In the glittering excess of 1990s Manhattan parties and Palm Beach soirees, Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein forged a bond that felt almost fraternal—laughing together in photos, trading boasts about beautiful women, and sharing private jet rides across the East Coast that went far beyond casual acquaintance.
Newly unsealed DOJ files from December 23 reveal flight logs placing Trump on Epstein’s infamous plane at least eight times between 1993 and 1996, including four with Ghislaine Maxwell aboard and one with just Trump, Epstein, and a redacted 20-year-old woman. A 2020 prosecutor’s email admits these trips were “many more times than previously… reported,” resurfacing a closeness Trump has long downplayed as superficial.
No wrongdoing is alleged, yet the intimate details—domestic hops with family and alone—paint a deeper portrait than either man ever admitted publicly.
With over a million more documents uncovered, how much closer were they really?
In the glittering excess of 1990s Manhattan parties and Palm Beach soirees, Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein forged a bond that appeared almost fraternal. The two men were frequently photographed laughing together, trading boasts about beautiful women, and moving in the same elite circles of New York and Florida high society. Their shared affinity for luxury, celebrity, and private aviation cemented a social relationship that, for a time, went far beyond casual acquaintance.
The latest unsealed files from the U.S. Department of Justice, released on December 23, 2025, as part of the third and largest batch under the Epstein Files Transparency Act—signed into law by President Trump himself last month—provide new details about the extent of that connection. Among the nearly 30,000 pages are flight logs placing Trump on Epstein’s private jet at least eight times between 1993 and 1996. A January 2020 email from a federal prosecutor in New York noted that these trips were “many more times than previously has been reported,” indicating the frequency had not been fully appreciated even by investigators at the time.
The logs show that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted accomplice now serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, was aboard at least four of those flights. One 1993 flight listed only Trump and Epstein as passengers. Another included just Trump, Epstein, and a redacted 20-year-old woman. Several others involved Trump’s then-wife Marla Maples and his young children Eric and Tiffany. All flights were domestic, shuttling between Palm Beach, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. No records in this release indicate Trump ever traveled to Epstein’s private island, Little St. James.
Newly disclosed photographs show Trump and Maxwell smiling together at social events, while other documents include subpoenas sent to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort seeking employment records, connected to earlier reports that Epstein recruited staff from the property.
Trump has consistently described his relationship with Epstein as limited and superficial, stating it ended years before Epstein’s criminal activities became public knowledge. He has called Epstein a “creep,” denied visiting the island, and maintained that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. Federal authorities have never alleged or charged Trump with any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
The Department of Justice accompanied the release with a statement cautioning that some materials contain “untrue and sensationalist claims” against Trump. These include anonymous tips submitted around the 2020 election and a purported jailhouse letter from Epstein to convicted abuser Larry Nassar containing crude references to Trump—later determined to be fake by the FBI based on inconsistencies in handwriting, postmark, and timing.
On December 24, the DOJ announced the discovery of over one million additional potential documents from FBI and Southern District of New York files, which will require weeks of review and redaction to protect victim privacy.
While the newly unsealed records paint a clearer picture of a closer 1990s social bond—private flights with few passengers, shared events, and overlapping circles—they add no evidence of criminal conduct by Trump. The documents largely recycle or contextualize information that surfaced in prior proceedings, such as Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial, but the volume and specificity have renewed public interest in one of the most scrutinized relationships in modern American history.
Leave a Reply