Newly released Justice Department files have cast fresh light on Donald Trump’s past association with Jeffrey Epstein, including an account from a former Florida police chief who said the president called him during the original investigation and expressed relief that authorities were taking action.According to a 2019 FBI interview summary with former Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter, Trump contacted the Palm Beach Police Department amid the mid-2000s probe into Epstein. “TRUMP called the [Palm Beach Police Department] to tell him ‘thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this,’” the FBI document records. Reiter led the department from 2001 to 2009, and the local investigation into Epstein began in 2005.

The report adds: “TRUMP told him people in New York knew EPSTEIN was disgusting. TRUMP said MAXWELL was EPSTEIN’s operative, ‘she is evil and to focus on her.’” It also states: “TRUMP told [Reiter] that he threw EPSTEIN out of his club.” Trump has previously said he cut ties with Epstein more than 20 years ago and has claimed he removed him from Mar-a-Lago after discovering inappropriate behaviour.The FBI summary further notes: “TRUMP told [Reiter] that he was around EPSTEIN once when teenagers were present and TRUMP ‘got the hell out of there.’ TRUMP was one of the very first people to call when people found out that they were investigating EPSTEIN.”The Justice Department said it was not aware of corroborating evidence that Trump contacted law enforcement two decades ago. Reiter declined to comment publicly on the FBI account, though he told the Miami Herald the call took place in 2006.

What the latest tranche revealed

The wider document release, compelled by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, runs to millions of pages and includes heavily redacted material. The files show investigators examined allegations and unverified tips concerning several prominent figures, including Trump. However, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department “did not find credible information to merit further investigation” into sexual misconduct allegations against the president.The records also confirm that prosecutors issued a subpoena to Mar-a-Lago in 2021 during their case against Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. Maxwell this week refused to answer questions from the House Oversight Committee, repeatedly invoking her Fifth Amendment right.