Mar-a-Lago Was Key to Jeffrey Epstein's Criminal Enterprise

"On Christmas Day, Donald Trump delivered the most bizarre yuletide message ever offered by a US president. Complaining that he's being unfairly linked to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Trump posted a long rant on Truth Social that began, "Merry Christmas to all, including the many Sleazebags who loved Jeffrey Epstein." Trump went on to lament how he is being blamed for his ties with Epstein, protesting that he was "actually the only one who did drop Epstein, and long before it became fashionable to do so.""

"Trump's claim to have dropped Epstein is partly true but obscures a crucial fact: that he and Epstein were close friends from the 1980s until their break at some point in 2003. Epstein had been barred from the spa at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in 2003 and the two men seemed to have a more definitive break in 2004. The exact circumstances of the break remain mysterious, since Trump has offered conflicting accounts, sometimes claiming that he was mad that Epstein "stole" an employee from Mar-a-Lago and sometimes referring to competition the two men had over real estate in 2004."

"The nature of Epstein's relationship with Donald Trump has been clarified by a damning report published by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. The report makes clear that Mar-a-Lago was crucial to Epstein's sexual predation, a fact that was well-known by Trump's inner circle long before Epstein was charged with any crime. One reasonable inference from the report is that Epstein was protected by a system of plausible deniability at Mar-a-Lago that allowed him to use the resort to harvest victims. Trump initiated a break with Epstein only once a formal complaint by a Mar-a-Lago employee made it impossible to maintain plausible deniability."

Donald Trump posted a Christmas message defending himself against links to Jeffrey Epstein and claiming he had "dropped" Epstein. Trump and Epstein had a close friendship from the 1980s until a break around 2003–2004, with conflicting explanations for why they parted. Mar-a-Lago functioned as a key site enabling Epstein's predatory activity, and members of Trump's inner circle were reportedly aware of that risk long before criminal charges. Epstein benefited from plausible deniability at Mar-a-Lago, and a formal complaint by a Mar-a-Lago employee appears to have prompted the public break.

Read at The Nation