Unsealed FBI Records Reveal Trump Called Police on Epstein in 2006, Labeling Maxwell an ‘Evil Operative’
Newly unsealed federal documents have shed light on a private 2006 conversation between Donald Trump and the Palm Beach police, revealing that the former president explicitly warned authorities about Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. According to records from a 2019 FBI interview with former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter, Trump was “one of the very first people to call” after news of the investigation into Epstein became public, offering a starkly different assessment of the pair than his later public comments would suggest.
‘She Is Evil’: The 2006 Police Call
The unsealed records detail a phone call placed by Trump to Chief Reiter in July 2006, shortly after a grand jury indicted Epstein on solicitation of prostitution charges. In this conversation, Trump reportedly praised the police chief, stating, “Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this.”
Perhaps most significantly, the documents indicate that Trump urged law enforcement to scrutinize Ghislaine Maxwell. According to Reiter’s account to the FBI, Trump identified Maxwell as Epstein’s “operative,” bluntly telling the police chief, “She is evil and to focus on her.” Trump also sought to distance himself from Epstein’s activities during the call, claiming that on one occasion when he was around Epstein and teenagers were present, he “got the hell out of there” because the situation felt wrong.
Contradictions with Public Statements
These archived records present a complex picture when juxtaposed with Trump’s later public statements. While the 2006 call suggests Trump privately recognized Maxwell as a dangerous “operative” and praised Epstein’s arrest, his comments during his presidency took a different tone. In July 2019, when asked if he knew about Epstein’s alleged crimes, Trump told reporters, “No, I had no idea,” a statement that appears to conflict with his 2006 assertion to Reiter that “everyone has known.”
Furthermore, in July 2020, following Maxwell’s arrest on sex trafficking charges, Trump famously told reporters, “I wish her well, frankly.” This public expression of well-wishes stands in sharp contrast to his private warning fourteen years earlier that she was “evil” and should be a target of the investigation. Critics point to this discrepancy as evidence of an inconsistent narrative regarding his knowledge of the pair’s operations.
Background of the Relationship
The relationship between Trump and Epstein has long been a subject of intense scrutiny. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the two moved in the same social circles in Palm Beach and New York. In a 2002 interview with New York magazine, Trump described Epstein as a “terrific guy” and “a lot of fun to be with.”
However, the friendship reportedly soured around 2004. The unsealed documents reinforce reports that the fallout was partly due to a dispute over real estate and employees. Trump claimed to have banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club, a move he later cited as evidence that he was not involved in Epstein’s illicit activities. The 2006 call to Chief Reiter occurred two years after this reported estrangement, at a time when Epstein’s initial legal troubles were just beginning to surface in the media.
The revelation of this call is part of a broader release of documents mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which has brought thousands of pages of previously confidential records into the public domain. While the call confirms Trump contacted police to denounce the pair in 2006, it remains a singular data point in a decades-long timeline of interactions that investigators and the public continue to piece together.
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