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United States President Donald Trump has distanced himself from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, saying the former friends had severed ties more than a decade before his 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges.<\/p>\n
But one Democrat is using newly released documents from Epstein\u2019s estate to assert that the two remained friends after Trump first became president in 2016.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Representative Sean Casten, a Democrat from Illinois, highlighted one email exchange and said in a November 12 post on X: \u201cTrump spent his first Thanksgiving after getting elected President with Jeffrey Epstein. 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump spent his first Thanksgiving after getting elected President with Jeffrey Epstein. 2017. pic.twitter.com\/1CU51k8yl4<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Sean Casten (@SeanCasten) November 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n He attached an image of emails dated November 23, 2017 \u2013 Thanksgiving Day \u2013 between Epstein and NEXT Management Cofounder Faith Kates, which read:<\/p>\n Epstein: hope today is fun for you.<\/p>\n Kates: Fun!!! When are you back in NYC?<\/p>\n Epstein: all next week<\/p>\n Kates: Ok dylan will want to see you I always want to see you. Where are you having thanksgiving?<\/p>\n Epstein: eva<\/p>\n Faith Kates: That means glenn check out his red hair!!!<\/p>\n Epstein: berries color for holiday<\/p>\n Kates: He\u2019s such a snooze who else is down there?<\/p>\n Epstein: david fizel. hanson. trump<\/p>\n Kates: Have fun!!!<\/p>\n Casten has not responded to a request for comment.\u00a0\u201cThose emails prove literally nothing,\u201d White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in an email.<\/p>\n News reports, photos, videos and White House releases show Trump spent that 2017 Thanksgiving in Mar-a-Lago. PolitiFact, however, did not find any proof that he met Epstein that day.<\/p>\n There are different accounts of when Trump and Epstein had their falling out, with periods\u00a0ranging from 2004 to 2007. The Miami Herald reported that Trump barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in October 2007, a decade before the Thanksgiving Day in question.<\/p>\n In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution from a minor.<\/p>\n Two of the three people Epstein mentioned in his 2017 email as being \u201cdown there\u201d are people who had property in South Florida at the time. It is unclear who he was referring to when he mentioned \u201cHanson\u201d. It is possible Epstein was not foretelling a specific Thanksgiving Day plan but answering another New Yorker\u2019s question about who among the people in their social circle would also be in the Florida area during that period.<\/p>\n Trump arrived in West Palm Beach, Florida, on November 21, 2017, and stayed there for several days, according to the president\u2019s public schedules\u00a0documented in Roll Call\u2019s FactBase.<\/p>\n On Thanksgiving morning, he spoke to members of the military via video conference and visited coastguard members at the Lake Worth Inlet Station in Riviera Beach, Florida. The White House published transcripts of Trump\u2019s remarks to both groups. Trump also issued a Thanksgiving message to the country and went to the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.<\/p>\n Photographers for The Associated Press news agency, The Palm Beach Post and Getty Images, among others, captured photos of Trump\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n A CNN report said Trump held an \u201copulent\u201d dinner at the Mar-a-Lago members-only club. PolitiFact did not find reports listing who was in attendance, but the White House told CNN the first family would be having \u201ca nice Thanksgiving dinner with all the family\u201d.<\/p>\n Trump was also active on social media. In a November 22, 2017, post on X, then known as Twitter, he said he \u201cwill be having meetings and working the phones from the Winter White House in Florida [Mar-a-Lago]\u201d. He did not specify whom he would be meeting. On Thanksgiving morning, he said in part: \u201cHAPPY THANKSGIVING, your Country is starting to do really well.\u201d<\/p>\n HAPPY THANKSGIVING, your Country is starting to do really well. Jobs coming back, highest Stock Market EVER, Military getting really strong, we will build the WALL, V.A. taking care of our Vets, great Supreme Court Justice, RECORD CUT IN REGS, lowest unemployment in 17 years\u2026.!<\/p>\n \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 23, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Trump left Mar-a-Lago and returned to the White House on November 26, 2017, the Sunday after Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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