“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Trump said. “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.”

As his supporters erupt over the Justice Department’s failure to release much-hyped records in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation, President Donald Trump’s strategy has been to downplay the issue.

Here is a timeline of Epstein and Trump’s relationship. Though it is not known when Epstein and Trump first met, Trump told New York magazine in 2002 that he had known Epstein for 15 years, which would date back to the late 1980s. “Terrific guy,” Trump said in the 2002 interview.

The refusal of Trump’s base to believe the DOJ and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s newest assessment of the Epstein files is visibly frustrating the president, who has lashed out at his followers on social media and derided reporters for questioning the new narrative.

Police seized phone message pads from Epstein's Palm Beach mansion in 2005. Two messages were from Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump has plenty of recent accomplishments he wants the public to talk about, but there's an issue dividing his political base that won't go away.

Onetime concerns over fanning Epstein-related conspiracy theories have faded as Democratic candidates, members of Congress and party accounts attack Trump and seek to divide MAGA.

David Markus appeared to call on Trump, saying he would disapprove his DOJ urging the Supreme Court to reject Maxwell's appeal.