SHE’S HOT!
What Trump said to paedophile Epstein as they ogled dancing cheerleaders at the future President’s Mar-a-Lago resort
DONALD Trump and Jeffrey Epstein leer at a bevy of cheerleaders dancing in front of them in newly unearthed TV footage.
Mr Trump stands next to the paedophile and points out one woman before saying: ‘She’s hot!’
He then cracks a joke that makes Epstein double over with laughter.
The footage, from 1992, seems to contradict the US President’s claims that even though they moved in the same social circles he was ‘never a fan’ of Epstein.
Lawyers for Epstein’s alleged victims say he began abusing young girls at least as early as 1994 – two years after the footage was shot.
NBC News discovered the footage in its archives from a talk show called A Closer Look. It was shot at Mar-a-Lago, Mr Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida. He has now nicknamed it the Winter White House and hosts world leaders there.
The footage shows Mr Trump dancing with the women – cheerleaders for the Buffalo Bills American football team – and smiling as one cranes her neck toward him.
Mr Trump, who is wearing a dark suit and pink tie, grabs one woman by the waist and dances with another as they chant: ‘Donald! Donald! Donald!’
He is then seen going to greet three guests, including Epstein, who is wearing a light denim shirt. The two men stand to the side of the dancefloor and Mr Trump talks excitedly into the wealthy financier’s ear.
The President alternates between dancing and talking to Epstein and pointing out the women, who are mostly in short skirts.
Epstein points one out and Mr Trump points out another, saying: ‘Look at her back there, she’s hot.’ It is not clear what Mr Trump said to make Epstein laugh so hard, but it was almost certainly related to the women.
At one point, Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the late tycoon Robert Maxwell, can be seen walking around in the background. In court papers she has been accused of being Epstein’s ‘madam’ and recruiter.
In a US court deposition, Virginia Roberts, now Giuffre, 35, who claims she was one of Epstein’s sex slaves, said that Miss Maxwell recruited her from Mar-a-Lago where she was
working in the locker room as a towel girl. What makes Mr Trump’s behaviour all the more extraordinary is that he knew he was being filmed – at one point telling Epstein the TV cameras are from American network NBC. At the time the video was shot Mr Trump was newly divorced from his first wife, Ivana, and a year from marrying his second, Marla Maples. NBC described the footage as him enjoying his ‘bachelor lifestyle’.
In 2008 Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution and was jailed for 13 months under a controversial lenient plea deal.
Epstein, now 66, was rearrested earlier this month on new charges.
He is being held in a New York City prison, accused of sex trafficking of minors. He has pleaded not guilty, but could be jailed for 45 years if convicted.
Mr Trump, now 73, has admitted knowing Epstein. In a 2002 interview with New York magazine he called him a ‘terrific guy’, saying: ‘He’s 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. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.’
More recently, the President said they hadn’t spoken to each other for 15 years after a falling- out. According to court documents, the row was because Epstein was accused of sexually assaulting a girl at Mar-a-Lago.
Last week Mr Trump said: ‘I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him. I was not a fan.’