Donald Trump was warned about Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct around “younger girls” over a decade before he was exposed as a pedophile, said an author who has written extensively about the financier.
Barry Levine, author of The Spider: Inside the Criminal Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and former executive editor at the National Enquirer, told CNN’s OutFront that Trump was cautioned back in 1992 not to host a party at which he and Epstein would be the only two men present.
“There was a 1992 party in which Donald Trump had 28 young women at a party at Mar-a-Lago, his only guest at that particular party was a man named Jeffrey Epstein,” Levine told OutFront host Erin Burnett.
“The Florida businessman who put this party together for the ‘calendar girls’ competition that took place at Trump casinos, specifically told Donald Trump… ‘I’m going to ban Jeffrey Epstein from events like this, I don’t like him going after younger girls.’ And he was very concerned about the party on this particular night.”
Levine was referencing a claim first made by The New York Times in July 2019 after Epstein’s arrest on federal sex trafficking charges. The article details how Trump and Epstein had been friends for years, but Trump insisted they hadn’t spoken for over 15 years following a reported falling out over a Palm Beach real estate deal.
The businessman in question was George Houraney, who organized the 1992 “calendar girl” competition party at Trump’s request.
Houraney told The Times how Trump dismissed his warning about Epstein after learning he would be at the Mar-a-Lago event.
“I said, ‘Look, Donald, I know Jeff really well, I can’t have him going after younger girls,’” Houraney told the Times in 2019. “He said, ‘Look I’m putting my name on this. I wouldn’t put my name on it and have a scandal.’”
Houraney added that Trump “didn’t care” and that he “pretty much had to ban” Epstein from his events.
Trump eventually barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in late 2007, more than a year after Epstein was first accused of soliciting underage prostitutes. According to book The Grifter’s Club, written by a team of Miami Herald journalists, Trump blacklisted Epstein from the club for hitting on the teenage daughter of another member.
The White House previously said Epstein was thrown out Mar-a-Lago because he was a “creep.”
Trump now says he cut ties with Epstein because the financier “stole” young workers from Mar-a-Lago, including Virginia Giuffre, a sex trafficking victim of Epstein’s who died by suicide in April.
Speaking to CNN, Levine questioned just how much Trump knew regarding Epstein’s crimes.
“You have to wonder here, Donald Trump knew about Jeffrey Epstein’s behavior with younger girls all the way back to 1992,” Levine said. “That is astonishing.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
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