trump?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeffrey Epstein boasted that he played matchmaker for Donald and Melania Trump, report says<\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After the 2016 election, financier tried to play up his connection to new president by saying he introduced him to his third wife<\/h3>\n

By MARTHA ROSS | Bay Area News Group
\nThe Mercury News<\/p>\n

(<\/strong><\/em>CLICK HERE<\/a>, if you are unable to view this photo gallery on your mobile device.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Donald and Melania Trump often have told the story about how they met at a Manhattan nightclub during New York Fashion Week in 1998.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Epstein has never figured into this origin story \u2014 but the financier and former Trump friend has tried to take credit for this historical encounter between the future president and first lady.<\/p>\n

The New York Times,\u00a0reporting<\/a>\u00a0on Trump\u2019s long and difficult friendship with the newly jailed accused sex trafficker, said that Epstein was very eager to play up his connections to Trump after the 2016 election. One way Epstein did this was by \u201cclaiming\u00a0that he was the one who introduced Trump to his third wife,\u201d the Times reported.<\/p>\n

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Jeffrey Epstein claims he introduced President Trump to wife Melania as it is revealed the two \u2026\u00a0https:\/\/t.co\/VyAwAlJSh0<\/a>\u00a0via\u00a0@MailOnline<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jackie Pelky (@jpelky41)\u00a0July 10, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But long before the election \u2014 and certainly while Trump was running for president \u2014 the Republican candidate and his associates tried to downplay his decades-long friendship with the hedge-fund manager. By 2015, Epstein was a registered sex offender who had served 13 months in jail, after being investigated in the mid-2000s for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of underage girls at his mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, near Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago resort.<\/p>\n

In Donald and Melania Trump\u2019s version of how they met, they give credit to another person for their introduction: modeling agent Paolo Zampolli. The agent threw the party at the Kit Cat Club, where the then-celebrity real estate mogul spotted a beautiful 28-year-old model from Slovenia named Melania Knauss. At the time, Trump was still married, though separated from his second wife, Marla Maples. He also was on a date with another woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went crazy,\u201d Trump\u00a0told Larry King<\/a>\u00a0on CNN in 2005. \u201cThere was this great supermodel sitting next to Melania. I was supposed to meet this supermodel. They said, \u2018Look, there\u2019s so and so.\u2019 I said, \u2018Forget about her. Who is the one on the left?\u2019 And it was Melania.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melania Trump similarly said she felt \u201cgreat chemistry and energy\u201d with her future husband, but she\u00a0told Harpers Bazaar<\/a>\u00a0in 2016 that she refused to give him her phone number because she wasn\u2019t sure how serious he was.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Epstein in 2008 appears in custody in West Palm Beach, Fla.(Uma Sanghvi\/Palm Beach Post via AP)\u00a0Uma Sanghvi\/Palm Beach Post<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018I am not giving you my number; you give me yours, and I will call you,’\u201d Melania Trump explained, saying she would have been put off if Donald Trump had given her just his business number. He won her trust by giving her four numbers, including to his private homes in New York and Mar-a-Lago.<\/p>\n

Melania called, they went on a date, Donald soon got his divorce from Maples, and the two eventually married in 2005.<\/p>\n

If Epstein made claims that he somehow brought Donald and Melania Trump together, he could argue that the timing made sense.<\/p>\n

From the 1980s through the early 2000s, Trump and Epstein were Palm Beach neighbors and Manhattan high-flyers who shared an an\u00a0appreciation for wealth and for being seen together at fabulous parties, especially if beautiful women were present, according to the New York Times and other publications.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,\u201d Trump famously told New York magazine in 2002. \u201cHe\u2019s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Epstein, Trump and Trump\u2019s good friend Tom Barrack were \u201ca set of nightlife Musketeers,\u201d author Michael Wolff wrote in his book \u201cFire and Fury.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those days, if you didn\u2019t know Trump and you didn\u2019t know Epstein, you were a nobody,\u201d Harvard University Law School professor Alan Dershowitz told the Times. Dershowitz served on Epstein\u2019s defense team when he was charged in 2006 with unlawful sex with minors.<\/p>\n

The New York Times report recounts \u201can exclusive\u201d 1992 party that took place at Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago club. Other than\u00a0the two dozen or so women flown in to provide the entertainment, the only guests were Trump and Epstein, according to George Houraney, a Florida-based businessman who arranged the party at Trump\u2019s request.<\/p>\n

But years later, the friendship between Trump and Epstein turned \u201ctoxic,\u201d possibly over a failed business deal, the Times reported. At one point, Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago \u201cbecause Epstein sexually assaulted an underage girl at the club,\u201d an attorney for one of Epstein\u2019s alleged victims said in court documents,\u00a0the Washington Post reported<\/a>\u00a0in 2017.<\/p>\n

Now that Trump is president, his association with Epstein has turned out to be controversial in other ways. His labor secretary, Alex Acosta, is under fire because he was the U.S. attorney in Miami who signed off on the non-prosecution agreement that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to solicitation charges in 2008 and avoid a lengthy prison term.<\/p>\n

After Epstein was arrested this past weekend and indicted on new federal sex trafficking charges, Trump this week tried to dismiss the idea that they were ever good friends, telling reporters: \u201cWell, I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him. I mean, people in Palm Beach knew him; he was a fixture in Palm Beach. I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve spoken to him for 15 years. I wasn\u2019t a fan. I was not \u2013 yeah, a long time ago. I\u2019d say, maybe 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you. I was not a fan of his.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Trump tries to backtrack on his characterization of Jeffrey Epstein as "a terrific guy," now says "I don't think I've spoken to him in 15 years. I wasn't a fan." pic.twitter.com\/iX1awN0z0I<\/a><\/p>\n

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 9, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n