Ex-police chief said Trump told him in 2006 ‘everyone’ knew of Epstein’s behaviour

A Former Florida Police Chief Claims He Received a Call from Donald Trump in 2006

According to an FBI document released in the latest batch of Epstein files, a former Florida police chief said he received a call from Donald Trump in 2006. The document, a written record of a 2019 FBI interview, details the former Palm Beach police chief’s allegations that Trump informed him, “everyone knows about the disgraced financier’s behavior.”

The officer’s name is redacted, but the interview subject is identified as Michael Reiter, who at the time of the Epstein investigation was the Palm Beach police chief. Reiter told the Miami Herald that Trump called him after the department launched an inquiry into Epstein, stating:

“Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this.”

Reiter also claimed Trump told him during the July 2006 call that he had thrown Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club and that “people in New York knew he was disgusting.” Additionally, he said Trump described Ghislaine Maxwell as Epstein’s “operative” and emphasized that “she is evil and to focus on her.”

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for her role in luring underage girls for Epstein. Reiter further stated that Trump said he was present during Epstein’s interactions with teenagers and that he “got the hell out of there.”

The FBI document notes that Reiter claimed Trump was one of the “very first people to call” Florida police when he learned of the Epstein investigation. In 2006, Palm Beach police were examining Epstein for alleged sexual exploitation of underage girls. The case was later handed to federal prosecutors, who in 2008 secured a controversial plea deal with Epstein, including a non-prosecution agreement.

In a statement to the BBC, a justice department official said:

“We are not aware of any corroborating evidence that the president contacted law enforcement 20 years ago.”

At a Tuesday briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about the reported call. She responded:

“It may or may not have happened in 2006. I don’t know the answer. What President Trump has always said is that he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club because Jeffrey Epstein was a creep. And that remains true in this call. If it did happen, it corroborates exactly what President Trump has said from the beginning.”

The BBC has also sought comment from Reiter. Trump and Epstein socialised and appeared in photographs together in the 1990s, but the pr